is it considered spamming when you send out a newsletter just to inform people
that e.g. you have updated a game from 1.3. to 1.4.? depending on the features in
the update there could be some valuable information for bugfixes or cool new features.

just asking because i've yet to see a company doing this, but i'm not sure why. i like to update software
regularly, but when there's no auto web-updater i can't be bothered to search the web myself.


Regards,
haze

For Pax Solaris we use regnow - they offer a list of customers which agree to receive such messages. We send out e-mails to the customers on this list (a little more than half of the total amount actually).

eSellerate has a similar feature: customers can check a box that says "Inform me of updates and new releases" (or something to that effect). I take those e-mail addresses and subscribe them to the Whirling Chair Announcements newsletter. Since it's "opt-in" (they have to ask to be informed of updates) and they can automatically unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time, it's not spam. Eventually, though, I plan to move to an in-game auto-updating system.

My feeling is that as long as they've explicitly opted in to receive communications from you (and can just as easily opt out), it's not spam, and it's a very convenient way of communicating with customers.

There seems to be a really weird idea out now that any commercial emailing is "spam." Not so. I *welcome* updates (so long as they aren't too frequent) from companies I do (or intend to do) repeat business with. And if they get annoying, I turn them off. That's not spam - that's perfectly legitimate and a great tool - both for the company and for me, as a consumer.

That's the equivalent of sending a personalized card to a former customer. Spam is like leaving a flyer on the windshield of every automobile in every parking lot in a 500-mile radius. Big difference.