What Are Proper Opt-In Procedures?

If they never opt'd in on a major reputable autoresponder.

You most certainly are not within the guidelines to email them even
if you email blast them with an unsubscribe link.

Yes all major websites email the people that signed up for their site, even the WF does. If you add an unsubscribe link it's fine.

So my question is whether I am being overly cautious. Between the fact they all registered and added their link info and the email has an opt-out am I totally within the guidelines?

Hi BungeeBones,
I think you are right to be cautious.

The Spam police are usually on the side of the user, and
it can take very little for them to give you a hard time.

People fear spam, and can consider anything thay don't instantly recall as such. Some people seem to like the power of complaints, so this puts everyone hosting/sending emails on edge.

If you are on shared hosting, that can be difficult for everyone.

Not sure why you want to run this yourself, rather than with an
autoresponder service, but I know that Aweber, and most I would think, give you the ability to import your list and prompt a confirmation.

You can place a message at the start of that explaining clearly who you are and why you are asking them to do this.

This is a pet pieve of mine, that many emails arrive with very little
information as to who they are from.

It is simple, and I think good practice to use your business name, product name and your full name at the bottom of each email. Whatever
your clients would recognize.

It is said, and true I guess that not using confirmation emails will get
you more subscribers, but you do run the risk of more potential problems.

It is too easy to forget who example; "Steve" is?

I get so many emails addressed like this, unrecognisable - easy to delete.

And for those pesky people that will complain at the slightest thing, easier for them to forget who you are.

So I would just be cautious as you have said, and get a confirmation from them.

Just an opinion.

cheers, Mal.

If they opted in to your service, as you say....

.... and they consented to receive email (via your TOS)...

.... and you will be clearly identifying yourself as they service that they signed up for...

.... and you will be offering a prominent opt out link...

.... then you have no need to worry about violating spam laws that I can see.

Just to be sure you are ok with this group, I would plan to mail them in small batches the first time around. Like 100 at a time. If you start getting a lot of optouts or spam complaints, that tells you your audience is not on the same page as you.

I think, if you will be sending them 1 email only, announcing the big changes and all, then I don't see a problem. Big changes should be announced, and 1 email will probably not bother them too much.. However, if you want to send them regular newsletters, then it's best you wait until they subscribe and give their consent.

I'm new so excuse my ignorance..

But why is everyone so scared of the spam "police"? What is the worst thing that can happen to you from spamming people, especially if you have an Opt-out/unsubscribe link in the email? People are throwing illegal vs legal a lot on this forum...in short, what are potential consequences of spamming?

Hi 8ironz85,

You can lose your hosting or your autoresponder service.

If you are on a shared server and it is blocked, it affects everyone.

I had an autoresponder service cancelled just because they did not like a particular product I promoted. Not much dicussion either, just cancelled.

I was'nt spamming anyone, I was sending to a list I built for that product.

It happens.

cheers, Mal.