APRIL 2008 • VOL 2 • ISSUE 4
In The Know
What is SPAM, exactly? Everyone's heard the term, but what does it really mean? A client asked me recently to define spam so that he could share the information with a group he is a member of. I knew in general terms, what the term means but I did a little research and found this more precise definition:
Most people believe that spam is unsolicited email. However, this definition is not entirely correct and confuses some types of legitimate business correspondence with true spam.
Spam is anonymous, unsolicited bulk email.
This is the description that is being used today in the USA and Europe as a basis for the creation of anti-spam legislation. Let's take a closer look at each component of the definition:
Anonymous: real spam is sent with spoofed or harvested sender addresses to conceal
the actual sender.
Mass mailing: real spam is sent in mass quantities. Spammers make money from
the small percentage of recipients that actually respond, so for spam to be cost-effective,
the initial mails have to be high-volume.
Unsolicited: mailing lists, newsletters and other advertising
materials that end users have opted to receive may resemble spam but are actually
legitimate mail. In other words, the same piece of mail can be classed as both
spam and legitimate mail depending on whether or not the user elected to receive
it.
It should be emphasized that the words 'advertising' and 'commercial' are not used to define spam.
Many spam messages are neither advertising nor any type of commercial proposition. In addition to offering goods and services, spam mailings can fall into the following categories:
- Political messages
- Quasi-charity appeals
- Financial scams
- Chain letters
- Fake spam being used to spread malware
- Unsolicited but legitimate messages
A legitimate commercial proposition, a charity appeal, an invitation addressed personally to an existing recipient or a newsletter can certainly be defined as unsolicited mail, but not as spam. Legitimate messages may also include delivery failure messages, misdirected messages, messages from system administrators or even messages from old friends who have previously not corresponded with the recipient by email.
Unsolicited - yes. Unwanted - not necessarily.
West Design recommends to our e-newsletter clients that their mailing lists should be comprised of willing subscribers to their newsletters, ensuring that their emails are not labeled as spam. We also provide a newsletter sign up form for our clients' websites so that site visitors can easily sign up to receive newsletters.
Visit DesignerNewsletters.com to find out about what our e-newsletter service can do for your business marketing!
