When E-Mail Marketing Should be Used
In my office we have this box with buttons and lights. This box is my company’s personal communication line with a small restaurant. Every morning at 10:30 this box spits out a menu—it is dependable and informative. What I did not know is that this mystical box is not our version of the Cold War’s Washington-Moscow Hotline; instead this communication line is open for anyone to use. Even though the first computer fax board was released in the early 1980s it blows my mind that not only people use them for unimportant communicable means, but also as a means to market.
There are lots of ways that e-mail marketing is a prominent marketing strategy now, for example you are able to send a highly detailed message, with images and links, with a custom tailored message that targets the recipient. E-mails can target certain demographics such as, sex, age, or zip code. Beyond being able to deliver the correct message the correct person, e-mail marketing (if set-up properly) can be used to track efficiency. Because e-mail communication is a two-way digital road, bounce-backs and the likes allow us to track if our databases are up to date—and provide an instant means for recipients to a desired take action. It is a great way for businesses to have customers willingly sign up to receive direct communication (shameless sign-up example seen here, with e-mail example seen above). Businesses should take advantage of e-mail marketing, but also go one step further by using e-mail marketing as a focus group to better know their audience. Plus, if we stop using the fax machine, then maybe the Bank of America in Ashland won’t be evacuated as frequently.
May 31st, 2007 at 5:21 am
Yesterday had a disasterous result from email blast to our customers. Apparently, AOL has taken aggressive measures to assure their customers are protected from SPAM. A large number of our customers did not recognize our email attempt and sent it to SPAM. When the SPAM number reaches a certain level, AOL shuts down that IP address. We use an ourside server and we shut them down with our email blast. That shut down our outside servers others customers, too!!!
How do you get your advertising through to potential customers if they send you to SPAM???
May 31st, 2007 at 7:50 am
With about 62% of weekly e-mails being spam, it is important to look at several factors of e-mail marketing and have a basic understanding of how the Federal Trade Commission works. Firstly, communication on the Internet is truly interactive. E-mail blasts allow the recipient the ability to click a link, forward the e-mail to a friend, or even report it as SPAM to the FTC. Because of the ability to act and react to e-mails, it is essential to operate under a “permission-based” strategy—meaning that you do not buy, borrow, or steal e-mail addresses from other companies. While most businesses are guilty of the thought “this other company has the perfect demographic for us to reach to, let’s just take their list,” many businesses don’t understand that doing so can put their company on the blacklist, which means that all e-mail from the business could be found to be SPAM, violating the FTC (http://www.ftc.gov/spam/). A work around is to build a business relationship with the other business whose list you wish to borrow. Simply have them send out an e-mail broadcast with a strong message, to encourage users to take the initiative to join for YOUR e-mail list. You have to remember that the average consumer gets more than 300 e-mails a day; the only ones that they will open are the ones that they know they wish to receive. If you don’t have a business relationship with another business, then you will have to do some creative marketing/advertising/PR to help build YOUR database.
Secondly, once you have this list you need to give your audience what they want. If you buy tickets to a rock and roll concert, image how upset you’d be if you get to your seat and all of a sudden the concert was switched to a ballet—you’d probably leave and, possibly, never go to that venue again. It’s the same premise with e-mail marketing (and any time of direct marketing). In addition to giving pertinent information, make sure that this information is aesthetically pleasing—no one wants to, or has time to, read a 4 paragraph e-mail without images. Make sure that there is some value to these e-mails, either information or even an incentive that can be easily accessed.
Thirdly, technically speaking, make sure that the e-mails are being sent through a source that complies with the CAN-SPAM (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/canspam.shtm) guidelines. Another useful thing is to make certain that the recipients have added the e-mail address to their white list, or “not spam” filter, so the e-mail actually gets to them.
The most important thing to remember is that direct marketing (e-mail, direct mail, etc) should be used as a means to create a solid relationship with a customer. It should not be used as way to hopefully get some new leads, the shoot 1,000 bullets in the air and hope that one hits something. This is especially important as new legislature makes it a click away, literally, to report SPAM to the government. If used correctly, e-mail marketing can be the most profitable means to disseminate a message; it literally costs less than a penny to send a single e-mail (depending on the service you have, and the number of contacts).
There are many other factors, but these are some of the big ones to keep in mind. If anyone else has suggestions/comments/questions, please post them here…don’t be shy.
May 31st, 2007 at 8:45 am
Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) must be used when sending emails from a 3rd party service. Otherwise it doesn’t matter how good your message or design is.
It is also a good idea to “throttle” your message to slow its delivery speed and thus spread your message out over time. This improves delivery because the slower you send your message, the less likely you’ll be subjected to frequency filters or blocks. Many large ISPs and corporations are sensitive to mail density and tune their filtering systems to attribute a higher spam score to messages that come in large bunches. Similarly, many ISPs track a sender’s reputation based on the number of unsolicited email complaints that they generate over a certain period of time. 30 unsolicited email complaints received over 6 hours, though certainly undesirable, will be a softer blow to your sending reputation than the same 30 complaints received over 15 minutes.