Conducting A Targeted Direct
E-mail Campaign
Mention the words, "targeted direct e-mail," to anyone who's spent some time on
the Internet and they're likely to think of "spamming" -- the taboo practice of
blitzing online users with unwanted junk mail. But there is a difference. Because E-mail
is such a powerful way to advertise online, "politically correct" methods of
sending Bulk E-mail have been developed.
Years ago, when an Arizona law firm named Canter & Siegel posted ads for its
immigration law services to 10,000 Usenet newsgroups, the reaction from the Internet
community came fast and furious. Not only was Canter & Siegel bombarded by electronic
hate mail, but the firm lost its Internet access account and quickly became a pariah on
the newly commercializing network.
Today, there are numerous companies that send out "bulk e-mail" on behalf of
Internet marketers. Probably one of the largest, and most heard about, is a company called
CyberPromotions who is said to mail out 5 million E-mail ads each and every single day.
The problem is, people that they mail to have never asked to receive E-mail from them.
While companies like Cyber Promotions and Canter & Siegel will probably always be with
us, I believe that the future of direct marketing on the Internet lies with those marketer
that are prepared to do business in a manner that respects the Internet's community and
culture.
The Future Of Direct Marketing On The Internet
The general idea is similar to mail order. Send out thousands of
"advertisements" and statistically speaking you will get a certain percentage of
positive responses. The main purposes for sending bulk E-mail are to generate traffic to a
web site, get leads or prospects, distribute a newsletter, or to sell a
product/service/opportunity. But where do you get the lists to mail to?
There are basically two ways to go about it, one is free and the other is not. For
starters, you can build your own list by simply asking people if they would like to
receive any of the information you have to offer, or make the people who do request your
offers through your ads aware that you will keep them updated when you have other offers
in the future.
Of course, you can always buy a list if you want. But you should beware when renting or
buying E-mail lists from third parties. Be sure you have it in writing that the
individuals on the lists have consented to receiving offers from other companies. It can
be pretty embarrassing to pay good money for this type of list just to get flamed when you
send your promotional material.
Here are 3 steps that I believe that we as an industry need to take to do this correctly
...
1. Let recipients "opt in" before they "opt out."
Cyber Promotions insists in its lawsuits that it is not dumping unwanted E-mail messages
into Internet users' mailboxes but rather selecting its recipients "based on certain
criteria or profiles" to target those people most interested in what is being
advertised. Recipients of the mailings need to remove themselves from the list by sending
an e-mail message to an online deletion address.
That's a good start, but I don't think it will be good enough to fend off the regulatory
agencies. Fact is, bulk E-Mailers like Cyber Promotions don't give their recipients the
option of never getting on their lists in the first place -- and that's a big problem.
While sending targeted offers to consumers who match certain demographic profiles and live
in certain geographic areas may be an acceptable practice in the postal world, it's still
taboo on the Internet and probably will remain so for some time.
The way I see it, the only politically correct way to build an Internet mailing list is to
allow users to come to your Web site and sign up voluntarily to receive e-mail about
particular topics, then give them a chance to get off the list every time you send them a
message.
2. Send recipients only information that they signed up to receive.
Once you've built a targeted mailing list of recipients you want to reach, you have a
responsibility to send them only that information that they have asked to receive. If
someone comes to your site and requests information about scuba diving, for example, you
shouldn't send them an ad for a new herbal remedy or work-at-home business opportunity.
But what if you're marketing a list of names and e-mail addresses collected by a Web site
that hasn't disclosed to its list members that their names will be rented to third
parties? Is it fair game to rent them anyway and simply let people "opt out"? In
my view, the answer is "no."
Fortunately, there are ways that you can convert a restricted list to one that you can
rent. I will typically advise other site owner to send a message to their existing list
members and ask if them they'd like to receive mailings about related topics. I also
suggest that they change the wording on their site to make it clear what kind of mail
their list members will be receiving in the future.
While it's better netiquette (Internet etiquette) to ask your list members to return to
your site and "opt in" to the new mailing list, you'll retain more list members
if you simply give them the chance to "opt out" if they do not want to receive
that extra mail. The key is to let them off the list before you start shipping commercial
messages their way.
3. Give your recipients value.
No matter how politically correct your system, commercial e-mail takes up recipients' time
and bandwidth. That's why it's important to give your recipients something of value that
makes it worth their while to download your message and read it. Not only is this good
netiquette, it's also good business.
Can Bulk E-mail Lead To Long-Term Success?
The answer to this question is both yes and no. Yes, bulk E-mail can produce positive
results if the following conditions are met:
a) You choose a legitimate service who does what you pay them to do.
b) Your message goes out to a target group of people who REQUESTED the information.
c) The target group are people who would likely be interested in what you have to offer.
With reference to the first point. I have received several complaints from people who have
paid a company for bulk E-mail, yet feel they were taken advantage of. Specifically I know
of a person who paid $100 for an autoresponder and delivery of his ad to 5,000 people. But
all he really got was an autoresponder filled with fake responses.
When he attempted to contact these people he was either unsuccessful, was treated rudely,
or was asked if he had "been taken like they were" by the same company. All
attempts to receive a refund from this company have been unsuccessful. Of course, not all
bulk E-mail companies are going to take your money and run. The point is this: do your
homework before you buy.
To address the second point, the biggest problem with bulk E-mail is that most services do
not offer a subscriber list. That is, the people on the list are not there because they
want to receive information. They are there because their address was stripped from a
newsgroup, web site access log, or some other Internet resource. Want to confirm this for
yourself?
Post a message to a few newsgroups and see for yourself what happens. Within hours, and
for the next few weeks you will get mysterious solicitations popping up in your E-mail
box. This practice of stripping E-mail addresses off newsgroups and then sending
solicitations to them is called spamming. Of course, you'll want to reply to these
messages with your advertisement.
Conclusion
If you want bulk E-mail to work, first, the mailing must go to a group of people who would
be interested in what you have to offer. Secondly, they must have requested to receive it.
It's as simple as that. Your results will be better and no one will be offended by having
received it since they have requested it. In fact, they normally look forward to receiving
such messages.
Currently, we recommend Postmaster Direct.
<-- Prev | Back To
The Outline | Next -->
|