The CAN-SPAM act was passed in January 2004 to put controls on SPAM. Since Pivotal Veracity helps companies audit and ensure email delivery, you may think we're against CAN-SPAM and other anti-spam movements and will stop at nothing to deliver emails to the intended recipient. However, this isn't the case. Our goal is to support the fight against spam by helping to minimize the impact of false positives on both the individuals who are not receiving the email they have requested and the companies who are failing to get their legitimate email delivered.

Pivotal Veracity firmly believes that individuals have a right to clearly and specifically choose whether they want to receive communications via email and to change their mind at any time. We abhor unsolicited email and don't abide by its practice in any form.

Pivotal Veracity also believes that individuals have a right to receive the email they have requested. If a business' customer has requested email communications, we also staunchly stand by the company's right to communicate with this customer via email and their right to minimize the risks that may result in their email being erroneously blocked, discarded or redirected.

Pivotal Veracity advocates most anti-spam efforts and applauds the efforts by ISPs and companies to minimize the cost and nuisance of spam to their respective constituencies. We understand and respect that in order to keep up with the innovative techniques of spammers, the weapons employed to defeat them may not always be perfect.

Pivotal Veracity is a proud supporter of CAN-SPAM. While we fear it may not go far enough in terms of stemming the activities of those committed to breaking the law, we do believe it effectively helps clarify historically grey areas of email marketing and will allow both marketers and recipients alike to more clearly delineate between the activities of legitimate permission- based companies and those of spammers.

In order to preserve email as an efficient, convenient and effective method for communicating with customers, Pivotal Veracity recommends that organizations make a concerted effort to stay out of the grey area by considering the following:

1. Enforce a clear and conspicuous opt-in policy. Don't hide the opt-in language in the small print; don't make a desired benefit contingent upon receiving email; and don't pre-check opt-in boxes. In our opinion, if the customer did not directly give you his/her email address and actively opt-in to receiving the email, you're taking unneeded risks with your reputation and ultimately the goodwill of your customer.
2. Provide clear and comprehensive opt-out provisions and honor them. If your organization sends more than one type of communication, provide the customer with a means to not only opt-out of the specific communication he/she just received, but also offer the option to opt out of all communications. While you may be decentralized and represent the efforts of just one division of a large organization, consider that the recipient may perceive all divisions to be one.
3. Enforce your requirements on all marketing efforts to include acquisition campaigns. If you are going to rent an email list or participate in a co-registration site, insist and legally mandate that the vendor follows the same clear, conspicuous and comprehensive opt-in and opt-out procedures with its customers. It is your brand, your reputation, your deliverability you are protecting. Bad or careless decisions, now more than ever, have a direct and decisive impact on the advertiser.
4. Consider moving to a confirmed double opt-in policy now and implement a methodology for documenting the opt-in. Increasingly, customers are shying away from the use of unsubscribe mechanisms and relying instead on Òreport spamÓ buttons provided by their ISPs. The use of double opt-in, combined with tracking, will save you immeasurable time, money and effort in the long term.
5. Take responsibility for your deliverability. It isn't always the fault of your email service provider, the ISPs are not always wrong, and your creative is not always flawless. We have a long bumpy road ahead of us, and only through the diligent efforts of all parties involved and respect for the individual challenges each constituent faces, will we arrive at a solution.

About Pivotal Veracity

Founded in 2003, Pivotal Veracity is an independent email delivery auditing and management company that enables permission-based email marketers to improve their email delivery. The Company's technology helps direct marketers and their chosen deployment vendors analyze their email campaigns and drastically improve inbox placement. Pivotal Veracity's customers are Fortune 1000 marketers. The Company also partners with leading direct marketing providers including Eclipse Direct Marketing, BlueHornet Networks and Exact Target. A supporter of CAN-SPAM, Pivotal Veracity believes in responsible direct marketing and opt-in list generation. For more information on Pivotal Veracity, please visit www.pivotalveracity.com.