We all remember when e-mail marketing was synonymous with spam. Companies would buy one of thousands of mailing lists available on the Internet for as little as US$11 - lists consisting of names that had been harvested without the recipients' consent. While these lists were indeed cheap to come by, the hostile response they unfailingly generated proved to be incredibly damaging to the company's reputation.
The sending of unsolicited e-mails has now become taboo. Marketers are obliged to adhere to a strict permission-based policy whereby they may not mail a customer without consent.
However, despite the good name that e-mail marketing has finally achieved, the boundaries between unsolicited and permission-based mails have become blurred. Spam artists are continually looking at new ways of bending the permission-based rule.
An obvious example is the "opt-out" approach. This involves the sending of unsolicited communication to prospective clients who are then asked to unsubscribe should they no longer wish to receive mails.
Tricking people into subscribing is always a bad idea. We've all seen the pre-checked boxes saying, "Please subscribe me to your list" on competition entries and purchase confirmation pages. We are now in a position where we are forced to make an effort NOT to join a list. Many people fail to notice the pre-checked box and unwittingly subscribe to yet another list.
The result is angry customers who, saturated with unsolicited marketing messages, add to the ever-increasing percentage of unopened mail. Not to mention the time wasted sorting through clogged inboxes. The Wall Street Journal estimates that by 2003, employees will waste 15 hours of productivity annually dealing with spam messages, a cost of US$400 per employee.
An additional concern is the flood of e-mails into inboxes worldwide. Jupiter Communications estimates that commercial e-mail market will soar to an estimated $7.3 billion and that online consumers could receive up to 1 600 commercial e-mails per year by 2005.
This increase in mail will place a severe strain on customers' attention spans. The greatest challenge for marketing professionals will be to rise above the deluge. Businesses will have to focus on delivering immense value from the very first e-mail they send, as the unsubscribe option is only a click away.
In the end, the way a subscriber feels about the e-mail relationship they have with you will determine whether your message is read or ignored. If a consumer looks in his in-box and says, "Hey, I always receive interesting stuff from this company!" you've got them for life.
The E-mail Corporation has established a reputation as the leading specialist in all aspects of electronic communication and messaging. http://www.emailco.net
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