What Advisors Need To Understand About Spam

I find that financial advisors, more than any business owner, are guilty of NOT understanding the difference between SPAM and an email they don’t like.

It could be because advisors, as a whole, are newer to aspects of the internet and many don’t have newsletters due to compliance reasons, lack of funds to pay a compliance person to check their email newsletters, or because they don’t enjoy writing. The good thing is that many custodians, IBDs, advisor networks, and marketers offer their members compliance approved articles that can be placed in newsletters that are mailed or emailed.

And if you haven’t been around the internet since it started, then you haven’t watched the progression of emails considered spam, or be aware of the laws created in 2003 regarding spam, called the Can Spam Laws and beyond.

If you register for a newsletter (sign up), you get emails from that person/business. The content and delivery of those emails varies. And if you decide that you no longer want to receive those emails, what you should do is unsubscribe or remove yourself from the subscriber list.

Occasionally, you may register for a newsletter and find that you don’t like it. In this case, I would recommend deleting it. And if you get a bunch of emails you no longer want from that person, go down to the bottom of the email and remove yourself.

However, what I find is that advisors join newsletter lists and when they don’t like something, they report the email as spam. I presume it’s because they don’t understand what spam is or don’t understand the ramifications of reporting spam.

Take A Step Bank

To get on an email newsletter database, you give someone permission to add you to their list.  That can be done a few ways:

1. register for it on someone’s website
2. register for an ebook, assessment, or chapter of a book or some other entity on someone’s website
3. become a client for their service or product
4. ask to be connected to them on social networking

Double Opt-In

As a newsletter owner since the 1990’s, I’m a big believer in the double opt-in.  That’s when you register for a newsletter and then receive an email asking you to confirm that you did indeed request the free information.

Double opt-in came into being because of random email sign-ups or real spammers.  Random email sign-ups mean that someone, other than the person who subscribed, registered for the message.  It could be a prank, could be someone thinking you “should” be on a list, etc. So having to confirm your subscription stops this (most times) from happening.

Another scenario–spammers might have gotten your email address and/or name, and are using it to pester you. Again, when a business person offers an email list using double-opt-in, this sends an email confirmation to the person being spammed and you can read the instructions in the email regarding what to do next.

Most of our double opt in confirmations recommend that you just delete the confirmation and not confirm or hit reply and let us know you’ve been spammed.

Single Opt-In

When a newsletter owner uses single opt-in, as we sometimes do, you’re added to their database.  There is no confirmation sent and someone, other than yourself, subscribes you, you’re subscribed.

There are no confirmations sent to you, etc.

What Happens When Someone Reports Spam?

The hosting company of the author is notified. If enough complaints are made against a person, their email newsletter and even their website can be shut down. Saying that again. If enough complaints are made against someone’s newsletter you signed up for, a website can get shut down. Hopefully you agree that we all need to be more careful in making sure that what we are reporting is truly spam.

How I Know Someone Is Really a Spammer

I can quickly determine if an email is spam vs. something I requested in a very easy way. I have a special email address that I ONLY use for newsletters. When email comes to me through an account other than through my newsletter email account, I know it’s spam; and will report it as such.

But when I get an email I don’t like or want, from a newsletter that comes to me in my newsletter email account, I know to just delete that email. If I don’t like all the email that comes to me from that business, I unsubscribe or remove myself.

Legally, as a newsletter owner, I must put all my contact information and unsubscribe/removal instructions in my newsletter. Like most business owners, I put it at the bottom of each newsletter.

Result I Want From You

As a reader of this article and any newsletter, I ONLY want you to report spam when it is indeed spam. That is, when someone sends you emails that you never registered for. But if you registered for a newsletter, free ebook, download, or connected with someone on social networking and find that you no longer want to hear from that person, then go to the bottom of one of their emails and remove yourself from their subscriber list.

Be kind to other business owners. Don’t report someone as a spammer WHO IS NOT a spammer.

Learn more about the Can-Spam laws