Last Modified: August 8, 2025
We at Sally Jo care about everyone's time, their inboxes, and most importantly their trust.
Sending messages, whether email or text, to people who did not ask for them can do more harm than good. For small businesses and non-profits, it is not just a tech issue—it is a people problem. Flooding someone's inbox without permission doesn't just annoy them. It chips away at trust until they're running for the unsubscribe button. You do not just risk being ignored. You risk being remembered for the wrong reasons. And in a world where loyalty matters, that is a price most organizations can not afford.
If that was not bad enough, ISPs and cellular carriers can cause problems for digital marketers in the name of filtering unwanted and unsolicited emails and texts. Over 85% of all outgoing email traffic today is considered "spam". Consequently, there are great processing costs that are put on ISPs, carriers, and email administrators in filtering spam from their users. To protect their systems and customers, these gatekeepers aggressively monitor sender behavior, deploy complex filtering algorithms, and maintain strict thresholds for acceptable email and text practices. Even the most well-intentioned of marketers can get caught in these filters if their messages trigger too many complaints, hit too many spam traps, or resemble bulk and unsolicited messaging. Once flagged, a sender's emails may be silently dropped, routed to junk folders, or blocked entirely—often without warning and with long-lasting consequences.
At Sally Jo, we want every one of our customers to send messages that their leads and customers would actually want to receive. Sally Jo has no tolerance for spam.
For our purposes, we will define spam as follows:
Spam shall mean any unsolicited and substantially identical email or text message sent in bulk to multiple recipients without the recipients' prior affirmative consent.
The term "affirmative consent" will mean the recipient expressly consents to receive the message from you. The consent must specifically be for the sender. Affirmative consent must be made either in response to a clear and conspicuous request or at the recipient's own initiative. Any general consent to be contacted by third parties is not sufficient to be an affirmative consent. Any email address lists purchased from a third party or scraped from the internet would not constitute affirmative consent.
Many senders mistakenly believe that as long as they avoid obvious spam topics like miracle diets or financial schemes, their messages are compliant. In reality, spam is not determined by content alone. What truly matters is whether the recipient has given clear, affirmative permission to receive the communication. Regardless of how professional or harmless an email may seem, if it is sent without proper consent, it can—and likely will—be flagged as spam. This is why permission-based sending is the cornerstone of compliance, not just content restrictions.
At the core, our goal is to make sure our customers' emails reach their recipients' inboxes. To maximize deliverability, we actively monitor email lists, complaint rates, and engagement metrics. When someone sends to outdated or invalid addresses, triggers spam complaints, or consistently sees low engagement, it does not just hurt their results—it puts the entire Sally Jo platform at risk. If our mail servers are flagged or blocked due to poor sending practices, everyone using Sally Jo is affected. That is why we take responsible email behavior seriously—for everyone's benefit.
DISCLAIMER: SALLY JO DOES NOT GIVE LEGAL ADVICE.
Eliminating spam is a global effort led by governments and major companies across the world. In the United States, for example, Congress passed the CAN-SPAM Act in 2004. This law regulates commercial email by establishing limitations for commercial messages, giving recipients the right to unsubscribe from emails and text messages sent by you, and setting up severe penalties for violations.
Companies are also required not to use false or misleading header information, not use deceptive subject lines, notify recipients of their message as an advertisement, include your business's physical mail address, and monitor what third parties are doing on your behalf, to name a few.
While this law did not stop spam, it certainly made it less enticing to marketers. At Sally Jo, we champion the CAN-SPAM Act. However, we view it as the bare minimum rather than the goal to which marketers should aspire. Because spam is about consent, not content, any claims that messages are compliant with the CAN-SPAM Act are irrelevant.
If you are operating outside the United States, you must also be aware of foreign laws that limit spam. For instance, if you live or work in Canada or mail to Canadian citizens or companies, you will want to be sure to record and catalog express consent as outlined in the Canadian Anti-Spam Laws. However, we encourage all marketers to become familiar with these laws, especially if they live in or mail to recipients outside the United States.
At Sally Jo, our compliance team works closely with our customers to help them succeed. When we notice a list or campaign that raises concerns, we start by asking questions to understand the customer's business and marketing approach. We will review how contacts are gathered, what messages are being sent, and explore possible adjustments to improve results. Our goal is to help customers succeed using industry best practices. However, if a contact list is not based on proper consent, or is outdated or risky, we will require its removal. In rare cases, if a customer's practices consistently clash with our standards, we may suggest they find another platform that's a better fit… perhaps one that enjoys playing with fire.
If you believe you have received unwanted, unsolicited messages sent through our platform, please forward a copy of that message with your comments to abuse@sallyjo.com. Upon receipt, we will investigate each complaint and take appropriate action.