Anti-spam Policy

MailServant's Policy

MailServant has a strict no spam policy. In-house customer support systems constantly monitor import lists and emails going to a high volume of contacts. Customers who are found to be abusing the anti-spam policy will be reported and have access to the product removed. 

If you know or suspect any violations, don't hesitate to notify us at abuse@aspedia.net

What is Spam?

Spam is the common term for electronic 'junk mail' – unwanted messages sent to a person's email account or mobile phone.

The content of spam messages varies. Some messages promote products or services, while others attempt to trick users into providing bank account or credit card details. Many spam messages contain offensive or fraudulent material, and some spread computer viruses.

Spam now makes up the majority of email traffic. Billions of unwanted spam messages clog up the internet, disrupt email delivery, reduce productivity and irritate users. **

Consent

The recipient of the email has to be clearly and fully notified of the collection of their email, and must consent prior to such collection and subsequent use (Informed Consent). In the case of pre-existing business relationships, users who have made a purchase, requested information, responded to a questionnaire/survey, or had offline contact with you may be added to the list.

Any message that doesn't meet the following three conditions is defined as spam:

  • Consent – the message must be sent with your consent
  • Identify – the message must contain accurate information about the person or organisation that authorised the sending of the message
  • Unsubscribe – the message must contain a functional 'unsubscribe' facility to allow you to opt out of receiving messages from that source.

Law

The Australian Spam Act 2003 and the Spam (Consequential Amendments) Act 2003 became operative on 11 April 2004. This legislation makes the act of spamming illegal and infringement notice penalties for breaching the Act include fines of up to $1.1 Million per day. There are also provisions for spammers to forfeit profits and pay compensation to spam victims. **

What kind of email addresses are OK to send to with MailServant?

To send email to anyone using MailServant, you must have clearly obtained their permission. This could be done through:

  • An email newsletter subscribe form on your web site.
  • An opt-in checkbox on a form. This checkbox must not be checked by default, the person completing the form must willingly select the checkbox to indicate they want to hear from you.
  • If someone completes an offline form like a survey or enters a competition, you can only contact them if it was explained to them that they would be contacted by email AND they ticked a box indicating they would like to be contacted.
  • Customers who have purchased from you within the last 2 years.
  • If someone gives you their business card and you have explained to them that you will be in touch by email, you can contact them. If they dropped their business card in a fishbowl at a trade show, there must be a sign indicating they will be contacted by email.

Basically, you can only ever email anyone who has clearly given you permission to email them specifically about the subject you're contacting them about.

What kind of email addresses ARE NOT OK to send to with MailServant?

Anything outside the examples above doesn't equal permission in our eyes, but here are some examples to make sure we're crystal clear. By using MailServant, you agree not to import or send to any email address which:

  • You do not have explicit, provable permission to contact in relation to the topic of the email you're sending.
  • You bought, loaned, rented or in any way acquired from a third party, no matter what they claim about quality or permission. You need to obtain permission yourself.
  • You haven't contacted via email in the last 2 years. Permission doesn't age well and these people have either changed email address or won't remember giving their permission in the first place.
  • You scraped or copy and pasted from the web. Just because people publish their email address doesn't mean they want to hear from you.

Sure, some of these people might have given you their email address, but what's missing is your permission to email them commercial messages. Blasting promotional emails to any of these people won't be effective and will more than likely see your email marked as spam by many of your recipients.

What must be included in every email?

Every commercial electronic message you send must: 

  • Clearly and accurately identify the individual or organisation who authorised the sending of the message. For example if your organisation gets a third party to send out messages on its behalf, the message must clearly identify the organisation on whose behalf the message is being sent – the correct legal name of the organisation or individual, and an Australian Business Number, where applicable. **
  • Include accurate information about how the recipient can contact your organisation, or you as an individual sender, for example, a physical or virtual address and a telephone number. **

Spam Protection

MailServant is a permission-based email-marketing tool that follows strict permission-based policies.

  • Communication - By accepting the license agreement you have agreed to use only permission-based lists and never sell or rent your lists. 
  • Unsubscribe - Every email sent with MailServant contains an unsubscribe link which allows your contacts to opt-out of future emails and automatically updates your mailing list to avoid sending unwanted emails.
  • Identification - Your email header information is correct because it is pre-set for you by MailServant. 
  • Verification - MailServant uses an integrated tool within the newsletter creation that allows the sender to view the likelihood that the email is considered spam, and what exact breaches are occurring. 

The Spam Test

  1. Are you importing a purchased list of ANY kind?
  2. Are you sending to non-specific addresses such as: sales@domain.com, business@domain.com, webmaster@domain.com, info@domain.com, or other general addresses.
  3. Are you sending to distribution lists or mailing lists which send indirectly to a variety of email addresses?
  4. Are you mailing to anyone who has not explicitly agreed to join your mailing list?
  5. Have you falsified your originating address or transmission path information?
  6. Have you used a third party email address or domain name without their permission?
  7. Does your email's subject line contain false or misleading information?
  8. Does your email fail to provide a working link to unsubscribe?
  9. Are you failing to process any unsubscribe requests that come to you via a reply to your email within 10 days or the request?


If you answer YES to ANY of the above then you are likely labeled a spammer. For more information visit The Coalition Against Unsolicited Email.

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