Should I include Listserv addresses in my contact list?

Commonly our B2B and higher education customers ask if they can send emails to distribution lists (a.k.a. listserv). The real question you need to ask is should you send to a distribution list?

Our short answer is no, you should not add email that are distributions lists to your account. The following are the reasons why:

1. Sending to a distribution email address is technically in violation of our permissions policy (see Section 4D of our Anti-Spam policy), since people will be receiving your emails that have not directly opted in. You should ask each recipient of the listserv to sign up or provide their email address another way.
2. Any person in that group who clicks 'Unsubscribe' will unsubscribe the entire group. If the distribution email gets opted out, we will not allow the email address to be opted back in.
3. We cannot report accurately on behavior from this group since all opens/clicks/etc. will be reported under the single distribution email address.

We suggest you either deliver the information to the listserv in another manner (a direct email from you, or by using the forward to a friend feature, for instance), or give folks at the listserv a chance to sign up for your newsletter by pointing them to your signup form.