Readers press the spam button when they do not recognise the sender, cannot find the unsubscribe link or have forgotten signing up. A familiar sender name, a visible unsubscribe and regular sending keep complaints rare.

A complaint, not an unsubscribe

A reader opens your newsletter, decides they do not want it, and presses the button in their email program that reports it as spam.

To them it is the same as unsubscribing, only quicker. To their email provider, and to the mailing service you send through, it is a complaint against your business.

Enough complaints from one send and the mailing service starts asking questions, or pauses the account. The reader's own provider may also start filing your newsletters as junk for its other users.

Why people press it

The third is the one businesses cause without noticing. A newsletter sent twice a year reaches people who signed up long enough ago to have forgotten, and the spam button is right there.

What happens to a complaint

Several large email providers report complaints back to the sending service, which removes the address from your list and counts the complaint against your account.

Mailing services set a low limit, because their ability to deliver everyone's mail depends on it. A send that crosses the limit can bring a warning, questions about how the list was collected, or a suspended account.

The provider keeps its own tally too. A sender often marked as spam finds later newsletters going to junk folders, including those of readers who wanted them.

A sender name people recognise

The name in the inbox should be the name customers use for you: the business name, or the owner's name with the business beside it if that is how people think of you.

Not a numbered company, not a staff member's first name on its own, and not whatever default the mailing service filled in.

Use a sending address on your own domain, and keep it the same from one issue to the next. A change of sender is exactly what makes a regular reader hesitate.

An unsubscribe link they can find

The link usually sits in small grey type under a long footer, below the address and the social icons, where a reader on a phone rarely scrolls.

Add a plain unsubscribe link near the top as well. It feels odd to make leaving easier, and it costs far less than a complaint.

Make it one click to a page that confirms the unsubscribe, with no login and no retyping of the address.

CASL requires an unsubscribe that works and is honoured within ten business days. A slow or awkward one sends readers to the spam button instead.

Remind them how they joined

One line at the top saying why the reader is receiving this, such as you signed up at our counter in the spring, answers the question before it turns into a complaint.

Send a welcome email within a day or two of each sign-up, so the first message arrives while people still remember giving the address.

And collect addresses in a way people remember: a box they ticked themselves, not one ticked for them.

A worked example

A family herb farm sells potted herbs from a farm stand between April and October and at two weekly farmers markets, and dried herbs and teas through a small online shop.

Addresses were collected on a clipboard at the markets all summer, and typed into the mailing service in one evening the following March.

The first newsletter of the season went out in April under the owner's first name, with the unsubscribe link at the very bottom, beneath a long list of market dates.

The next morning the mailing service wrote to say the send had drawn more complaints than its limit allowed, and that the account would be reviewed before the next one.

The reasons were plain enough. People had signed a clipboard the summer before, heard nothing since, and then received an email from a first name they did not know.

Now each week's addresses go in within two days, with a welcome email naming the market.

The sender is the farm's name, the unsubscribe appears at the top and bottom, and the clipboard sheets are kept as the record of who agreed.

Send often enough to be remembered

There is no single right frequency, but there is a wrong one: so rarely that each email arrives as a surprise.

Monthly suits most small businesses. A seasonal business can send less in its quiet months, but a short note in winter keeps the name familiar for spring.

A sudden jump causes complaints too. Moving from monthly to weekly in the holiday rush, without warning, sends readers who liked the old pace looking for the quickest way out.

Clear out the long-silent addresses

Addresses that have opened nothing in a year are where complaints gather. Some belong to people who stopped reading long ago and will report the next email rather than unsubscribe.

Send them one short email asking if they would like to keep receiving it, and remove those who do not answer.

Open counts are imprecise, since some programs show images only when asked, so treat silence as a hint rather than proof.

Adding addresses from business cards or a bought list invites the same trouble. Those readers never asked for a newsletter, and they are the likeliest to complain.

The counter-case

A small list of regular customers who know the owner personally rarely complains, and a business sending to a few dozen people need not watch the figure closely.

Some complaints cannot be avoided. People press the button by accident, or use it for everything, and one now and then is no cause for alarm.

But a list gathered at markets, counters or events and written to rarely is exactly the kind that draws them, and the fixes cost nothing: a familiar name, a visible link and a steady schedule.

Before the next send

  1. Change the sender name to the business name.
  2. Add an unsubscribe link near the top.
  3. Make unsubscribing one click, with no login.
  4. Remind readers how they signed up.
  5. Send a welcome email within two days.
  6. Set a schedule and keep to it.
  7. Check the complaints after every send.

Step six prevents the complaints the others only reduce. A reader who hears from you every month remembers who you are, and a reader who remembers rarely reaches for the spam button.

The plain copy that goes out with every newsletter is covered in the text version nobody checks.

Frequently asked questions

Why do readers mark newsletters as spam?

They do not recognise the sender, cannot find the unsubscribe link, forgot signing up, were added without asking, or find the button quicker than scrolling on a phone.

What happens when someone reports a newsletter?

Several large email providers tell the mailing service, which removes the address and counts the complaint. Too many from one send can bring a warning or a suspended account.

Do complaints affect other readers?

They can. The reader's provider keeps its own tally, and a sender often marked as spam finds later newsletters going to junk folders, even for readers who wanted them.

Where should the unsubscribe link go?

Near the top as well as at the bottom, leading in one click to a confirmation page. A link that asks readers to log in invites complaints instead.

How often should a small business send?

Often enough to be remembered, which for most means monthly. Twice a year reaches people who have forgotten signing up, and they are the ones who complain.

Should I remove readers who never open?

Ask them once whether they still want the emails, and remove those who do not answer. Open counts are imprecise, so treat silence as a hint, not proof.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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