Looks like we’re in the era now of CAN-SPAM and we’re going to have to deal with it. The law may not be all that effective (see the clip I have below from BusinessWeek on how spammers are laughing it off) but within the trade many marketers and list managers/brokers are very concerned. I’ve heard through the grapevine that big time e-mailers are not scheduling third party mailings for months to come.

The e-mail marketing world is in a quandary. Some might say it’s a seller’s market now with all this lightening up of legitimate permission e-mail.

Because of all this fear and confusion about using e-mail as a prospecting tool many marketers are turning to co-registration techniques to garner new names. (Co-registration, for those who might be new to this term, occurs when a user goes to a site and registers and is shown other offers that he or she can opt-in for by simply checking a box.)

The "heat" is off as far as the front line of name collection is concerned with co-reg but returns when marketers mail to these lists. Marketers still need to be cautious when mailing to co-reg names. Many online users suffer a lot of amnesia when it comes to remembering what they signed up for and will hit the "Report Spam" button on AOL. That can turn out to be problematic if large numbers on AOL complain about any one marketer. It’s an art more than a science learning how to mail to names you gather from the Web but well worth mastering because it’s a list you’ll own forever.

In the meantime, look over these next findings to see if you are doing things right:

A recent survey conducted by Marketingprofs.com reveals  the results from over 2,800 e-mail marketers. An interesting profile emerged:

For more stats on what others are doing to benchmark yourself against click on

http://www.marketingprofs.com/benchmark/surveyasp/emailreport.asp

The biggest change over the last three years, according to a new Harris Poll is "that among the (now much larger) online population, the frequency of email use has declined somewhat while those using the Internet for many other purposes have increased."

The number of people who are online has increased over the last three years from 63% in 2000 to 69% by December 2003. Here’s a quick look at the activities that show the biggest increases of online adults who are doing each of the following "very often" or "often":

To see the rest of the findings in-depth click on http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=433

More backlash against the CAN-SPAM Act. Business Week's Stephen Wildstrom contrasts the CAN-SPAM Act to the FTC's Do Not Call list. While the Do Not Call list was successful almost immediately, spammers appear to be ignoring the CAN-SPAM Act. Wildstrom notes that the law was rushed and does not provide funding for enforcement, whereas the Do Not Call list was phased in over several months and much easier to enforce. (Corante 01/08/04)

http://www.corante.com/policy/redir/36520.html

Apparently, even the marketing industry is unhappy with the CAN-SPAM Act. Some e-mail marketers at the Spam and the Law Conference in San Francisco said that the aspects of CAN-SPAM remain unclear, and that they're uneasy about exposure to lawsuits as a result of the act. Mike Ellis, privacy manager for Date.com, said that the law has convinced his company to institute a strict policy on privacy and e-mail. "It makes us very careful to dot every i and cross every t on everything we do." (Corante 01/26/04)

http://www.corante.com/policy/redir/37825.html

Mediapost reported on January 2nd:

In what might seem like a paradox to some, online offers to purchase prescription erectile dysfunction drug Viagra ranked atop AOL's "Top 10 Spam Email Subject Lines" of 2003, but pornographic offers ranked near the bottom of the list at No. 9. Other top-ranking spam solicitations included offers for other prescription drugs, as well as online pharmacies (ranked No. 2) that sell them.

Offers to reduce the size of recipients' debt ranked third, while offers to increase the size of their anatomy (and "improve your sex life") ranked fourth. Online degrees (5th), lower mortgage rates (6th), lower insurance rates (7th), work-from-home (8th) and "as seen on Oprah" (10th) rounded out the top 10 spam subject lines detected by AOL, mainly from subscribers using its "Report Spam" button on the AOL service

The typical Internet user -- far from being a geek -- shuns television and actively socializes with friends, a study on surfing habits said Wednesday. - Read the whole story... (Mediapost 1/15)

Overall identity theft remained the top form of consumer fraud, but Internet related events are quickly climbing the list of top consumer complaints, according to a fourth annual report released Thursday by the Federal Trade Commission. Identity theft accounted for 42 percent of complaints lodged in the FTC's Consume Sentinel database. Internet auctions accounted for 15 percent of the complaints, while Internet services and computer complaints had a 6 percent share. (Mediapost 1/23/04)