Spam Filters & Compliance

The death of email

I remember what we were talking about and working on at Cakemail when I first heard the words "email is dead". It wasn't one of those "new technology is coming and will replace old methods of communication" types of things. It was because email compliance regulations were being implemented. ??

Now, this big change with compliance wasn't decided in a day and then implemented the next. It was months and years before anything was pushed, and then even more years for governments to fine-tune and start really cracking down on senders and expecting them to follow them. Reconfirmation emails scared people so much. They were scared of losing half their lists and losing all the efforts they had put into their email strategy. Senders had to start ensuring they added their addresses and the unsubscribe links in their emails... Senders had to get consent! No more sending emails to any email address they found on the internet, an old excel list, or their address book. The blasphemy!

I just always wondered why they were so scared if they truly believed that their audience loved their brand, receiving and reading all the emails they were sending. Was it because they knew that people might love the brands... but not necessarily the "receiving and reading the emails" part? Doesn't that prove that compliance was necessary?

Compliance and Spam Filters

I get a lot of arguments from senders who are having issues inboxing with certain if not all ISP spam filters when not following compliance laws and regulations.

• I don't live in this particular country.
• I don't send them to people who live in a place where they are necessary.
• My competitor doesn't follow them and he doesn't have an issue.
• Everyone buys lists.
• I've always done it this way.
• I just don't care, my business is too small. I won't get fined anyway.

But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if the government is coming to fine you as a sender or not. The argument I use to counteract any pushback I get when I have to help customers implement best practices is that the spam filters don't care what you think is okay.

ISPs all over the world have collectively invested millions of dollars into building their individual spam filters. Their work is never done, and spam filters care about what their inbox users want. They want to create a safe environment where people can receive the emails they want to receive, and they want to ensure their users are protected from unsolicited or annoying emails.

That is the common denominator between regulations and spam filters. First, spam filters have to help ensure these regulations are being enforced to the best of their abilities, of course. But spam filters don't have 195 versions of their spam filter for each and every country. So yes, spam filters will implement changes needed from one part of the world and they will "catch" you first and they will make it impossible for you to inbox sooner rather than later. Your impact might not be big enough (yet) for the government to come running after your business (and then again).

They can see what their users are doing in the inboxes more than anyone on the outside (Blocklists, ESPs, senders, etc). They have the most precise info compared to anyone else. So if:

• Multiple users of a particular inbox report your emails as spam
• You don't protect your audience's data
• Your true engagement ratios are very low
• People ignore your emails
• People don't engage by reading, clicking answering back
• "Subscribers" act like they didn't give you consent
• You rotate ESPs, IPs & Domains trying to "hide" from spam filters, etc

They know & they will penalize you.

And if your emails don't land in the inbox or promotions tab for subscribers to read and engage with, do you really care that you evaded the compliance regulations?

Spam filters and compliance are here to make our inboxes a safer place. We can't complain we are getting spammed in our inboxes and then turn around and do the exact same thing to our audience members. As Radek Kaczyński says: Email and deliverability are all about love and respect. If you love and respect your audience members, their time, and their inbox, you will:

• Make it easy to unsubscribe or manage their preferences
• You will not hide behind different domains and IP reputations to inbox
• Ensure you protect and safely store your audience's data
• Send solicited emails at a frequency that is expected
• Add your physical address and make it obvious & easy for subscribers to know whose emails they are dealing with
• Be honest on sign-up forms so that people know what they are signing up to
• Ask for consent before you send emails
• Not abuse the relationships you have with subscribers

And all of this will help you inbox. Compliance laws and regulations were put into place to help consumers stay safe, and help senders with best practices or help define the framework to follow.

Please note that compliance laws and regulations aren't only for email.

Events!

An email marketing conference designed to help exceed your current strategies with actionable advice you can deploy same-day, informed by a deep pool of real-time user data. The GURU Conference is designed to share the very latest digital trends, email best practices, and emerging tools you’ll need to step up your email marketing performance today. Join for two days of live, virtual sessions from industry experts that will take your email marketing programs to the next level.

Andrew Kordek , Christopher Marriott Ann Handley , Chase Dimond , Kisha Anderson , Jeanne Jennings ?? Guy Hanson , Martin Kihn , Steffen Schebesta , Phil Burch , Dela Quist , and so many more #emailGeeks will be speaking!

#timeToLearn #emailGeeksUnite

Interesting Reads

What are Spam Traps and Can You Actually Avoid Them?

- Blog post on Webbula by Melissa Lambert

How to get better at writing: 10 ideas to ignite your best work this year

- Blog post by Ann Handley

Top Ways to Save Time as an Email Marketer

- Blog post on Validity by Megan Farquharson