Blitz's email policy is based on the guidelines of the CAN-SPAM act, and the spam filtering/delivery practices of major email providers (gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail, etc.) to ensure both compliance and high email deliverability for our customers. Long story short, we want to make sure that we can continue to deliver your emails, and that they are as effective as possible!
Click here for information about the CAN-SPAM act per the Federal Trade Commission
Click here for Blitz's Terms and Conditions
When using Blitz's email feature, be aware of the following:
- All email recipients must be opted in to receive your email.
- All email addresses must be valid.
- Email deliverability must remain over 95%. Click here for information on tracking this in your Blitz account.
- SPAM reports must remain below 0.1%. Click here for information on tracking this in your Blitz account.
- You are responsible for the content of all emails sent from your account and must follow all applicable local, state, national, and international laws and regulations, including without limitation the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.
- You may not use the email service to transmit, distribute or deliver any unsolicited bulk or commercial email through the service.
- You agree that emails do not use any deceptive technique to obscure, misrepresent or hide any information regarding the origin of the email or its transmission path; do not use deceptive addressing; do not use a third party's domain name without permission of the third party; do not contain false or misleading content in the subject or in any part of the message.
- You shall not send, transmit, handle, distribute, any email through the service that: (a) violates the usage standards of any entity, including without limitation any ISP or User Group (b) is vulgar, indecent, or obscene; (c) is threatening, abusive, harassing, or defamatory; (d) infringes on a third parties privacy or intellectual property right(s); (e) is fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading.
Failure to comply with Blitz's email policy can result in restricting the usage of the email service, suspending the account, or other actions deemed appropriate.
Email Best Practices
Sometimes you may think you're doing everything right, but are still getting emails flagged as SPAM. What can you do about this? Below are some of the top mistakes to avoid when sending emails:
- Taking too long to contact someone after they have opted in. Permission generally goes stale within about 6 months, so if it's been longer than that since you've spoken to them, you will need to call and reconfirm their email address and that they still would like to receive your emails.
- Contacting someone at a bad time. We suggest following up at an ideal time for the contact, such as an x-date approaching. If it's been awhile since you've spoken, there should be a reason for the follow up from the prospect's point of view.
- Frequency of emails. Sending too many emails, especially with similar or repetitive content, can trigger a SPAM complaint. Keep your templates fresh by mixing educational emails with promotional emails, and keep them spaced out enough that they will not open up their email and see several unopened messages from you. Also, mixing up contact methods (e.g. adding a phone call or text) will increase your chances of reaching the person, and reduce the chance of SPAM because they will be expecting your email.
- Hiding your identity. If a recipient does not know who you are, they are likely to mark the message as SPAM. This can occur if you are using a personal email instead of one that has your company's domain, a lack of branding, or not enough contact information. We suggest at a minimum having your company name, your name, your company address (for SPAM compliance), and at least two ways you can be reached (phone and email for example).
- Using promotional phrases that are too good to be true, such as "Act now and save!" or “Once in a lifetime opportunity!”
- Attempting to mislead the recipient by adding "FWD" or "RE" at the beginning of the subject line.
- Too long. The longer an email is, the less likely the recipient will want to read it. Think of an email as an opportunity to start a conversation, instead of including every detail that they may or may not be interested in.
- Not explaining your intentions. If someone doesn't understand why you are emailing them, they are more likely to flag your email to prevent future confusing messages. We suggest opening with a line that talks about how you obtained their information (if they are a new web lead for example, you could explain that you received their request), or if they are someone you have spoken to in the past you could reference your previous communications and the fact that they requested you contact them in the future.
- Excessive use of exclamation points.
- Using all caps, especially in the subject line.
- Using loud colors, such as bright green or red.
- Adding fancy fonts, centering the text, or other excessive formatting. If you do want to make your templates look more professional, opt for using tables or images. If you are familiar with HTML, google "email templates" to find plenty of ideas and free templates (just be sure to remove any header information).
- Using sloppy HTML. This usually happens when copying and pasting from another source, such as Microsoft Word, and can create broken links or spacing and font issues.
- Adding images that are too large, or are the only content of the email.
- Hiding the "Opt out" message. This message is at the bottom of every Blitz Workflow and Campaign email, so make sure there are no additional spaces added to the bottom of your template. Opting out does not count against you, so this is the best way for the recipient to let you know that they would not like to receive your emails (as opposed to marking them as spam).
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