Marketing Buzz 12/03
The golden state bans unsolicited e-mail.
Spam Slam
This holiday season, e-mail marketers should take their list and
check it twice. Starting January 1, 2004, California has banned
unsolicited commercial e-mail messages sent from the state or to
any of its residents. As the country's most aggressive
anti-spam measure, the law allows state residents to sue spammers
for $1,000 per violation, up to $1 million.
"We now have a state law that makes compliance
difficult," says J. Trevor Hughes, executive director of the
Network
Advertising Initiative, a trade group of e-mail marketing
providers and tech companies. Hughes says 35 states have anti-spam
legislations, most addressing phony return addresses and deceptive
subject lines.
Businesses can still e-mail information to people who have
requested it or to past customers. That's why Ed Patrick, 37,
isn't worried. The founder of M4Internet, a San Mateo,
California, provider of e-mail marketing services, says this law
won't affect companies like his that use a two-step
confirmation process for opt-in addresses. He advises businesses to
be diligent about confirming opt-in addresses, providing opt-out
mechanisms and removing opt-outs ASAP.
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82%
of all small companies do their business
locally.
SOURCE: Quris Inc.
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92%
of consumers delete e-mails without reading
them; less than
5%
unsubscribe.
SOURCE: City Business Journals Network
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Gwen Moran is a consultant and writer specializing in
marketing. Reach her at moranmarketing@erols.com.