can-spam act, email marketing compliance, weight watchers, spam emails
What Not To Do With Your Email Marketing
What Not To Do With Your Email Marketing
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Maintaining compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act is not really all that hard. Provide a physical address in your emails and give your subscribers enough to control to opt-out easily. Sure, there are some other facets of it, but for the most part, that’s all you really have to do.

Apparently, the fine people at Weight Watchers are not aware of how easy it is, or that they are in violation of the regulation. After recently changing some email filters, one of which was to delete anything from Weight Watchers, I started getting their monthly newsletter again. It is being sent to an email address I haven’t used since 2004. I tried unsubscribing back then, but couldn’t. I figured now that we’re in 2012 and Weight Watchers certainly has improved their email marketing efforts since, this wouldn’t be an issue.

I was wrong.

Don’t make the same mistake with your email marketing. Make it uber simple for people to opt-out. The best-best-best practice is to make it a one-click and done opt-out and don’t send a confirmation email that they’re opted out. They opted out. They don’t want it.

Constant Contact and other email providers will take you to a form where you must confirm the email address you want removed from the list. It’s more than one click so it’s annoying, but it works. So that would be the best practice, with the denotation that there is better than best in this case.

And while I’m not optimistic Weight Watchers will see this since they’ve ignored a few other polite public questions about how to opt-out of their emails, if anyone from the mothership is watching the jasonfalls-at-insightbb.com address needs to be removed from your system. Not only do I not use that email anymore, but I don’t want your junk. Even if it might help me lose weight. Thanks.

Any other companies that make it hard to unsubscribe? Tell us about them in the comments. Then send them a link to the post.

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About the Author

Jason Falls
Jason Falls is the founder of Social Media Explorer and one of the most notable and outspoken voices in the social media marketing industry. He is a noted marketing keynote speaker, author of two books and unapologetic bourbon aficionado. He can also be found at JasonFalls.com.

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