Below are some of the common questions that client ask Em-Broadcast (EMB) about the services we offer.

Do Non-Profit and Political emails need to conform to the CAN-SPAM act? The short answer is "Yes-but" the Federal law (the CAN-SPAM Act) requires all "commercial electronic mail messages" (CEMMs) to obtain an "opt-in" for each recipient before send them a message. But, it specifically exempts "non-profit" and "political" entities from this requirement. Although, the other provisions of the Act must be followed. Some of the requirements are

• a clear and conspicuous notice of the opportunity to decline to receive further emails from the sender.
• a valid physical postal address of the sender.
• a clear and conspicuous subject text relating to the purpose and content of the email.

EMB conforms to all aspects of the CAN-SPAM Act.

How do you avoid being blocked by spam filters or internet service providers (ISP)? There is no way to guarantee that you will not be blocked, at some point, by a spam filter. We go through an elaborate routine with our daily broadcasts in order to minimize spam or ISP blocking. In addition, we do things such as:

• We have automatic online relationships (feedback loops) with the major ISP companies and conform to their terms.
• We only send political and non-profit content, no "commercial" content, so we are not identified as a commercial spam source.
• The email is designed with features that minimize spam "scoring" and avoids obvious content triggers.
• Divide the mail over a number of "mail nodes" so that all of the mail does not come from one IP address.
• Keep the volume per hour of emails from common mail IP addresses to certain limits for each ISP
• Randomize the various campaigns and emails so as to minimize spam blocking
• Block any unsubscribing recipients from future emails.
• Eliminate "bouncing" email addresses from our database.

Statistically, we have not observed an increase in "blocking" over the past several years. Actually the opposite is true because we have seen open rates increase, statistically.

What is the typical "opening" rate and timeline? The "typical" open rate varies greatly due to factor both inside and outside our control. The biggest determiner of future open rates is the "quality" of the email list. If it is a list of "previous multi-openers" than you can expect an open rate in excess of 25% to 45%, depending on the nature of the email content. If it is a "cold" list, that is a list of recipients who have never heard of your organization, then you should expect an open rate of 6% to 10% if you follow our "normal process" and timeline.

A typical broadcast moves through the following timeline:

• Day 1 - Test Sender Identity and "Subject Text" variations by sending 4 variations to 1,000 random emails.
• Day 2-5 - Broadcast to the entire list and then wait 3 days to accumulate 90% of the opens. The typical opening pattern is: 50% the first 24 hours; an additional 25% the next 24 hours; and approximately another 15% the third 24 hours.
• Day 6-9 - Resend the broadcast to the "non-openers" of the first broadcast, and then wait another 3 days to accumulate the additional opens. This typically nets approximately 20% of the original broadcast's open rate.
• Day 10 - Prepare a report on the opens, clicks, and plays of the content in the broadcast. Most of the data in the report is also available online, in real time, through the system administrator's login.

Please feel free to contact us with other questions.