When Spam Confirmation E-mails Suck

July 29, 2010 by Judith

Spam is the bane of all who are online — except for the spammers of course! In the last couple weeks I’ve chatted with some onliners who complain about the fact they do not receive responses to inquiries when they use spam systems that require a sender to click a link and fill out a form, just to respond to their reply.

If you have a system in place like the one I describe, do so knowing that some will not respond to that confirmation and you will not receive the answers you seek. Especially if you initiated the contact by e-mailing them first!

When e-mailing a Web site or contact for the first time asking for their assistance or answers to questions you may have — =the onus is on you to add their domain to your whitelist or “approved senders” so that you make it easy for them to help you or answer your concerns.

I cannot count the number of folks I know who just delete these requests for confirmation. Their point of view is why should they have to prove they aren’t spammers when you e-mailed them first!? They have a point… although I don’t see the big deal in clicking a link and typing a few things to respond. (Although I do admin when I am über busy and having a rushed day, I catch myself grumbling what a PIA that is just to answer a site visitor or potential client’s questions.)

So, get in the habit when you initiate a request to immediately add that site’s domain to your list so that you make it easy to communicate with you. If you don’t want to do that, then, don’t be surprised, annoyed or disappointed if some responses never arrive.

I typed about this in 2008 and it looks like it’s time for a refresher — why not check out my E-mail Whitelist Etiquette?