Aweber & ConstantContact CRAZY about importing lists - Need Recomendation

20 replies
I started working with an offline client a few months ago who is a Health Insurance Broker.

I set up Aweber to use with this client but Aweber will NOT allow us to import the clients few lists.

I went to Constant Contact, explained the situation, and they were OK with importing the lists. After 1 email broadcast Constant Contact calls and says they are cancelling my account because of 12 SPAM notifications off a 600 person email blast. They said that 1 spam per 1000 emails is their limit. I was never told this when I signed up.

QUESTION - What autoresponder company is OK with a decent list being imported??? What autoresponder is OK with a few spam complaints off a list?

These are just clients and prospects in the list. There will always be some people that hit the spam button.

Any recomendations or suggestions would be appreciated.
#aweber #constant contact #constantcontact #crazy #email autoresponder #importing #lists #recomendation
  • Profile picture of the author Shaun OReilly
    Originally Posted by Webmarketingmaster View Post

    I started working with an offline client a few months ago who is a Health Insurance Broker.

    I set up Aweber to use with this client but Aweber will NOT allow us to import the clients few lists.

    I went to Constant Contact, explained the situation, and they were OK with importing the lists. After 1 email broadcast Constant Contact calls and says they are cancelling my account because of 12 SPAM notifications off a 600 person email blast. They said that 1 spam per 1000 emails is their limit. I was never told this when I signed up.

    QUESTION - What autoresponder company is OK with a decent list being imported??? What autoresponder is OK with a few spam complaints off a list?

    These are just clients and prospects in the list. There will always be some people that hit the spam button.

    Any recomendations or suggestions would be appreciated.
    If you're getting 12 spam complaints out of just a 600
    person list - then the problem is with the LIST and not
    the autoresponder service provider.

    Most reputable autoresponder service providers have
    an allowable complaint rate around the 1 in 1000 mark.

    Your client's spam complaint rate is 20 in 1,000!

    What you've got to do is to identify why the complaint
    rate is SO high.

    Some possible causes are...

    - they haven't been e-mailed recently
    - they don't remember joining the list (or maybe they didn't)
    - they don't really want what they're being sent
    - they don't know how to unsubscribe

    At first blush, it looks like this is a case of poor list
    management by the list owner.

    I'd recommend having an unsubscribe link at the top
    of the message so more people will unsubscribe rather
    than hitting the spam complaint button.

    However, you're going to find it hard to get a reputable
    autoresponder company to allow you to continue to
    send e-mails from their servers if the complaint rates
    are so high.

    Dedicated to mutual success,

    Shaun
    Signature

    .

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  • Originally Posted by Webmarketingmaster View Post

    There will always be some people that hit the spam button.
    Yes, and on average that rate is about 1 in 1000.

    If you don't fully understand email marketing, I recommend Seth Godin's "Permission Marketing." It's an oldie but a goodie and should be required reading for marketers.

    fLufF
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    • Thanks for your feedback...!!

      I know that the list is a bit flawed. Not to mention, the offline client Im working with is in the Health Insurance niche which is kind of known for spam...

      What Im looking for is an Autoresponder Service or Autoresponder/email software that we can use to email to this list.

      Anyone have any suggestions??

      Again - The email list is not full of SPAM email addresses. They are clients and prospects that this offline client has done business with in the past. The problem is, there are some (2-3%) spam complaints that are coming from the mailing of this list.

      Im looking for ways we can still use this list but need either an autoresponder service that will be OK with this or a piece of software I can use to send the emails.

      Thanks All!!
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      • Profile picture of the author AmyKay
        That kind of bugs me about Constant Contact. I'm now recommending them to my clients. I asked them specifically on the phone about this potential issue, and they said it's absolutely no problem to import a list and I even asked them if they would work with my client if they had a high spam rate, and not just cancel them. They said, "Of course, we'll work with them. We don't just cancel accounts."

        I feel for you.

        I can see how even if the list is legit, if he hadn't been e-mailing those folks for months or years, some would hit the spam button. Bummer.
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        • Originally Posted by AmyKay View Post

          That kind of bugs me about Constant Contact. I'm now recommending them to my clients. I asked them specifically on the phone about this potential issue, and they said it's absolutely no problem to import a list and I even asked them if they would work with my client if they had a high spam rate, and not just cancel them. They said, "Of course, we'll work with them. We don't just cancel accounts."

          I feel for you.

          I can see how even if the list is legit, if he hadn't been e-mailing those folks for months or years, some would hit the spam button. Bummer.
          I spent a half hour on the phone with someone from Constant Contact and spelled out the entire situation in detail before I even signed up. They told me there would be no issues at all importing the lists I had so I moved forward with signing up.

          BTW - Dont even try to import a list with Aweber. Even if youve been working with another autoresponder company they prob wont let you do it. Their solution is to send EVERYONE in the list an OPTIN email. If they dont click to optin, they wont be added to your account. Basically, your RE-OPTING in your list with Aweber.

          Within 2 hours of sending the first Broadcast Email I get an email from Constant Contact telling me my account is being cancelled. I called them to tell them that the list is legitemate and the client is legitamate and they didnt care. I told them that I had a long talk with one of their sales people and told them them that the lists I was going to import were a little old but legitamate... they didnt care.

          Part of our problem... I built the client a NEW website on a NEW domain AND we are using a NEW email template. This I believe is the reason for a higher than normal SPAM rate. I told Constant Contact this and they didnt care.

          AGAIN - Any suggestions for either a different Autoresponder company or software I can use to email to this clients lists?????

          Thanks All
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          • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
            Banned
            Originally Posted by Webmarketingmaster View Post

            Within 2 hours of sending the first Broadcast Email I get an email from Constant Contact telling me my account is being cancelled.
            I realise it's of no consolation to you at all, but all their other customers will be enormously relieved that that's their attitude.

            Conversations on this subject tend, often, to miss the point that there's a reason autoresponder companies are so careful about this, and that reason is deliverability: if recipients hit the spam button, ISP's stop letting their emails through. It's as simple as that.

            It's one of those interpretative issues: one person's "CRAZY" is another person's "retaining our ability to continue providing to all our other customers the service for which they're paying us".

            There's plenty of self-hosted software you can use, and for a list this small, you don't need a commercial autoresponder company anyway. Of course, that way it will be your own internet service provision contract that's exposed to the front-line of spam reports.
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            • Can anyone provide a list of any Self Hosted Email Software that I can use to use to send to this list?????

              Thanks all....
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            • Profile picture of the author tkulzer
              Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

              I realise it's of no consolation to you at all, but all their other customers will be enormously relieved that that's their attitude.

              Conversations on this subject tend, often, to miss the point that there's a reason autoresponder companies are so careful about this, and that reason is deliverability: if recipients hit the spam button, ISP's stop letting their emails through. It's as simple as that.

              It's one of those interpretative issues: one person's "CRAZY" is another person's "retaining our ability to continue providing to all our other customers the service for which they're paying us".
              Well said Alexa.

              Doesn't matter how one wants to try to make excuses for a list,
              one with 20 times the max allowable complaint rate is not
              legitimate. Keep in mind that's the *max*, we're not even talking
              about what the average well maintained subscriber base complaint
              rates are which is even lower than that.

              Those that follow best practices get to use the best tools, those who
              don't are asked to leave.
              Signature

              Tom Kulzer
              CEO & Founder
              AWeber Communications, Inc.

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  • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
    Here's a thought. If there are just 600 names on the list it should be feasible for your client to email them personally, rather than from an autoresponder.

    Ask each one to reply and say yes, they want to go on the "new" list.


    Make sure to tell them if they don't reply this will be taken to mean that they don't want to be on the list and you will not email them again.


    With a proper subject line and sent in small batches (say 10 at a time) - maybe from 2 or 3 different email addresses, that should help sort out the list so that when it is imported it is free from spam complaints

    ps - am I the only person who's finding that extra line spaces are being inserted into their posts between paragraphs?
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  • Profile picture of the author Jesus Perez
    No reputable sender will keep you as a client with a complaint rate that high. You have to build your own Mail server. Look at Interspire Email Marketer + VPS provider.

    OR...double optin the list and start from scratch.
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    • "No reputable sender will keep you as a client with a complaint rate that high."

      So you need one that isn't reputable.

      Dang, I thought I had the name of one here but gmail has deleted it.

      Bonanzle/Bonanza was using an email provider who didn't honor unsubscribe requests and didn't seem to care how many spam complaints were filed. If I find their name I'll post it here.

      fLufF
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  • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
    With only 600, I'd email them first from a throwaway account individually. Tell them why you're emailing and what to expect in future emails and invite them to unsubscribe if they're not down with that. That will take out the complainers and you should be good to go importing whoever is left over at Constant Contact.
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    • Profile picture of the author J Bold
      Originally Posted by Zeus66 View Post

      With only 600, I'd email them first from a throwaway account individually. Tell them why you're emailing and what to expect in future emails and invite them to unsubscribe if they're not down with that. That will take out the complainers and you should be good to go importing whoever is left over at Constant Contact.
      That's some good advice right there, don't take the lazy way out.

      The spam complaints are simply too high, that's for sure.

      They canceled your account as that's just too many spam complaints on their servers and they have to protect their business, without a doubt.
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  • Profile picture of the author joseph7384
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    • Profile picture of the author J Bold
      Originally Posted by joseph7384 View Post

      I forgot to ask, what auto-responder is the list currently in and why don't you just use that auto-responder for that list only?
      Maybe they got booted from their previous autoresponder because of spam.



      Only joking...
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