X-Cart forums - Auto-email customers with abandoned carts?

Quote:

Originally Posted by blakekr

Some of my competitors automagically send out polite inquiry emails within an hour or so if you start a cart in their shop and then abandon it. I would love to have this too, especially since I'm relatively new to x-cart and don't have a good idea of why carts get abandoned on my site (other than the Canadian shipping issue). Does anyone offer this kind of mod?

here is the breakdown of the basics of the canned spam law. Hope this helps you write your terms of service and privacy policy. :) Hardly anyone ever reads the sites privacy, terms of service, and website use policies. Yet these policies are what lets the viewer and registering customer know what you plan to do with their information. If they do not agree they may then leave with no harm being done, or should they choose to remain browsing, they are now accepting your terms, especially if they registered and then abandoned a cart and you had a specific detailed policy letting them know you may send them an email if their is non-complete or problems with attempted orders. Just don't go crazy and make the policy so broad that someone would not even stay viewing the site. If the policy is too opened ended you risk alienating your customer base. be specific in the terms and always write it to be customer service oriented so they get the feel good feeling when they read it. Please contact a lawyer for verification on how you should proceed. And for the mod get xcart, bcse, Ryan or someone else that knows xcart to code this basic setup for you. Good Luck!

What the Law Requires

Here's a rundown of the law's main provisions:

It bans false or misleading header information. Your email's "From," "To," and routing information √ including the originating domain name and email address √ must be accurate and identify the person who initiated the email.
It prohibits deceptive subject lines. The subject line cannot mislead the recipient about the contents or subject matter of the message.
It requires that your email give recipients an opt-out method. You must provide a return email address or another Internet-based response mechanism that allows a recipient to ask you not to send future email messages to that email address, and you must honor the requests. You may create a "menu" of choices to allow a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include the option to end any commercial messages from the sender.

Any opt-out mechanism you offer must be able to process opt-out requests for at least 30 days after you send your commercial email. When you receive an opt-out request, the law gives you 10 business days to stop sending email to the requestor's email address. You cannot help another entity send email to that address, or have another entity send email on your behalf to that address. Finally, it's illegal for you to sell or transfer the email addresses of people who choose not to receive your email, even in the form of a mailing list, unless you transfer the addresses so another entity can comply with the law.
It requires that commercial email be identified as an advertisement and include the sender's valid physical postal address. Your message must contain clear and conspicuous notice that the message is an advertisement or solicitation and that the recipient can opt out of receiving more commercial email from you. It also must include your valid physical postal address.