How HomeFeedBack.com / ShowingSuite.com Facilitates Spam

I wrote a post a couple of years ago detailing how to stop Homefeedback.com spam.  The post still gets traffic for keywords like “homefeedback spam” so it’s obviously relevant and people obviously search that term (which means others feel homefeedback.com and spam are somehow related.)  Today, Homefeedback.com/ShowingSuite.com contacted me and asked me why I feel their system facilitates spam.

Hoemfeedback.com facilitates spam because it helps their users automatically generate & send unsolicited emails.  They are CAN-SPAM compliant, so are doing nothing illegal.  They provide a way to opt out of each communication (between the sender/listing agent and recipient/buyer’s agent) and are facilitating emails sent because of a specific action taken by the recipient.  However, they are facilitating email that I have specifically requested not to receive.

A couple of years ago, before blocking Homefeedback using gmail rules, I contacted the company and requested to opt out of all emails automatically sent by their system.  Their reply was an adamant, “No.”  They cited their CAN-SPAM compliance (which I was aware of) and stated that I can opt out of each specific sender’s email.  Obviously, I want to opt out of each sender’s email, as I had just asked them to opt me out of every sender’s email.  However, they would not comply with my request.  So, they are facilitating spam.

I provided a better solution to their company.  If they (and all feedback companies) would allow the recipient to set global preferences, they would provide a better experience to the recipient & sender.  If I could globally set my Homefeedback recipient settings to “never” to “5″ as a number of emails per showing, this allows the recipient to receive the number of reminders they wish, and helps the sender avoid looking like a spammer (and theoretically keeps the sender from being labeled as such, or from being opted out of.)  Out of respect for my other agents, I would more than likely set my global recipient limit to “1″ as I don’t mind receiving feedback requests, and often fill them out.  However, after the 3rd, 4th, or 5th reminder, it gets a bit old.

Full disclosure: I do use an automatic feedback service – ProAgentSolutions.com.  ProAgentSolutions has the same deficiencies as HomeFeedback, but isn’t as prolific, so I didn’t have a grudge against them when I shopped for a service.  Combine that with the fact that ProAgentSolutions.com is much cheaper than HomeFeedback, and my decision was made.

Automatic home feedback services are effective, and they do provide real value to your sellers.  However, they need to raise the bar and hold themselves to a higher standard than CAN-SPAM.  If any home feedback service is listening:  Provide the global settings I’ve outlined, and I will move to your service, and recommend it to others.