E-mail solicitation protocol tips

The topic of email solicitation elicits many opinons, largely centered around SPAM and permission to solicit. It is worth checking out many of the feelings about this before taking on a campaign. Most large organizations have formal email use policies that you must comply with as well.

Here are two related tips for those of you doing your own emailing on smaller lists:

1. At the very least include a line at the bottom of your email giving people the option of opting out of your list. If they do then respect their opinions. For smaller lists you can simply have them email you. For larger lists there are automated services. Zookoda who run our newsletter automates the service for you, and best of all it's free! Check them out for list management if you don't already have a more sophisticated system in place.

2. Never disclose your clients' email addresses. If you send a large email to a list, put the email addresses in the BCC field so that they will not be revealed. In the TO field put your own address, or another that you create for the purpose. This is the only address that will be seen by readers.