Re: Spam Cop

From: Rob Frankel <rob_at_robfrankel.com>
Date: Thu 13 Mar 2003 00:29:49 -0600

At 10:11 AM -0600 3/12/03, Alana Thornberg wrote:
>We recently received a letter from Spam Cop. I have a few questions:
>1. What type of power does spam cop have?

Nothing legitimate. This is an example of a cyber ambulance-chaser,
who can make trouble for you simply because he has nothing better to
do with his time. Could he make your life miserable? You bet.

>
>2. Our tech guy is telling us that they can completely shut down our
>email and make it impossible for us to send or receive email ever again,
>is this true?

Depends on how strongly worded your attorney's response to him is.

>
>3. What effects does Spam Cop have when you are reported?

Ten to one says he's demanding some form of payment from you, right?
He tried that with a couple of clients of mine. There are only two
effects I know of if you play ball: he gets richer and he leaves you
alone.

>
>4. What are the ramifications of being complained about 3 times?
>
>I am unsure of anything about the effects of being reported. We are a
>niche business and we want to send out a one time mailing to dentists to
>describe a free service that we are providing to them. We have built a
>national database of over 130,000 dental websites and we are giving them
>to the dentists for free. We want them to be aware that they have a
>website, and, if they wish, they can check their information to be sure
>it is correct and make any changes they want. There are no paid services
>included. This is a free public service.
>
>Apparently we have had two complaints. ( I sent out a test mailing of
>200. But, so far we've had over 25 dentists respond and sign in). Can we
>send out our one time mailing? What effects will it have if people
>complain to spam cop again? Will they shut us down?
>

A LOT depends on what you're sending out and how you send it. I send
unsolicited e-mail to prospects and never get spam complaints. If
you blast anonymous, high-sales HTML messages, you're going to be
perceived as a spammer.

If, on the other hand, you send a well-written note that truly is
targeted to them, nobody seems to mind. Nobody complains. And Spam
cop has no business.
--
Rob Frankel, "Yes, I really do turn users into evangelists for your brand."
Big Time Branding (SM) http://www.RobFrankel.com
Revenue-generating Branded Community (TM): http://www.i-legions.com
The best biz discussion list on the web: http://www.FrankelTips.com




Received on Thu Mar 13 2003 - 00:29:49 CST