What To Do When People Flag Your Emails As Spam?

[debbystewart]

I was contacted by my web hosting company that they had received complaints that I was spending spam and that my account would be shut down if I didn't stop sending emails.
The problem is that I only send emails to members that are registered on my site, so my emails hardly qualify as spam. If they didn't want to receive my emails, all they had to do was cancelled their membership on my website.
Now, I am afraid that my hosting account will be suspended.
Has anyone faced the same problem?

[JoshAk]

Hello Debby,

One thing that can help is to require a double opt-in to receive the emails this way to are only getting subscribers that really want to receive your emails. Also do you send your emails regularly? Often people sign up to receive newsletters, then forget if they do not get one relatively soon. You can make sure your unsubscribe option is prominent, if people no longer want to get your emails they will use which ever option is easiest for them to find (Mark as spam or unsubscribe). If your emails are site updates like subscribing to a thread on a forum you could also ask your members how they would like to get them either once a day or as they happen etc. or allow them to subscribe via RSS.

Hope this helps

Josh

[Tom Lindstrom]

I agree with Josh, always use double opt in and there will be no more problems.You will have proof that they have requested to receive your information.

[debbystewart]

Thanks for the tip. I will try to implement double opt-in. Have to research it a bit.

[4ndr3w]

Double opt-in is no guarantee that your mail will never be reported as spam. In a perfect world, it should be, but the world is far from perfect, and people are still human.

Double opt-in is just the start - the bare minimum requirement. E-mail sent to confirmed recipients must also be relevant. It has to contain what you told them it would contain when they signed up, and nothing else. It has to deliver what your promise. If you say, 'sign up for my e-mail and learn the secrets to acquiring easy wealth through the Internet', and then start sending them pitches to join MLM schemes, well, you shouldn't be surprised if you lose subscribers.

When expectations in e-mail are not appropriately set and met, people will hit the Spam button in a sort of malformed unsubscribe request. Recipients' definition of spam will vary wildly, but it will never agree with the definition you as a sender think it should be.

For recipients, spam is the mail they did not want, even if they signed up for it. If you promise one thing, then send another, then that is mail they do not want, and it is easier for them to hit the spam button than it is to unsubscribe.

As senders, we have to make sure that our mail is so good, they won't want to unsubscribe. The best way to do that is to deliver relevant content to confirmed subscribers. Make sure you send what you promise -- nothing more, and nothing less -- and make sure you don't promise more than you can actually send.

Good luck,
Andrew.

[David Hawke]

I would suggest using an email service to help. I use aweber and like it. Use the double opt in. You probably know what that is but others may not so I'll explain it.

When a person signs up for your emails they are sent an email asking them to confirm their request. If you have this you can show it to your hosting company and almost always they will disregard the spam complaint.

Also make sure you offer an opt out at the bottom of your email. If you use aweber they will do that part for you.

Hope this helps.

[rvnet]

First delete the list that you have developed by single opt-in or send an email saying to confirm their subscription.

Try to keep subscriber details like the following in every email:

---------------------
Your email:
Date of subscription:
URL where subscribed:
IP address with which you have subscribed:
---------------------

These details tells your subscriber that he actually subscribed at your site.

Still they can hit spam button. But show your host about your double opt-in policy.

.

[abellnsmith]

I am agreed with Joshak, you should provide a option for subscription, and just send your newsletter to those users who are really interested, mostly people treat news letter as spam, they think to consider it as a valued mail as a time waste, so try to find value customers

[Danielle77]

I think you should explain to your hosting that you are not sending spam e-mails, but informative e-mails to your members. Don't forget to say that those members can anytime calcel their accounts so they will not recieve e-mails, then they will understand that is not your false.

[larrym0515]

i agree, if you have an actual confirmation email that people requested you to send them info, then you can use this as proof