This post is for the benefit of (and comments from) fellow paid content publishers.
Constant Contact, a web-based email newsletter/marketing service that we at Venture Intelligence have been using to send out our paid for Deal Digest Daily newsletters sent us the following message - out of the blue - yesterday:
To which I had replied:
Kirsten's response to this went thus:
I have sent them the foll note - without much hope - and have started to look for an alternative provider:
Fortunately, there are plenty of services such as ConstantContact, including Benchmark Email, Mail Chimp, etc. I found a useful comparative review here:
http://email-marketing-service-review.toptenreviews.com/
My quick thought from this episode is that it would be useful to have email services which are not focused on "email marketing", but specialize in enabling the sending of email newsletters - especially, paid for ones like ours.
I would be happy to hear any comments/suggestions that you might have at arun@ventureintelligence.in
Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on private equity, venture capital and M&A deals in India. View free samples of Venture Intelligence newsletters and reports.
Constant Contact, a web-based email newsletter/marketing service that we at Venture Intelligence have been using to send out our paid for Deal Digest Daily newsletters sent us the following message - out of the blue - yesterday:
Response (Kristen D)
Dear Arun,
I am sorry to report that your account, login name: "entureintelligence" (sic), has been flagged for uploading several industry spamtraps along with a host of problematic addresses.
As a result, we will no longer be able to provide Constant Contact services to you.
The marketplace associated with sending email has changed dramatically, and as a result, we have had to adapt our complaint tolerances and list management inspections to meet the current business environment. While we appreciate your consideration, we can not afford the risk and exposure associated with your account. High abuse complaints result in getting our servers blocked by ISPs. We cannot limit the blocks to just your account, so it impacts all of our customers.
I will leave your account accessible until 9/21/2010, so that you may export your current list.
Please be reminded that your opt-outs (unsubscribe requests) via Constant Contact never expire. Federal law requires that you honor all opt-out requests indefinitely, regardless of future mailing platforms, unless you receive a new explicit opt-in request for that address.
Thank you for your attention.
Best Regards,
Constant Contact
Email: support@constantcontact.com
Web: http://www.constantcontact.com
Phone: 866-433-8499 or 339-222-5900
To which I had replied:
Customer (Arun Natarajan) 09/14/2011 11:57 PM
*OURS IS A PAID NEWSLETTER SERVICE - IE, OUR MAILING LIST IS MORE THAN 100% OPT IN. YOU CAN EASILY VERIFY THE SAME FROM OUR WEB SITE AT
http://ventureintelligence.in/newsletters.htm
WE ARE HIGHLY UPSET THAT YOU HAVE PREVENTED US FROM BEING ABLE TO SEND OUT OUR PAID FOR DAILY NEWSLETTER TODAY WITHOUT CHECKING THE BASIC FACTS / GIVING US A WARNING.
PLEASE TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO CHECK THE BASIC FACTS AND LET US KNOW, AT THE EARLIEST, IF YOU WOULD LIKE US TO CONTINUE USING CONSTANTCONTACT.
Kirsten's response to this went thus:
Arun,
Unfortunately, due to the nature of the addresses that were in your list we will not be able to continue service.
Thank you,
Kristen
I have sent them the foll note - without much hope - and have started to look for an alternative provider:
Kirsten,
Can you support "nature of the addresses that were in your list " with examples please? The key point we are making is that every single address on our list is either paid for or 100% opt-in based trial users. So, in our own interest, we would love to remove anyone who might not want to be on our list! Thanks. Arun
Fortunately, there are plenty of services such as ConstantContact, including Benchmark Email, Mail Chimp, etc. I found a useful comparative review here:
http://email-marketing-service-review.toptenreviews.com/
My quick thought from this episode is that it would be useful to have email services which are not focused on "email marketing", but specialize in enabling the sending of email newsletters - especially, paid for ones like ours.
I would be happy to hear any comments/suggestions that you might have at arun@ventureintelligence.in
Venture Intelligence is the leading provider of data and analysis on private equity, venture capital and M&A deals in India. View free samples of Venture Intelligence newsletters and reports.