Has Anyone Ever Called you a Junk-Mail Queen (or King)?
Has Anyone Ever Called you a Junk-Mail Queen (or King)?
Uh-huh. That's what us Direct Marketing types get all of the time. Well, a new study has just been done by Commtouch (as reported by DM News). And guess what . . . this holiday season you'll be blamed for Junk e-mail. Yep, Commtouch's study reports that spam has now reached a whopping 95% of all email sent . . . 95%! The article reports that Commtouch's "report, entitled 'Email Threats Trend Report for the third quarter of 2007,' found that as image spam declined, new kinds of attachment spam such as PDF and Excel spam increased. Pharmaceuticals and sexual enhancers were the most popular spam topics, at 30% and 23%, respectively."
Good grief! And, that's not all. Not only are we getting these annoying emails, but the other types of spam use"zombie botnets," which is a consumer’s unknowing home computer that has been infected, to send the spam.
No wonder e-mail marketing still has such a bad name. It's not right. Here's the deal: When you use e-mail effectively, this is one of the best and cost-efficient channels available in our multi-channel toolboxes. E-mail marketing can be used to supplement direct mail or telemarketing campaigns or it can be used on its own. Either way, we've seen this channel respond beautifully when deployed correctly.
So, as direct marketers how do we compete against the 95% of messages that are Spam? We think that there are definitely some best practices to follow when considering an e-mail marketing campaign:
* Templates: As you design your creative, the use of templates is key. This creates familiarity and emphasizes your colors and branding. You need to keep your messages fresh, however.
* Personalization: This is a proven best practice. Using personalization can increase response rates 4-6%. People tend to read the message when it looks as though it was created specifically for them.
* Drive traffic to your website: By utilizing your website, the customer can learn more about your offerings. However, ensure that they end up on a landing page that is relevant to the message.
* Unsubscribe button: Follow the tenets of CAN SPAM to allow those who do not wish to hear from you to unsubscribe easily. This is not only important -- it's the law.
For more on how to create successful e-mail marketing campaigns, take a look at our white paper on the subject (email us at info@rrwconsulting.com, and we'll send you a copy).
And, as the holidays approach, start planning your elevator speech for your family. It'll make it much easier to deal with post-holiday-dinner decongestion. : )
Has Anyone Ever Called you a JunkMail Queen or King - To learn more about this author, visit Nancy Arter's Website.
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Don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about! You know -- think back to the holidays last year when your Aunt Rachel came up to you and said, "Now what is it you're doing these days, dear? Are you still responsible for all of that (insert proper expletive) junk mail in my mailbox?"
Uh-huh. That's what us Direct Marketing types get all of the time. Well, a new study has just been done by Commtouch (as reported by DM News). And guess what . . . this holiday season you'll be blamed for Junk e-mail. Yep, Commtouch's study reports that spam has now reached a whopping 95% of all email sent . . . 95%! The article reports that Commtouch's "report, entitled 'Email Threats Trend Report for the third quarter of 2007,' found that as image spam declined, new kinds of attachment spam such as PDF and Excel spam increased. Pharmaceuticals and sexual enhancers were the most popular spam topics, at 30% and 23%, respectively."
Good grief! And, that's not all. Not only are we getting these annoying emails, but the other types of spam use"zombie botnets," which is a consumer’s unknowing home computer that has been infected, to send the spam.
No wonder e-mail marketing still has such a bad name. It's not right. Here's the deal: When you use e-mail effectively, this is one of the best and cost-efficient channels available in our multi-channel toolboxes. E-mail marketing can be used to supplement direct mail or telemarketing campaigns or it can be used on its own. Either way, we've seen this channel respond beautifully when deployed correctly.
So, as direct marketers how do we compete against the 95% of messages that are Spam? We think that there are definitely some best practices to follow when considering an e-mail marketing campaign:
* Templates: As you design your creative, the use of templates is key. This creates familiarity and emphasizes your colors and branding. You need to keep your messages fresh, however.
* Personalization: This is a proven best practice. Using personalization can increase response rates 4-6%. People tend to read the message when it looks as though it was created specifically for them.
* Drive traffic to your website: By utilizing your website, the customer can learn more about your offerings. However, ensure that they end up on a landing page that is relevant to the message.
* Unsubscribe button: Follow the tenets of CAN SPAM to allow those who do not wish to hear from you to unsubscribe easily. This is not only important -- it's the law.
For more on how to create successful e-mail marketing campaigns, take a look at our white paper on the subject (email us at info@rrwconsulting.com, and we'll send you a copy).
And, as the holidays approach, start planning your elevator speech for your family. It'll make it much easier to deal with post-holiday-dinner decongestion. : )
Has Anyone Ever Called you a JunkMail Queen or King - To learn more about this author, visit Nancy Arter's Website.
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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