This article explains what a listserv address is and why it is not appropriate to use them in your contact list.

A listserv address is an email address that acts like a mailing list - multiple recipients can subscribe to it and any emails sent to that listserv will be sent out to all contacts on the list. For example, when an email sent to a listserv address — like info@company.com or communications@example.com — it's actually set up to send any incoming emails to all of the subscribed recipients instead of just one person.

Why Emma does not allow listservs

We do not allow sending to listserv addresses for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, it's in violation of our Anti-Spam policy because the people on the listserv have not directly opted in to receive your marketing emails. While these people may have agreed to receive those listserv emails, that's not the same as opting to receive your emails directly. That's a serious gray area, which is one of the reasons why we don't permit it.

The other problem is that anyone can click to opt-out of the mailing and that will remove the entire list of recipients for the listserv address. Furthermore, if the list is posted online, that means that anyone can click that link, including search bots, which will guarantee that the address will be continually opted out.

How to work around a listserv address

The best way to avoid these pitfalls is to either deliver the information to the listserv addresses in another manner (for example: a direct email from you, or by using the forward to a friend feature), or give folks who subscribe to the listserv a chance to sign up for your newsletter by pointing them to your signup form. We recommend both, at least until you have your signups squared away.

Lastly, in order to comply with CAN-SPAM and other, similar laws, our Acceptable Use Policy, Services Agreement, and Anti-Spam Policy, any contact who has opted out must resubscribe themself. This means that you cannot change a contact's status from Opt-out back to Active from within your account. Even if the contact has been opted out accidentally, they still have to resubscribe themself. Since no one person can legally speak for the entire list, once a listserv address has been opted out, they cannot be opted back in again.