Real Definition of Spam: Why Nonprofits and Businesses Need to Stop Worrying about ‘Spamming’ Their Email Lists

Don’t be Afraid of Your Supporters and Customers

A common fear among both businesses and nonprofits is sending too many emails, or sending emails that are “too long.”

This article has one simple purpose: To set the record straight about what is and is not spam so you can stop worrying about if your nonprofit or business is sending it. You’re not. The real definition of spam has little to do with volume of emails or whether they’re “wanted” or not. Those are completely irrelevant.

Spam is about perception, not reality.

Suppose a national pizza chain buys an email list and sends out one deal per week over email for a month to 5,000,000 unsuspecting victims who must then undergo the brutally difficult task of clicking ‘delete’ upon the horror of finding this email in their inbox.

Some people will call that spam. Some of those same people will respond to the deal and order the pizza.

What’s my point?

Spam in that sense is really just the email term for a commercial. Do you call TV commercials spam? Do you call radio commercials spam? What about Youtube ads that air before you can watch those very important cat videos?

You shouldn’t, because they aren’t. That’s called marketing, and every business has to do it in some form to survive.

Anyway, back to email. Email is a legitimate form of media, and therefore offers legitimate companies a way to advertise to potential customers. If those recipients like the offer, they’ll take it. If they want to ignore it, they can. Just like any other commercial.

But a legitimate company sending you email is not a spammer.

So let’s get to the real definition of spam. Here’s a rundown of three ways real spam differs from harmless email advertising that you can simply delete if you don’t want it.

1. Real spam has a nefarious purpose

Malware, phishing, scams, fake URLs, viruses – cybercriminals use deception and lies to get you to click on something in an email that you shouldn’t click on.

The Nigerian banking scam is one of the most famous spam emails. But the fake tech support emails, fake shipping problem messages, fake HR messages and things like these all try to ruin your life so a lazy person who doesn’t have the courage to get a real job can sit at home and collect unearned cash at great harm to others.

Real spam has greed and abuse baked into its code.

2. Real spam is trashy

The jokes about spam are jokes for a reason. Viagra, dating sites, diets, cosmetic surgery, porn, get-rich-quick opportunities – these kinds of spam emails flood everyone’s inboxes and usually include goofy characters in the subject lines, absurd promises, bad grammar, and other telltale signs of unprofessionalism.

Real spam preys upon our lesser impulses and base desires.

3. Real spam is ultra-short

I have yet to see a real spam email that’s more than a hundred words. Many feature just a single sentence. Many feature just a single link with no other messaging at all. Some feature only a bare bones graphic and nothing else.

But all of them have very little text or actual content. Why is this? Because spammers lack either the ability or the motivation – or both – to create anything of value that takes actual skill or effort.

Real spam is borne of apathy and incompetence.

What Is the Real Definition of Spam?

All this leads to the real definition of spam:

Short emails created by unqualified people sent out to mass audiences with self-serving and/or criminal intent.

Why Your Nonprofit or Business Sends Out ZERO Spam

The simple difference between emails your nonprofit or business sends out and spam is that your email list is filled with people who either directly opted in to your email, or who were added to it because of a clear interest in your organization.

Bottom line – they joined your list. They did so knowing what it means – that you will send them email. For them to then get angry about being sent email makes no sense. And if they ever do get annoyed, they’ll just unsubscribe. No harm done.

But if, for example, someone attends your fundraising event and you collect their email from their ticket purchase, is this a legitimate email contact that you should add to your list even though they didn’t explicitly sign up for it? YES.

Attending your event shows a far greater commitment to your cause than just filling out an email form. It is a valid assumption on your part that this person will want to hear more from you. If it turns out they do not, they’ll simply unsubscribe. No harm done.

Seeing the pattern? Don’t fear unsubscribes. They are a fact of email life.

Now, some might argue with me on the second one. They might protest about privacy and intrusion and unwanted emails and “I didn’t sign up for this.” But many of those same people give me flak for not owning a smartphone and for speaking out against many of the harmful social trends those devices have produced. Many of those same people are all over social media, liking and emoticoning everything, permitting Facebook’s pixel and other tracking methods to follow their every move, which leads to targeted ads being sent their way all the time.

“That’s the world we live in now,” I’m told, as they blissfully use public wi-fi to sign in to their online bank on their smartphone in full view of people around them.

Well, why is email any different? That’s the world we live in now. You’re going to get unwanted emails. You’ll have to just face the fact that you have to click delete now and then, which again I concede is a task that takes great labor and exhaustive amounts of time. Far more time than it takes to update your privacy settings in Facebook yet again after they ‘upgrade’ their platform without telling you.

And as far as the comparative harm goes, there’s little contest between smartphones and “unwanted” emails. Smartphones have wrought an incalculably greater amount of harm on society than discounted auto insurance in your email inbox ever could.

But I digress…

What You’re Really Sending to Your Email List

Back to the main point – you are not sending out any spam, because your list is filled with people who signed up to receive email from you, or did something else to justify you putting them on your list.

And to say it one more time, there is “no harm done” when someone unsubscribes. All this means is they don’t want to receive your emails anymore. You haven’t lost a potential donor, because if they don’t want your emails, they offer no benefit to you.

So stop worrying.

You’re not sending spam.

Long emails are not spam.

Fundraising appeals are not spam.

“Too many” emails doesn’t equate with spam.

On the contrary, your nonprofit is sending impactful, emotional, and informative content that keeps your donors and supporters connected and aligned with your mission, and motivated to take action on your behalf. 

That’s what you’re doing with all your emails. And don’t let anyone (including your board, your own employees, or even your supporters) tell you otherwise.

Remember – the same guy who complains about “spam” buys the pizza when the coupon comes to his inbox. What matters is what people do, not what they say.

Read about how many emails you should be sending

Learn the 5 Best Practice Pillars of Every Email You Send

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