DMN3 Blog

Email marketing can be risky and problematic for some. For others, it is crucial to meeting their marketing objectives. What’s the difference?

Russia is notorious as a major spam exporter so it was with great interest to hear that Russian authorities had gone after a major spam kingpin, Igor Gusev. Now Gusev has vanished, resulting in a marked reduction in spam. It is estimated that spam email has dropped 20 percent or an estimated 50 billion messages a day!

Email marketing is very tricky thanks to people like Gusev. Email marketers walk a delicate line between being perceived as a valued source of information and being perceived as a generator of spam.

Effective email marketing typically involves three objectives:

1. Getting the email to the inbox of those targeted
2. Getting those targeted to open and read the email
3. Getting those who read the email to take a desired action

Email marketing professionals have learned that certain attributes of email messaging work better than others in achieving these goals. These are email marketing “best practices.” It should be noted that these are generalizations and sometimes other aspects might work better for particular organizations.

One practice that is universally acclaimed as the most important factor in email marketing is using your own “opt-in” subscriber list. The individuals on your email subscriber list have specifically said “yes” to receiving information from you.

If email is part of your online marketing mix, you should be devoting a lot of energy to building your opt-in email subscriber list. It is easier said than done.

Your subscriber promotion/link should be incorporated into all your marketing materials, both online and offline. Every contact with a customer, prospect or lead should include asking for permission to periodically send emails on subjects of interest to them. You should also ask them about their interests based upon your organization’s segmentation approach.  

Growing your own list will take time, expertise and resources. Many organizations may opt instead to rent or purchase lists from third party vendors while they build their own subscriber list or as an alternative to creating their own list.

If you decide to go that route, never use any list in which individuals have not expressly granted permission (opt-in) to receive email communications either directly from you or “partner” related organizations.

Email marketing best practices advocates are unanimous in saying you should avoid third-party lists. The reason is, while these list subscribers have agreed to receive information on a particular subject, they do not pay attention to the fact that they are also giving permission to receive emails from other “partner” organizations.

When using third party lists, you run the risk of your email communications being looked upon as spam by many of those receiving them. Your organization’s reputation can suffer as a result.

If your business or organization plans on buying or renting email subscriber lists, you should be buying or renting from highly regarded organizations. You will want to know the answer to such questions as:

• What is the source(s) of their data? Is the data suitable for your particular marketing campaign?
• How often is the database updated? How frequently is out of date information removed and the database’s accuracy verified?
• Do they have agreements in place with their contacts that allow for the distribution of their contact information?
• What are your options and pricing for processing filters against the database to cull the list to your specific targeting needs? Good list providers should individually grade each contact against your specific needs to create highly targeted lists.

There are more issues to be considered, e.g., list pricing, rental versus purchase, handling of inaccurate data, removing or crediting contacts you already own, etc.

Because of people like Igor Gusev, email marketing is a very thorny business. You must keep in mind that the contacts on these third party email subscriber lists have not opted to receive emails specifically from your organization. Be very careful.

Develop an approach to email marketing that allows you to achieve your email marketing objectives while preserving your reputation as well. If you don't have the expertise to do it right, consider outsourcing to a marketing agency like DMN3 that does have it.

That's my plug for the week!