How to deal with email spam

Feeling a little frustrated about the number of unsolicited emails in your inbox? You’re not alone. That’s because it’s estimated that 89% of emails are spam. And, if you’re noticing a lot more e-newsletters that you didn’t sign up for, you’ll be delighted to know that unsolicited email numbers are increasing and it’s now the second most common type of spam.

The madness needs to end.

The focus for this post isn’t on the spam sent by botnets or the fun ones sent from foreign lawyers letting you know you have a lottery fortune yet uncollected. I want to tackle the unsuspecting corporation who pads their email lists with cards they collected at networking events or scrapes email addresses from corporate websites or buys a dreaded list.

I do believe that a good percentage of these businesses have no idea that what they’re doing is wrong and in many cases illegal. They don’t know that you can’t sent a mass email to people who have not explicitly given you permission to email them. But you can find more about that here: 7 things you may not know about email marketing.

So, what can you do?

I’d like to start a movement. And I need your help. Just imagine if after sending a mass e-blast, they see tens or hundreds of people have unsubscribed or their account is suspended or they get a number of responses indicating their email was not OK. Would this change their behavior? You betcha. So, here’s what you can do when someone sends you eblast or newsletter spam:

1) Unsubscribe:

Based on FTC guidelines, every mass email must have an unsubscribe button. However, it shouldn’t be surprising if you don’t find one. If it’s there and more than 1% of people on their list unsubscribe, their email account can be suspended.

2) Report as spam through their email service:

When you click “unsubscribe” many reputable email service providers (like MailChimp and A-Weber) will also give you the option to mark the email as spam.

3) Report as spam through your email software:

Even if they don’t have a ‘report as spam’ option with their email provider, you can still mark the email as spam by clicking on spam or trash.

4) Respond to their email:

I do believe that a large number of companies send spam not knowing the legal implications (even though I do believe they understand the ethical ones). Often, I will send an email response to their message when it is someone within the events industry. It goes a little something like this:

“Please note that I did not give you permission to send me mass emails. The FTC has very strict guidelines about sending unsolicited emails and you could be fined up to $16,000 if reported. Please remove me from your list and any further communications.

For more information on FTC CAN-SPAM guidelines, click here.”

5) Forward spam to the FTC:

If you get spam email that you think is deceptive, send it to spam@uce.gov. The FTC uses the spam stored in this database to pursue law enforcement actions against people who send deceptive email. It’s not as simple as clicking ‘forward’, so here are some quick tips on how to ensure the header of the email is included when you send it to the FTC.

Are you with me?