Michelle,
A couple of questions:
* Did your customers consent to receive commercial email from you at the time you collected their contact information?
* How old is the contant information for your customers?
As to the first question, having taken a look at your site, I believe the answer is no.
I suspect the answer to the second question is that most of the contact information is over 30 days old.
Why are the answers to these two questions important?
Turning to the first question, if you don't have "affirmative consent" to send your contacts "commercial electronic mail message" (commercial email) then many consider you will be sending the people on your list unsolicited commercial email in bulk (otherwise known as spam).
Don't know what is meant by the terms "affirmative consent" and "commercial email?" These are terms found in the
The Can Spam Act of 2003.
The definitions for these terms are a bit complex, covering a number of different situations. In this case, we are talking about sending commercial email to customers. To have affirmative consent from a customer to send him or her commercial email, means the person receiving the message has agreed to have his or her name and email address added to your mailing list and receive these types of emails from you.
You will want to read
The Federal Regulators Are Coming to Town and
The Guys and Gals in Blue Have Arrived for more information this subject.
I appreciate some folks will disagree with this position.
The problem is the CAN SPAM Act of 2003 at the urging of the Direct Marketing Association is what is commonly known as an "opt-out law." The Act regulates the email industry. While it prohibits certain behavior, such as sending a commercial email without a functioning opt-out mechanism, the Act does not prohibit the sending of "unwanted unsolicited commercial email."
Instead the Act draws a difference between a "commercial electronic mail message" and a "transactional or relationship email message."
It also gives authority to the ISPs to set policies to block email.
As to the second question, since the list of email addresses is likely over 30 days old and this is your first contact with the people on the list, many of the people on your list may have foregotten about giving you their contact information. The result is there is a higher risk of spam complaints.
Does this mean all is lost? No. But, I might suggest a change of plans.
Instead of sending out the occassional commercial email to people using a service which allows you to import a list of names and email addresses, I would take a different approach:
* Develop and implement a plan to build a marketing channel using email to maintain customer relations and consider putting together a blog to talk about fashion tips and so forth.
* Sit down, read and then apply some courses on how to build a mailing list and publish an online newsletter.
* Don't want to do your own mailings? Work with an email service provider that gives you the tools needed to achieve the desired objectives.
In the spring, I put together an article, as much for my own benefit (because I was concerned about where email was going) called
Who Pays And How To Survive The Email Transition which can help people answer these questions.
I trust this information is of some assistance.
Kind regards,
John
John Glube
Toronto, Canada