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ServiceSMTP - A few rules to avoid being classed as a spammer

What is this about ?
Below are a few, simple but very important rules that will help ensure the messages you send are not classified as SPAM.

Why ?
We have noticed that not everybody is aware of the following very basic rules, or in any case not everybody abides by them. It is important to remember that Internet means, above all, coexistence. It cannot be otherwise, it is this coexistence of different interests, experiences, and mentalities that makes Internet the formidable tool it is for everybody. This is why we should follow these few simple rules, rather than waiting for somebody else to regulate what, by its nature, cannot be regulated. In this way we will work more sucessfully, be safer, and help the whole community.

ServiceSMTP is an easy-to-use tool that helps those who work to exploit the full potential of e-mail.
ServiceSMTP provides the technical part, and it is up to you to follow these few, simple rules to ensure that your messages are sucessfully delivered.

Considering that every message that reaches its destination is a Potential Customer, it is clear how important it is to follow these rules.

In concrete terms …..

Sender (1)
The message MUST always contain the FROM field with the address of the sender.
It may also contain the REPLY TO field, but if this field is used, it MUST be the same address as the one in the FROM field.
The use of a generic account such as noreply or bulk is strongly discouraged, and should be AVOIDED.
Accounts with names such as mail or e-mail or list or newsletter should also be avoided. Also, generic domains like yahoo, hotmail or gmail penalise you, and are more liable to be identified as sources of spam. This means that a sender such as bulk-e-mail@hotmail.com will almost certainly be filtered out as spam.

Sender (2)
Each e-mail MUST always contain, clearly legible within the message, details of the sender (name or company), address, contacts (e-mail and/or telephone).

Some will be amused by this, thinking about the type of e-mail they typically receive. This is further proof that your ServiceSMTP service gives good value If you have signed up it means you do business by e-mail, using it to reach potential Customers, and so you must do your best to achieve this results. People doing their job seriously have nothing to hide.

Managing the list
The names in your list must NEVER be acquired by third parties.
The names in your list must ALWAYS be confirmed. Confirmation by opt-in is necessary Confirmation by double opt-in is strongly recommended.

What is double opt-in ?
When you offer the option of signing up to your mailing list (for example on a page in your web site), the user can sign up to your list (= opt-in)
You send an e-mail to the address indicated by the user, asking that user to reply and confirm his intention to sign up. The user replies and confirms (= double opt-in)

Always remember that part of your work depends on proper delivery of every e-mail, and anything that facilitates successful delivery means extra earnings.

Indicate the wish to receive
ALWAYS, in every newsletter/e-mail you send out, dedicate a couple of lines to informing the recipient how he choose to receive the e-mail, and how

"...you are receiving this e-mail because you registered on our web site ..."

In this way, even if he fails to remember, the recipient cannot accuse you of sending him spam (provided your mail is accurate)

Allow cancellation of the registration
ALWAYS, in every newsletter/e-mail that you send, dedicate a couple of lines to informing the recipient how to cancel registration if he so wishes.

"...if you no longer wish to receive our newsletter click here ..." or "...if you no longer wish to receive our newsletter please send an e-mail to ..."

Not too much HTML
It is strongly recommended that you keep your messages as simple as possible. If the message contains more HTML code than text, or contains large images, it is very likely that it will be penalised by antispam filters.

Is this all necessary ?
Everything indicated above, although not actual law and perhaps disputable, IS NECESSARY to ensure proper delivery of your e-mails. Some points are strongly recommended, to avoid being caught in the mesh of antispam filters. Other rules ARE EXPRESSLY indicated by major providers as ESSENTIAL, and if they are not followed YOU WILL BE CONSIDERED A SOURCE OF SPAM, damaging both yourselves and our servers. For this reason, as indicated in the terms of service, we would immediately close non-compliant accounts

Encourage your insertion in WhiteLists
Many providers, for example Hotmail, give great importance to the "popularity" of the sender. Always advise your recipients to add you to their list of preferred contacts. Some providers (Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, etc.) have fairly simple ways of doing this (a simple link), while other providers or local antispam filters may use more complicated methods.

Avoid excessively high (fast) data flows
When sending out newsletters, set a certain delay between one send and the next. More and more providers have implemented this type of control, whereby if a large number of e-mails are sent out in a very short time (and even more so if there is a high error rate) the sending server is deprioritised and delivery of the e-mails is delayed. Also, the connection itself may be penalised.
This, together with the normal SMTP server dispatch rules, causes queues that can include thousands of e-mails, with delays that may run to days.
Check correct sending intervals for some of known programs.


Limit the number of accounts for lists
If you use a standard email client (Outlook, Thunderbird, etc.) to send your news/info you are probably using lists (BC/BCC).
Many providers are limiting this kind of use, given to this we have a limit of 50 email for list.
Lists over this limit will risk to be penalized or considered spam by many and some of the big providers.

Reduce the bounce rate
Large providers impose considerable penalties on senders (and servers) with a high bounce rate, that is to say a high rate of errors due to unknown addresses or full mailboxes (often a sign that they are no longer checked by the recipient). For this reason we try to impose a bounce rate that does not exceed 3%, assisting you by offering to provide lists of these accounts so that you can remove them from your mailing lists.

Thank you
Thank you for dedicating a little time to this issue. We hope that it has been of interest and provided some pointers for improving your work tools.