Email Marketing Standards
Many email marketing standards stem from the federal CAN-SPAM Act, which sets guidelines on the sending of commercial email messages. When sending marketing emails, companies adhere to email marketing standards not only to uphold the law and ethical standards, but also to build an honest reputation, and achieve a high marketing success rate.
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History
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Before the popularity of email, companies used to send direct marketing materials through postal mail. Some companies sent direct mail to customers and existing contacts while other companies sent "junk mail" to all residents in a particular location. Companies spent large budgets on sending direct postal mail because they had to pay for both printing and delivery costs. In the 1990s, when email marketing first became popular, companies enjoyed sending direct mail through email because they did not have to pay the high costs associated with postal mail. Over the years though, so many companies started using email marketing that it became less effective for marketers and very annoying for consumers. Over time, email marketing standards came into effect to help resolve these issues.
Legalities
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The CAN-SPAM Act sets the legal standards for sending any type of commercial email. According to the law, companies must not hide their identity and must give accurate information in the email's "From" line. Companies must also clearly show recipients that the email message is a commercial advertisement and must not try to hide this fact from them. In addition, the email must contain the company's postal mailing address. The email must also contain an "opt out" statement that explains to recipients how they can unsubscribe and no longer receive emails from the company. The company must honor all "opt out" requests and remove recipients promptly.
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List Creation
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Most companies build email marketing lists by collecting email addresses of prior contacts, such as former customers, phone contacts, business partners and those who previously requested customer information by email. Many companies include a sign-up form on their website where visitors can request to be added to the company's email marketing list. Although the CAN-SPAM Act does not require companies to have a prior relationship before emailing, companies that email to prior contacts gain customer trust and achieve higher email response rates.
Content
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Companies that want to adhere to email marketing standards send recipients only targeted email messages. For example, a large corporation with many divisions of unrelated products will typically maintain several email lists and only send each list emails that fit the recipient's interests. In addition, companies that stick to email marketing standards send email messages with short, concise content so they do not clutter recipients' email boxes. They also generally avoid sending attachments since these take up server space and many recipients do not trust opening these.
Speculation
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Many people feel that email marketing will die out and slowly become less effective. Email marketing is increasing to such an extent that fewer and fewer people read email marketing messages. Some people feel social networks are replacing email marketing. Therefore, if email continues in this same direction, companies will need to adhere to stricter standards in the future for email marketing to remain effective.
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