This week’s debacle by the White House to send out unsolicited e-mails has brought the importance of e-mail compliance to the spotlight. While the White House seemed to have made an honest mistake and is in the process of correcting its wrongs, it did show how e-mail marketers commonly misuse the channel.
The CAN-SPAM Act requires that a consumer opt in to receive marketing messages via e-mail, and if a consumer does not opt in, then a sender is not being compliant. Industry leaders stress the importance of this. But once a consumer has opted in, there is still work to be done. Marketers should keep their lists clean and updated and make sure that a consumer is still interested in receiving e-mails throughout the life cycle of a relationship. Just because I opted in last year, does not mean that I want to receive e-mail this year.
Marketers should pay attention to who is opening and clicking through on an e-mail and, if a recipient hasn’t responded in more than six months, then a sender should contact that recipient and ask them if they are still interested in receiving e-mails. This is an excellent way to create communications with a customer and let them personalize how they want to interact with your brand.
This is a great way to keep a clean list and ensure that the address is not dead. Because, after all, consumers change e-mail addresses fairly often, and if you send to an inactive e-mail address, this could affect your reputation.
