Slashdot pointed me to an article about the 7 ways a company can be mistaken for a spammer.
The basics from the article are:
- Ignoring “unsubscribe” requests
- List “repurposing”
- Providing unclear privacy checkbox instructions, and ignoring users’ responses
- Losing track of internal desktop and server machines that can be used against you
- The article tells about a company that had found an old piece of hardware, under a desk, in a janitors closet that had been doing the dirty work for someone else, scanning thousands of IPs per minute.
- Not keeping addresses and databases up to date
- Having vulnerable mailer forms on your website
- Working with non-reputable third-party mailers
From the slashdot comments khasim provides some insightful advice
“#1. Since you’re sending out HTML email anyway, why not put the unsubscribe button at the top of the message? If you’re going to be funny and make it an “unsubscribe from this particular spam run” then you need to add a second button, again at the top of the message, that will unsubscribe the recipient from ALL of your mailings. ALL of them. Not most of them. Not some of them. Not everything except the ones the marketing department really wants to get out. ALL OF THEM.
#2. If that’s too much work for you, try an automatic opt-out program. Send a message once a month saying that you’re still subscribed
… but that your subscription will end on (insert date) of this year UNLESS you click on the “continue my subscription for another year” button at the top of the message or copy this URL to your browser.”
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