We agree and apply these best practices for email and communications on a best efforts basis.
Please contact info: at designartsaz dot com [Documentation from Truste.com]
Best Practices for Minimizing Complaints
1. Clear and Conspicuous Notice
Keeping complaints to a minimum begins with providing consumers clear and conspicuous notice – because even if they grant their explicit permission to receive your email, consumers may report it as spam if the messages you subsequently send them are not in line with what they expected to receive. Be crystal clear about what the consumer is signing up for and deliver on the expectations that you have created! Reinforce the expectations that you set both at the point of address collection and also in your privacy policy.
Be Clear:
2 Accurately describe the nature, content and frequency of the email subscription.
2 Link to a sample of the email newsletter that the consumer is considering subscribing to.
2 Explain your policy regarding the use of the consumer’s email address, including any potential internal and external sharing of it, and link to your privacy policy.
2 Explain that the consumer has the right to opt-out at any time, and mention the timeframe it takes your company to honor such requests (ideally this is immediately; it must be done within the ten business day period required by law under CAN-SPAM).
Epsilon/ASW, “Email and Spam: Consumer Attitudes and Behaviors,” November 2003.
2 Offering incentives can be an excellent way to grow your email list, but if you do so, make sure to clearly convey what exactly is being signing up for in addition to the incentive. Consumers might gladly hand over their email address in exchange for a discount or entry into a contest, but will likely complain if they receive ongoing irrelevant email a few days later.
Be Conspicuous:
2 On Web site registration forms and print business reply cards, notices should be intuitively located above or alongside where a consumer submits their email address.
2 If collecting email addresses via telephone, representatives should explain to consumers what purposes their email address will be used for before they collect it. In addition, inform them that they can opt-out at any time and describe how they can do so.
2 Send a subscription confirmation email immediately after adding an email address to your list. Use this opportunity to reinforce what the consumer has signed up for (the nature of the subscription), your privacy policy as it relates to the treatment of email addresses, and include an unsubscribe mechanism.
2 In all email communications, remind consumers that they received the email because they signed up for it and express that you will gladly honor their preference not to receive future communications with a link to your preference center and/or other opt-out mechanism.
2. Permission/Consent
Now that you have given consumers clear and conspicuous notice, it is time to capture their consent to receive your email. Marketers who implement affirmative permission practices (when consumers actively elect to receive communications) generally benefit from higher response rates, lower complaint rates and fewer blocking issues.
Get Consent:
2 Double Opt-In: (sometimes referred to as ‘Confirmed Opt-In’): The recipient affirmatively requests in writing, online or offline, to add his/her email address to a mailing list. The recipient receives a confirmation email and the recipient confirms his/her request by replying or visiting a provided URL. This is the best way to ensure that an address that was submitted due to a typo or forgery does not remain on a list. In the event that the recipient does not respond to the confirmation email, sending a reminder more than once is not recommended.
2 Opt-In with Verification: The recipient affirmatively requests in writing, online or offline, to add his/her email address to a mailing list. The recipient receives a verification email notifying him/her of the subscription and providing clear unsubscribe instructions.
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2 Opt-In: The recipient affirmatively requests in writing, online or offline, to add his/her email address to a mailing list.
2 Pre-Selected Option with Verification: The recipient consents in writing to have his/her email address added to a mailing list by leaving a clear and conspicuous pre-selected option intact. The recipient receives a verification email notifying him/her of the subscription and providing clear unsubscribe instructions. According to the CAN-SPAM Act, commercial or promotional email messages sent under this form of consent (without “expressly consenting to receive the message”) must include clear and conspicuous identification that the message is an advertisement or solicitation (how this information is conveyed is up to the marketer).
2 Pre-Selected Option: The recipient consents in writing to have his/her email address added to a mailing list by leaving a clear and conspicuous pre-selected option intact. According to the CAN-SPAM Act,commercial or promotional email messages sent under this form of consent (without “expressly consenting to receive the message”) must include clear and conspicuous identification that the message is an advertisement or solicitation (how this information is conveyed is up to the marketer).
2 Wireless Consent: The CAN-SPAM Act mandates adherence to strict and highly specific notice and consent requirements for commercial wireless messaging. In addition, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) maintains a mandatory wireless domains suppression list. This impacts ALL email marketers, even if they do not intentionally engage in messaging to wireless addresses. For more information on the CAN-SPAM Act’s wireless messaging rules and suppression list, visit: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-05-33 1 A 1 .pdf
2 Child Protection Registries. Michigan and Utah have established child protection registries of email addresses and other electronic points of contact. Children (under 18 years old) and their guardians can register addresses that are prohibited from receiving marketing offers for certain categories of products and services that are illegal for minors to purchase or possess in those states (these include, but may not be limited to, advertisements for products/services such as pornography, alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and gambling). The registries apply to many other forms of electronic contact in addition to email, such as PDA and instant messenger addresses, and regulated marketers are expected to scrub their lists of these addresses even if the addresses were acquired via affirmative consent (confirmed or double opt-in). Courts might ultimately rule that these registries are unlawful -- or at least don’t apply to email -- due to pre-emption by the federal CAN-SPAM Act or other reasons. However, as long as these registries are in effect, it is prudent for marketers to seek legal counsel if they are concerned that they may send email that falls within these registries’ scope .
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3. Relevancy, Timeliness & Value
You have provided clear and conspicuous notice, and captured consumers’ consent – but there is more work to be done to ensure you don’t receive complaints. Sending relevant email is absolutely essential, and consumers expect nothing less from the companies they do business with. Before deploying your campaigns, always ask – is it likely that this email will be viewed as relevant, timely and valuable to its recipient? If the answer is in doubt, reevaluate and rework the message. Commercial messages that don’t provide an easily discernible benefit to the user and/or lack a clear call to action are more likely to receive complaints.
Today’s technologies, combined with access to extensive consumer data and insight, have made crafting effective email campaigns easier than ever before. In addition to helping minimize complaints, the ROI benefits of crafting relevant messaging are well documented. According to Jupiter Research, “a direct correlation exists between performance and campaign targeting and timing. Despite additional campaign costs, relevant campaigns increase net profits by an average of 1 8 times more than do broadcast mailings.”
However, still only a small percentage of marketers currently focus on relevance while most maintain undifferentiated batch and blast communications. Marketers serious about minimizing their complaint rates, improving deliverability and maximizing return on investment should adopt a strategy focused on consumer needs and expectations.