A new twist on confirmation

I got multiple copies of a request to “confirm my email address” recently. What’s interesting is the text surrounding the confirmation request.

Hello,
I have a list of potential customers in your area. The list includes several ways for you to contact them.
I would like to send you a sample of this list to the address I have on file: spamtrap@example.com.
Can you call me today at 1 (800) 676-2011 Ext 619 to confirm your email?
Thanks,
Travis Smith
Prospect Profile Specialist
1 (800) 676-2011 Ext 619

This message came to multiple spamtraps of mine. But I thought it was interesting that they’re actually trying to confirm addresses, even if the text surrounding it is a bit of a lie. None of the addresses the message was sent to is associated with any sort of commercial site.
Wonder how many confirmations Travis is getting? And if he’s actually sending “lists of customer addresses” to them, or if he’s actually just taking the confirmed addresses and adding them to the lists he is selling.

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Spam works

I got a spam today advertising spamming services that ended with a tagline that can be paraphrased: We managed to spam you, let us spam others on your behalf!
OK, so what they actually said was:

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TWSD: avoid filters

I was cleaning out one of my spamtraps. This is the one that gets a ton of “legitimate” spam. In the last 12 hours it’s gotten spam advertising: T.G.I.Fridays, KFC, Applebees, LendingTree, Lasix Vision Institute, Khols, Burger King, Match.com, and Vistaprint.
The footer of some of the mails are making me laugh, though. It’s clear they’re trying to comply with CAN SPAM, but are having problems with content filtering. Here’s a brief selection of the footers:
Ondemand Research, 1O5 E.[34th]-Street Ste 144, New Y0rk, NY 1OO16
Ondemand Research, 105 E. 34th Street St #144, New York, NY 10016
0ndemand=Research, 1O5/E/./34th Street Ste 144,New Y0rk,NY=1OO16
Poor OnDemand Research, they just can’t catch a break.
EDIT: Just got a spam for Ruby Tuesday’s using a .pw domain.

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Spam isn't a best practice

I’m hearing a lot of claims about best practices recently and I’m wondering what people really mean by the term. All too often people tell me that they comply with “all best practices” followed by a list of things they do that are clearly not best practices.
Some of those folks are clients or sales prospects but some of them are actually industry colleagues that have customers sending spam. In either case, I’ve been thinking a lot about best practices and what we all mean when we talk about best practices. In conversing with various people it’s clear that the term doesn’t mean what the speakers think it means.
For me, best practice means sending mail in a way that create happy and engaged recipients. There are a lot of details wrapped up in there, but all implementation choices stem from the answer to the question “what will make our customers happy.” But a lot of marketers, email and otherwise, don’t focus on what makes their recipients or targets happy.
In fact, for many people I talk to when they say “best practice” what they really mean is “send as much mail as recipients will tolerate.” This isn’t that surprising, the advertising and marketing industries survive by pushing things as far as the target will tolerate (emphasis added).

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