Our Policy Against Spam

A Letter from Rich Julius, President, Specific Impulse Inc.

Specific Impulse is dedicated to helping create a spam-free world.

It's true that for many, bulk mail (or "junk mail") is an annoyance. But bulk mail is also one of the most convenient ways to discover new products, services, and businesses, and to receive special offers that we are truly interested in. Witness how many times you've tried a new restaurant or purchased anything from an oil change to a child's toy, because of a coupon, postcard, or flyer that came in the mail.

Direct marketing is still the most cost-effective and effective way to advertise, and many businesses, especially small businesses, rely on it to get their messages across. Targeted direct mail, delivered to geographically local communities or demographically similar groups, delivers messages that are far more likely to please their constituencies. How many times have you asked to place yourself on a list from a company you trusted, to be notified of upcoming sales or events?

Electronic direct mail (email) is more environmentally friendly and is easier to manage than paper-based mail, and when it began flowing some years ago, most people didn't give it a second thought. But today, it's no exaggeration to say that we actually face a spam crisis.

Spam is uncontrolled. Unlike paper-based direct mail, where the cost of printing and delivery is paid for by the advertiser, spam costs the sender almost nothing. Instead, spam costs the recipient time and money, as we sort though our email boxes and purchase anti-virus and anti-spam software.

While paper-based direct mail advertisers are well-identified, and are accountable for both truth-in-advertising and appropriate content and images, spammers are often anonymous, scurrilous, fraudulent, and offensive. Unsubscribe buttons are often spurious, simply serving to identify "real" email addresses. Worse, spam can contain viruses that attack our computers.

Spam must be stopped. Specific Impulse, like many responsible companies, is taking measures to help stop it.

Some of our products help clients create direct mail, both paper and email mass-mailings. Direct mail advertising is a reputable and reasonable activity, when done responsibly, and we advance best practices that promote the principles of "permission marketing." Our software encourages, and in some cases enforces, a level of responsibility and accountability.

While we cannot be responsible for the specific content of a client's mass-mailing (we are not in a position to enforce our own editorial preferences or censorship), we do take the following steps to protect the recipient:

• Every mass-mailing sent using StageOne is identified with the email address of the sender and the company sending the email. This is the registered name of the company who is using StageOne, and is not something that the sender can override.

• We strongly encourage StageOne customers to maintain their own opt-in lists or to purchase high-quality lists from reputable mailing houses. We also assist our clients with list management, to ensure the most targeted (and effective) mailing.

• We know who our customers are. StageOne customers must agree to the terms and conditions of the StageOne software license, which includes adherence to Federal, state, and local laws as well as an agreement to use the system responsibly and not to share it with non-registered users.

• Most important, every mass-mailing has an unsubscribe or preferences link. This link takes recipients to a part of the StageOne system that is under the control of the recipient. Here the recipient can set their subscription preferences (whatever have been specified by the company using StageOne) or they can unsubscribe. Once they unsubscribe, their record is flagged and cannot be used for future mass-mailings by that company. The company using StageOne cannot override or re-subscribe that email address; only the recipient can do that.

In this way, companies can send targeted, effective, tracked, and managed mass-mailings, and recipients can safely set their subscription preferences with a click they can trust. We call this JAMM, Just Acceptable Marketing Messages, not spam!

 
Terms of Use Privacy Policy Anti-Spam Policy Contact Us
Copyright © 1999-2006 Specific Impulse Inc. All rights reserved.