E-Mail marketing

Originally posted by: alexstanley

At what point is e-mail marketing considered spam -what are the defining parameters?

I'm looking at different options to market the business, and haven't tried e-mail marketing yet so it's something I want to try. However, I don't want my e-mail to be trapped by spam filters, or considered as spam by a potential customer.

Anybody have any experience?

The broadest definition of spam is Unsolicited Bulk Email. So if it is unsolicited and bulk, it's definitely spam. If it's just one of those, then it may or may not be.

If you just buy a list of email addresses and send them all an email telling them about your products/services, that is spam. If you send an email to some or all of your existing customers, or people who have signed up to a newsletter, that is not spam.

If sending to existing customers, unless they have specifically opted into a mailing list, you can only legitimately email them about products/services directly related t products/services they've bought from you or enquired about in the past.

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Interesting.

So effectively I can't promote any product by email without them already being a customer if I want to avoid it being classed as spam.

If I do the same thing but by post, it seems to be more acceptible.  I wonder why that is?  Obviously I'm delving into more of a psychology angle here but it's interesting nevertheless!

It is interesting, and also a little bit of a grey area, as I am currently finding out.

I think that if you are hitting loads of private individuals, or hitting in bulk then it is definitly spam. However, if you are carefully targetting individuals who are placing their details in a public space, and may benefit from the marketing does that constitute spam? I guess in the true sense of the word, it probably does.

However...the point that I am concerned about, is, if for arguments sake, you are the chairman of a local five a side footbal club who posts his email address on the club site, and the local sports shop sees this address, can the local sports shop owner offer the chairman a deal through his mail address without it being constituted as spam?

Hi Alex,

Spam is generally defined as any email advertisements that are unsolicited or have not been opted into. It certainly is a fine line but it's one that is definitly not to be crossed.

The difference between traditional post mail and email marketing comes down to volume and type of mail being sent. Think about the volume of unsolicited emails you receive and what are they based on. 90% is irrelevant to your business and the number of emails also makes it time consuming to delete. These factors make for some very annoyed people.

Another consideration is how are your emails being written? Are they written in such a way as to appeal to your readers? Are they professional? Do they deliver a message that is helpful and informative? Every bit of communication that you deliver must offer some value thus adding to your online credibility.

All the best,

TamaraLyster Online
www.tamaralyster.net">href="http://www.tamaralyster.net">www.tamaralyster.net

A marketing concept for businesses focussed on health, wellness, personal development and human growth.

• Strategic Brand Development


• High Impact Business Writing


• OnDemand "Cost-Per-Query" Marketing
  

Just one other thought.....

Once you start getting a good database of subscribers who have opted into your emails, please be mindful you don't "overload" them with emails.

Consider very carefully the best way of delivering your emails so you don't end up annoying people with so much that they opt out. Are your emails primarily promoting a specific product or service? Or are they a combination of helpful articles and promo material?

Would it be best featured in a weekly or bi-monthly newsletter, or a series of emails throughout a fort-night?

Whichever you choose I wish you all the best with your endeavours.

TamaraLyster Online
www.tamaralyster.net">href="http://www.tamaralyster.net">www.tamaralyster.net

A marketing concept for businesses focussed on health, wellness, personal development and human growth.

• Strategic Brand Development


• High Impact Business Writing


• OnDemand "Cost-Per-Query" Marketing
  

How did www.myspace.com dtart ?

They had a database of 30 mio emails from their previous business, which was emailings.

Then the merged with another company, and ended up with about 100mio email addresses.

Facebook was earlier on the market, but did their marketing differently. So who has won the race ?

You can ask your existing relationships (clients, friends and so on) to introduce their contacts (or in other form such as by asking for contact details) so that you can send targeted email.

Highly targeted, personalised, and fluent emails can be powerful. 

To be honest, I wasn't impressed with the presentation (and design) of your website. Emails of similar quality will not do any good.

Hope it helps.