|
Number
28: November 12, 2003
If you think your friends and colleagues would enjoy this newsletter
feel free to forward it to them. If someone
sent this to you,
today. Outlook 2003 and AOL 9 users, please add us to your trusted or buddy lists, so you won't miss an issue.
This week in Katydid:
Slamming
the Door on Newsletters
You asked for it. That's the point of using newsletters as a marketing
vehicle. You request timely information that you find valuable,
interesting, or at least entertaining. Companies (ideally) use
newsletters to build their credibility and generate awareness through
viral marketing. A growing trend though is beginning to muddy the
waters. Some companies have used a technique known in the telemarketing
world as 'slamming.'
Some of my readers have reported it and it has happened to me. You
receive a newsletter in your e-mail that you know you never requested.
In some cases, it's merely spam designed to look like a newsletter. In
other cases, it's a legitimate company's newsletter and they have added
you to their subscription without your consent.
Building momentum for a newsletter is a challenge. You begin with a
seed list. This is usually your network of customers, clients, friends,
and associates - people with whom the company has an existing
relationship or people who know you well enough to forgive you for
sending them unsolicited e-mail.
The larger the seed list, the faster your subscriber base can grow.
Any company strapped for resources wants to make the most of this first
opportunity. However, this is also a critical time to avoid
embarrassments.
I've talked a few clients out of slamming. The argument usually goes
like this:
Client
Let's just subscribe everybody.
VOR (voice of reason)
Well, if you do that you risk offending potential customers.
Client
They know us pretty well, no one will complain, and they can always
unsubscribe.
VOR
True, but these are also people you want to recommend you to others
and vouch for your integrity. Do you really want to give them any
hesitation?
It's a tough choice and you have to judge for yourself how well you
know the people on your seed list. You can divide them into two or more
groups – some you just add to your list, and some you invite.
I recommend you send to your seed list a one-time invitation to
subscribe. Be clear that you won't ask them again, let them know about
the newsletter, and give them an option to subscribe. You probably won't
get everyone to sign up, but you will know who really loves you.
There is the risk that some people won't subscribe you think
certainly will. In fact, when I sent my invitation out to my seed list,
I learned later that some didn't subscribe because they just thought I'd
subscribe them automatically. If you suspect this might have happened to
you, consider sending out another invitation.
If you rent a list, sending an invitation to subscribe is the only
option you have. Some companies inherit or borrow lists from other
sources (AKA stealing). Please avoid these kinds of lists. If another
company wants to support you with their lists, ask them to send an
invitation on your behalf. You should pay all the creative and technical
costs, but make sure the invitation comes from the company that has the
established relationship.
Another good way to encourage subscriptions for a new newsletter is
to make sure it doesn't look new. Create and archive the first few
issues on your website. That way people can see what the newsletter will
be like and they won't feel they're the first ones on the bandwagon.
With this technique, your first newsletter blast will actually be your
third or fourth issue.
While spamming of any kind will get you into trouble, slamming
subscribers has a lasting impact on your credibility. Your friends may
forgive you, but potential clients may question your motives. You don't
want to anger the very people you want to help you. Finally, anytime you
use a questionable practice such as slamming, you encourage others to do
the same, if only to keep up. I have yet to hear anyone bring this to my
attention who admired the marketer's gumption.
You can turn the issue in your favor. One reader reported about a
company with a long-established newsletter. The company purged their
entire list. It seems they weren't confident in the quality of their
list. So, they sent a notice with the last issue letting people know
that if they wanted to continue receiving the newsletter, they would
need to resubscribe. I don't know what percentage signed up again, but I
know the company won points for integrity.
If you are the victim of slamming, I recommend reacting with vigor.
Don't reply to the newsletter or click links because that would increase
their open and click-through rates and we don't want to encourage them.
Instead, contact the company independently. With a little investigation
(e.g., view source), you can locate the company's web site and use their
contact forms to voice your opinion.
Because some of these e-mails are conventional spam disguised to look
like e-mail, avoid using the unsubscribe links. If in your
investigation, you find the company has a legitimate newsletter, you can
usually use their web site to unsubscribe or use the newsletter links.
These seem like extra steps, but the negative response may discourage
companies from the practice. If you nip bad behavior in the bud, you
won't have to watch the entire rosebush perish.
Top »
Filtering Out Viral Marketing
You may notice that I've modified some of the language at the opening of
this newsletter. Newsletters are a powerful vehicle for viral marketing.
I hope that as you read these articles, you'll think of someone who
would benefit and send a copy to them. Unfortunately, mail filters have
flagged the very language of this kind of request as spam.
It seems that chain letters are a popular form of spam. They also
employ viral marketing by asking readers to pass along the message. Some
mail filters look for specific language and block or quarantine messages
that contain language commonly found in correspondence of this kind.
You won't always be aware whether your messages are blocked because
of the wide range of filtering software and their various settings and
options. A strict system won't send any feedback to the sender because
spammers use that information to identify good addresses.
A kind reader helped make me aware that my newsletter was being
quarantined on her mail server. I was able to decipher and interpret the
error messages and identify this issue. Previously, I had received some
notifications that pointed to this issue for other subscribers, but had
not been able to pin down the problem.
I have to be careful how I describe the problem because the filters
don't understand context. Let me put it this way. (If you look at the
top of this newsletter and review my wording, it may help.) The filter
flags any e-mail that uses common phrase for 'transmit the contents of
this message to individuals'.
Sounds arcane. If this keeps up, we may all end up in traction
bending over backwards linguistically. Filters never do a good job
because they don't understand context or content. It's a brute-force
tool that can have unintended and even harmful consequences.
In fact, some internet filters do not allow a person to browse for
commonly used terms regarding women's
health. I'd mention the phrase you can't search for – one your best
friend or your doctor might use – but then this newsletter probably
would be blocked as containing vulgar content.
Top »
Thanks for Reading
This e-mail newsletter spreads mainly by word of
mouth. Please send it on to your colleagues. Also, you can
read other back issues.
If you have suggestions of web sites to review, writing that buzzes,
or a new way of looking at things, let me know. Send your suggestions to
.
If you received this newsletter from a friend, please
today. Our subscriber lists are confidential; we never sell or rent our
lists to third parties. If you want to
from this newsletter,
please let us know.
Kind regards,
Kevin Troy Darling
Top »
|
