1. 1. What is Spam?
2. 2. What is the technical definition?
3. 3. When is an email considered as Spam?
4. 4. What is the main reason for Spamming?
5. 5. What are statistics on Spam worldwide?
6. 6. What is the cost of Spam?
7. 7. How do Spammers obtain your email address?
8. 8. What are spam filters and anti-spam technologies?
9. 9. How can you avoid Spam?
10. 10. Why would a subscriber of your base click on Report Spam?
11. 11. What happens if many of your customers complain about Spam?
12. 12. How can you make your customer base grow avoiding Spam?

1. What is Spam?

Spam refers to any email sent to a recipient’s inbox without the recipient’s permission. It is an unsolicited email, also known as UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email).

2. What is the technical definition?

Spam is considered as such when: a) personal identity of the recipient and the content are irrelevant to the sender as the message is equally applicable to many potential recipients, and b) the recipient has not deliberately, explicitly or irrevocably given permission to receive such email in his or her inbox.

3. When is an email considered Spam?

An email is considered spam when it has commercial content and doesn´t comply with the following three rules about:

1. An unsubscribing option:
When there is not any visible or operable mechanism in the email to unsubscribe within a minimum of 10 days. And that the related opt-out lists aren’t used for any purpose other than making or receiving complaints.

2. Content:
When content is inappropriate or impolite, when it is not correctly rated, and when there is no information detailing a legal or physical address of the sender.

3. Delivery Behavior:
Refers to when you send emails to massive recipients who are not subscribed or haven’t given permission to receive such emails. It is also described as when you buy or rent email lists from third parties and send messages using a fake or unclear address, or one that contains tricky or false headings

4. What is the main reason for spamming?

Generally, spammers seek economic profit by using recipients as instrument to trick and swindle.

5. What do the numbers say on world-wide spamming?

Today, it is estimated that more than 14.5 billion emails are sent daily as spam, which makes up 75% of all email deliveries world-wide. Most of these emails come from the US, followed by Korea. The most common type of spam is used for advertising (36%), secondly, for pornographic means (32%) and thirdly, for issues related to financial affairs. Another 2.5% is aimed at committing fraud, and 73% is related to phishing..

6. What is the cost of spam?

Today, spam represents an estimated US$20.5 billion of productivity loss in business, including technology protection investments. Future estimates are not encouraging. Numbers talk about the cost of spam reaching around US$58 billion in the years ahead, which would increment costs to almost US$200 billion if measures aren’t taken. We need to prevent this.

7. How do spammers obtain your email address?

One possibility is that you provided your email address on websites of dubious reputation. For example, on free music or video sites, or perhaps you subscribed to a newsletter on a site with no privacy policy or to one or more sites promising “incredible opportunities” such as winning a house or car. Maybe you filled out a coupon somewhere in a public place for an irrelevant, but attractive deal in which the reason to request the information is not clearly stated. Or they may have received your email through companies that buy and/or rent email lists form third parties.

8. What are spam filters and anti-spam technology?

Anti-spam technologies are any type of mechanism focused on defining emails as acceptable or as spam and then consequently addressing the issue. There are many technologies that focus on Spam, for example, spam filters. This term is used to describe any process or technology that must label an incoming email as legitimate or spam. If it is labeled as spam, the message is filtered outwards, deleting it or sending it to a junk mail file.

9. How can you avoid spamming?

You can avoid spamming by improving your method of gathering records and updating them constantly.

Method of Gathering Records

• Create and increase your own list of customers without renting or buying lists.
• Update your records constantly, both with current data and communications.
• Be clear when incorporating someone to your email delivery list. Inform them about what they have access to and what information they will and will not receive.
• Do not capture email addresses automatically
• Do not gather email addresses through promotions or contests simply as a means of getting more addresses. The future communications purposes should be clear.

Maintain them for a long term.

• Produce communications that remind you of the permission given, including the reasons for it.
• Show consistency in the content of your communication. Did your customer subscribe earlier to receiving the same information you are now communicating? Are they the same company, products, and services?
• Always keep the ‘sent by’ similar. You must be recognized by and familiar to your customers.
• Be relevant. Communicate according to your interests, desires, tastes, and motivations.
• Survey. The more you learn about your customer, the more you’ll be aware of what they want to hear.
• Segment. Organize your records in groups according to your customer’s tastes and interests.

10. Why would a subscriber of your database click on ‘reporting spam’?

Causes may vary. Some of the most common are:

• Your customer forgot they had registered or accepted to receive emails from your company and they simply deleted them.
• The lapse of time between his or her subscription to the site and your delivery was too long.
• By not providing the specific information your customer subscribed to or accepted to receive.
• The option for unsubscribing is not clearly available in your messages. When customers don´t see this option, they may get wary and click it as Spam.
• The delivery frequency of your email was too long or too short. The key approach concerning frequency is to communicate with your customers only when you want to inform them of important issues.
• The origin of the email was not precise. You should clearly state that the email came from your company and not from somewhere else.

11. What happens if many of your customers complain about Spam?

First of all, your reputation as a sender is damaged each time your recipients click on "reporting spam". The information on these clicks is passed on to your ISP (Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.). If you receive too many complaints from your customers, it may cause the ISP to block you from using their services and will not allow email deliveries made by your company. This consequence does not only include your customers, but all recipients included in that ISP.

12. How can you make your customer base grow avoiding Spam?

You should request their permission before sending ad communications. With the word permission, we are referring to the privilege (not the right) of delivering in advance relevant and personalized communications to customers that readily want to receive such communications. Therefore, it is the opposite of spam. To obtain this privilege, you must create strategies realize, understand, and discover customer needs and preferences. Learn more ».

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