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Is this spam?

by ryor
11 replies
Hi everyone,

I'll be launching a website in a couple of months. In order to spread the word, I've made an email list of people who I think would be interested in taking a look at this site.

When the site goes live, I plan to send an email out to each person on my email list. I got their addresses from their websites etc.

So I wanted to know if this counts as spamming? I am not sending out the emails indiscriminately, but they are unsolicited.

If I am allowed to send these emails, is there anyway to avoid them ending up in the recipients' junk folder if I send them out en masse?

Thank you in advance!
#spam
  • Profile picture of the author ankur sharma
    I will consider this as grey hat. But, i dont think its bad.
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    It depends a lot on how you do it.

    Even the CAN-SPAM law does not forbid you from sending unsolicited commercial offers. It simply specifies the manner in which you must do it. So, if you follow the guidelines, it won't technically be spamming.

    From a perception viewpoint, much will depend on your skill and execution in formulating a message the recipients won't perceive as spam. Which gets more difficult every day.

    Regardless of what I think, or anyone else here thinks, I can pretty much guarantee that a fair percentages of the people you contact will think you are spamming them and act accordingly.
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  • Profile picture of the author banx63
    A bit dodgy I think - but I doubt anyone would complain as you are genuinely trying to provide them a service.....always best if you have opt-ins though.
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  • Profile picture of the author ryor
    Thank you for the replies.

    My website doesn't sell anything, which is why I don't feel too bad sending these people emails to tell them about it. I just want to increase traffic and participation.

    I certainly understand that some people will perceive my emails as spam and act accordingly, but I just want to ensure that they at least get my messages in their inbox. Is there an effective way to avoid my messages automatically being labelled as spam?
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  • Profile picture of the author OnlineMkter
    Best bet is to write the email as a personal one, to look less spamy!
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  • Profile picture of the author ryor
    Sure - but I've collected a lot of emails, so it would really take me a long time to do that. I just want to avoid it being automatically sent to junk.

    I don't know what criteria email providers use to decide if mail counts as junk.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by ryor View Post

    I got their addresses from their websites etc.
    That's a "scraped list".

    Originally Posted by ryor View Post

    I just want to avoid it being automatically sent to junk.
    That's a very minor problem compared with the risk that if some of the recipients do regard it as spam, it's your own internet connection that's placed in jeopardy. This is also related to the reason why no commercial autoresponder company will allow you to use their facilities to do this - it would have hugely negative effects on their ability to deliver future email.

    I think that with great care and research, you might just about be able to do it without breaking any laws, per se, but certainly not without risks, and whether it's actually worth it or not is a different matter.

    For the record, it's not a subject that lends itself to particularly conducive forum discussions here, because (for good reasons) advocating the sending out of bulk unsolicited email is actually a banning offense in this forum.
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  • Profile picture of the author ryor
    That's great info, thank you everyone.
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    • Profile picture of the author Cali16
      Regardless of whether or not you follow the CAN-SPAM rules, a lot of people (as others have said already) will regard your email as spam.

      My inbox gets inundated with "unsolicited commercial emails" - most of which don't follow the CAN-SPAM rules. But even those that do follow the rules, if I don't know the sender, then I'm not going to spend my valuable time reading their email - there are only so many hours in the day.

      I suggest you find other means for getting traffic to your website. The one you're considering is risky, as Alexa pointed out.
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      If you don't face your fears, the only thing you'll ever see is what's in your comfort zone. ~Anne McClain, astronaut
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  • Profile picture of the author SergioFelix
    If you are genuinely interested in contacting them so they can spread the word, just do it one by one through their contact forms and don't be generic.

    DO talk about their site and what are you doing and what would you like them to do in return.

    Send a mass generic message and it's like you're yelling to land in the junk folder and even if some e-mails do get through, as soon as people start marking them as SPAM, it may get harder in the future even with legitimate broadcasts.

    Sergio

    Originally Posted by ryor View Post

    Hi everyone,

    I'll be launching a website in a couple of months. In order to spread the word, I've made an email list of people who I think would be interested in taking a look at this site.

    When the site goes live, I plan to send an email out to each person on my email list. I got their addresses from their websites etc.

    So I wanted to know if this counts as spamming? I am not sending out the emails indiscriminately, but they are unsolicited.

    If I am allowed to send these emails, is there anyway to avoid them ending up in the recipients' junk folder if I send them out en masse?

    Thank you in advance!
    Signature
    My Zero To Hero Marketing Blog
    MarketingWithSergio.com
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  • Profile picture of the author Ewan Lumsden
    Banned
    The technique itself isn't exactly "spam".

    But a good bunch of the people your sending it to will probably regard it as that. If your wanting to get their attention and for them not to instantly delete it, get a good "un-spammy" headline and tell them all about it, while being humerous. Talk like a human being in the email, if it sounds like a computer it sounds like spam.
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