INTRODUCTION
Like many people in this industry, I get a lot of email - around 200 per day. Of that, around half of them are work-related, several are emails I actually requested to receive and then there are a whole bunch of 'urgent' proposals to provide me with billions of sales leads, millions of pounds for just a few hours work or the chance to add a few inches below the waist, lose a few from above the waist or check out what young farm girls like to do. Needless to say, the delete button is a trusty old friend.
It's a common experience and one that fills most e-marketing types with caution - people have been writing about (as well as sending) spam since they started writing about the internet. Most intelligent marketers know what is and what isn't spam and understand how permission-based marketing works. But it's not always about the reality, but the perception. If you don't get your campaign right, people can be quick to perceive your email as spam and, by then, there's almost no chance of rescuing that contact or lead.
MASS MAIL MAYHEM
According to Charles Ping from the Digital Marketing Association, speaking at a recent email marketing event, 200bn emails will be sent to US marketers by 2004, with consumers receiving over 1600 commercial emails per year by 2005. Given those figures,
Of course, during this time of slashed advertising and marketing budgets and where PR is something other people do, email marketing is regularly seen as the cheap alternative. Its similarities to the tried and tested formula of direct mail only add to the attractiveness of an email campaign. However,
Acquisition | CPT | Click-through | Conversion | Cost per sale |
Email to rented list | $150 | 0.4% | 3% | $1250 |
Banner ads | $10 | 0.5% | 3% | $67 |
Direct mail to rented list | $875 | N/A | 1.2% | $73 |
Email to house list | $5 | 15% | 3.7% | $1 |
Direct mail to house list | $761 | N/A | 3.9% | $20 |
IT'S MY INBOX
The figures themselves provide a note of caution, but
Despite the ease with which emails can be deleted, in contrast to direct mail, Jon Davie, editor of Lastminute.com's UK email newsletter, said at the same event that users tend to see their email in-boxes as even more personal than their doormat - it may not be logical, but clearly, the directness of email correspondence provides a far more emotional response from users than direct mail.
In addition,
OPT IN vs. OPT OUT
Stephen Groom, at legal firm Osborne Clark, identified what legislation has been passed on this subject. While there is still no legally recognised definition of unsolicited email, the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 defines "solicited" as: initiated by the recipient of the communication or made in response to an express request from the recipient.
Beyond that, however, legislation becomes much more confusing - the current situation suggests that the
Groom's best suggestion was for marketers to use their company's data protection officer, if one is available, or check out the DMA Code of Practice for Electronic Commerce and make sure records are kept.
This effectively means that marketers get one free go at an unsolicited campaign, which, given a built-in opt-out clause for future campaigns (an advised, if not binding, practice), might result in an in-house prospect database. But unless the call to action is a hugely compelling one, most databases need to be grown and nurtured and that first unsolicited email can damage that potential for good.
According to
In addition, making too much emphasis on the one-to-one nature of email could prove damaging, according to
Which all goes to show how appealing and confusing email marketing can be, especially given the recent advertising slump, changing consumer attitudes and an almost total lack of agreement on standards and legislation. Ultimately, the future of email marketing is likely to be governed by those with the best ideas and the greatest compliance with current best practices. Or by that delete button.
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