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Spam: You probably hate it but can you define it?

Guest post by: Sarah Haines

Article Overview: So many of us, even those involved in online marketing and email marketing find ourselves tongue tied when asked to describe what spam is.If you don't know what spam looks like, how do you know you aren't a spammer? After reading this short article you will not only hate spam, you should be able to define it too.

Spam: You probably hate it but can you define it?

Everyone knows that they dont like spam, yet the term means different things to different people. Over the last few years the definitions of spam have been changing towards the idea that an email that a user doesnt want and isnt interested in is spam. Beware of allowing this to lull you into a false sense of security though. When the DMA asked consumers nearly two thirds said less than 10% of the emails they received were relevant to them. Not everyone has changed their definition of spam either, just under 20% of people would describe it as an email that they didnt specifically request. A further study asked participants to rate acceptability of promotional emails on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 1 being totally unacceptable and 5 being totally acceptable). Permission clearly made marketing emails more acceptable, where the consumer had given permission for ongoing communication participants rated it as 4.1 out of 5. When the consumer had interacted with a company, but had not given permission for contact, the score dropped significantly to 2.5. The worst score was for marketing material from companies who had not been given permission and with whom the consumer had never interacted. This scored 1.7 out of 5.

There are two simple conclusions to draw from this research. Build opt-in lists, and ensure marketing campaigns']);"> email marketing campaigns are targeted to ensure relevancy to the consumer. This will avoid seeing your email classed as spam by users.

There are easy solutions if your current opt-in list isnt that big. You just need to make the most of what you do have. Focus on emailing the people who have told you that it is acceptable and that they dont mind hearing from you. Dont assume that sending more emails than you do at the moment is excessive or over mailing.

Strategies to consider include increasing email activity around appropriate seasonal peaks. A great example is the extra bank holidays for the Royal Wedding, which mean that it would be unusual to take exception with so many people planning holidays to hearing a bit more from your preferred airline at the moment.

You also have a perfect group waiting to hear more from you in the form of your best subscribers. This group opens your emails more often and buys from those emails. They are happy to hear from you. If you are worried about subscriber fatigue in other areas of your list, then these are the people to focus your efforts on.

Make sure it is incredibly easy for your customers to opt in. One way to avoid agonising over making the most of the small opt in list that you have is to build a much bigger one!

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Article Tags: email marketing uk, targeted email marketing campaigns



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Re: Bye Bye Vista - Russell, It sounds interesting, I'll try to make some time for it, XP is like a love-hate relationship, I hate it after a couple years of use because it starts getting "weird", until I have to re-format it to start loving it again, for a couple more years. Thats not the case with Vista, that one sucks! period. I can't stand it, bought a 2k latop and gave it to my girl because I hate it.
Re: Adobe Flex Developer Team need sales agents in US - This is purely advertising, it should be regarded as a Spam.
Re: Should you hire ambitious workers or employees with no goals - Thanks Shri, I really hate the word GRUNT. I had a client once who called his staff 'minions'. he didnt last long as a client...I just hate the negative perspective in anything. realist yes, pessimist, no.
What i hate... - What i hate the most is the no e-mail reply. I know it happens all the time and it's a common issue but i hate it. I expect that when i sent an e-mail with a partnership request, or any other inquiry to receive an answer even if it's a negative one. If it's so difficult to write a 2 line e-mail than should be create an automatic responder : "thank you..... we will contact you shortly....". How do you manage this situation?
Re: A lot of electronics spam today! - Haha... great thread here, guys. Nice name, Michelle, I think that would suit very well. I wonder just how many websites and forums could benefit from a service like this. Anyone ever look into it? Spam is a serious problem for many, many people. I imagine there are those who would be willing to pay for a service to get rid of the never-ending nightmare.


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