As your AOL subscribers upgrade to AOL 9.0, they will find a number of new spam controls aimed at keeping their inbox clean. These controls create a greater distinction between e-mail from the people that AOL customers know and those they don't by putting incoming email into one of these folders: everyone, people I know, bulk senders, and/or unknown senders. For e-mail marketers like us, unless your AOL subscribers put you in the “people I know” category, chances are you are considered an “unknown sender,” and your email newsletter will not get through. In this case, being a stranger to your subscribers will start to hurt unless you take these important steps… Send your AOL subscribers a text message and make them aware of this issue. You want to do this soon, before they upgrade to 9.0, if possible. In this email, request that they a) either add your newsletter mailing address to their address book, or b) simply reply to the text message you are sending. If they reply to your email, AOL will automatically put your address in your customers' address book and once in the address book, you are considered “people I know.” So, your subscribers can either add your address themselves, or just by replying, AOL will do it automatically. Now your newsletter will avoid the bulk email folder because you are no longer considered a stranger to your subscribers.
