Hi,
I actually wrote that software for ClickSpace. It's part of a larger suite of application modules called DriveIt, including e-commerce, surveys, and messaging. I can assure you that when you permanently unsubscribe from one of our client's databases, you will never receive emails from them again. At least not using our software. It doesn't prevent our customers from using Outlook or something like that to send you emails from outside of our system.
Yes, we still keep your email address in our database. This is to prevent our customers from re-adding you back to their mailing lists when you've permanently unsubscribed. We also send you one last confirmation email when you unsubscribe with instructions for you in case you decide to later re-subscribe. We've also added a confirmed opt-in process that prevents anyone else from signing you up for a mailing list. You would have to click on a link in the confirmation email for you to continue to be put on a list.
So, is the message you received from our customer SPAM? Well, that all depends on your definition. Your friend was expecting the message, so how could it be spam? The spam filter says it's spam because it has HTML in there. I'm not sure why there is a font in the HTML with the same colour as the background. Possibly an error in the HTML. Our customers aren't usually HTML experts, so they sometimes make mistakes. A large font? Is that possibly for a heading in the email? Our software was designed to be easy for end-users, not only just for HTML designers. Our end-users don't always make the best design decisions when constructing their messages.
We also do track when you read the email by using an image in the email. It only records the first time you viewed the message. And we also record when you click on a link. This is required to give our customers information about how effective their email campaigns are. We don't add your email address to any mailing lists and we don't sell any of the information in our database. We have no interest in that and hate spam as much as everyone else.
Thanks for an interesting discussion. And I apologize if our system has ever been used to send you a message that you didn't want.
Sincerely,
Brendan Duddridge
Chief Technology Officer
ClickSpace Ineractive Inc.
Calgary, AB
Canada
http://www.clickspace.com/ |
