There is a huge difference between e-mail marketing and spam, but some people just don’t seem to get it.
I rarely pick on just one company, when so many have absolutely no idea how to market themselves via e-mail. But I’ll make an exception here, as this one particular company has been especially bad as of late.
The company in question is called SourceLists Inc., who lists their web address as http://sourcelists.moonfruit.com. Moonfruit.com is a web design company. I’m assuming SourceLists is associated with them somehow.
In the past month, our sales team has received AT LEAST FOURTEEN variations of the following e-mail:
Hi,
We are a leading Business Database provider, we provide you prepackaged lists of any Industry according to your requirement that enable you to reach thousands of qualified prospects via Verified Email, Phone & Direct mail.
Please send me your target audience (Industry/titles/geographical area), so that I can send you FEW sample records, which will be at no cost.
Information Technology : IBM Users, Sage Users, SAP Users, Oracle Users, Salesforce Users, CRM, ERP, Networking, Computer Hardware, Software, and IT Resellers (Value Added Resellers), List Brokers etc,
Top Level Executives List comprised of all Titles:- CEOs, CFOs, CTOs, COOs, CIOs,VP’s, Presidents, Chairman’s, GMs, Mid level Managers, Sales and Marketing Managers, HR Managers, IT Managers, Sales & Marketing Executives, Facility Manager, Publishers etc
Free Match Test : Just send us now 25 to 50 contacts in an excel sheet from your in-house database with missing email address, telephone numbers, fax numbers or mailing addresses, we can append it for you at no cost, this will help you check the quality of our services.
Best way to reach me via EMAIL.
Jeanette Greene
SourceLists Inc
1024 Iron Point Road
Folsom, California 95630
United States
Tel: 800 305 1062
http://sourcelists.moonfruit.com
It’s quite dreadful, isn’t it?
Whether you are still just thinking about doing some e-mail marketing — or if you have done it a few times — the above e-mail is a great example of how to screw it up.
1.) If you’re going to reach out to a company with whom you’d like to do business, at least take the time to find out who the correct contact person is. They sent it to our entire sales team. Sending a mass e-mail to a group will do nothing but irritate the group and end up in the deleted items folder. It is not difficult to find out who runs marketing for a particular company. If you can’t find the info online, CALL THEM.
2.) It is absolutely critical that the first sentence grabs the reader’s attention. Their first paragraph is a horribly long, run-on sentence. Thirty-five words is usually going to be a bit much. What part of this first sentence grabs me? None of it. Delete.
There is a major difference between an effective, helpful mass e-mail and spam. As we all know, spamming will do nothing but hurt your company’s reputation. Don’t do it.
3.) Don’t send the same basic message out to the same people more than once a month. Even that much is pushing it. You may have a weekly newsletter or up-to-date announcements — I’m not talking about that. They basically reworded the exact same e-mail with the exact same message and sent it to us 14 times in one month.
4.) Make a subject line that stands out. In this case, they used the subject lines: “Email lists”, “Marketing Databases”, “Marketing lists” and a few other variations upon that theme. ARE THEY EVEN TRYING? You know what those subject lines scream at me? THIS IS SPAM. Something like “Are you sick of Hoovers yet?” or “Are you tired of chasing dead leads?” would have at least made me think twice before hitting the delete key.
5.) Have an unsubscribe option. These people obviously do not have that or I might have unsubscribed 10 emails ago before I got really pissed and wrote this article.
6.) Make sure your “reply to” address matches the domain of the business you claim to be representing. In the 14 spams we received, there were 7 different reply-to domains. Ones like aol.com, data-cleansed.com, globalbiz.info, americanbusiness.biz… You get the idea. Nothing screams spam like a generic or mismatched reply-to domain.
I could keep going, but I don’t want to take up your entire day. I didn’t even mention the content because, frankly, that could be an article in itself. I will state the obvious: the content in the above e-mail is lame. Nothing about it stands out or engages me.
Hopefully we can all learn from the mistakes SourceLists has made. There is a major difference between an effective, helpful mass e-mail and spam. As we all know, spamming will do nothing but hurt your company’s reputation. Don’t do it.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
If the shotgun approach to email marketing ever worked, it must have been for only a few minutes after Al Gore invented the Internet. Whatever the duration, it is long past its expiration date for effectiveness as you well point out.
The good news about email mass marketing is it’s easy. The bad news is it’s easy. Reaching someone – and actually connecting with them – are two different things. And pissing them off is something else entirely.
You can avoid this with a few simple steps…BEFORE you hit send.
Know Your Goals
Do Some Research
Get Personal
Be Different
Engage
Keep It Simple
Track What Works – And What Doesn’t
And Don’t Assume That If You Simply Get Up To Bat Enough Times You Will Hit Home Runs – The Law Of Averages Doesn’t Always Apply
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Good tips.
Regarding point 5, the policy with spam is not to ‘unsubscribe’ because that confirms the message reached a valid address. For the unscrupulous, they’ll stop sending from that address, and additionally sell your email address to other spam lists. Either ignore it or junk/block/mark as spam. That feedback will work its way back upstream and block the sender’s account (or domain) from future attempts.
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Excellent advice, David. Clicking on unsubscribe is usually a bad idea. On the other hand, having an unsubscribe on your e-mail marketing is always a good idea if you want to appear legitimate. For what it’s worth, CAN SPAM (governed by US law), mandates the unsubscribe link as a requirement for all commercial email.
http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus61-can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business
And by the way, I like your picture on LinkedIn. It shows that you have a sense of humor!
So when is it alright to cross that line from strictly professional to more relaxed, a real and informative tone? I write many of these business approved correspondence pieces only to reread my own emails, memos and letters and want to hit DELETE myself. What? I have to write email templates for our sales campaign!? Shoot me now! I want to start from scratch and write people to tell them what I genuinely think. I want to cut out the bullshit nice business phrases and say why I believe enough in what I am doing to even contact them and offer them our services. I know that I would get across to many that way and shut some out with my lack of “professionalism” but I really do think it’s better than the spamming spew of crap they have us send now. You gave some good don’ts but what of the do’s? What can I do to maintain professional correspondence but add a personal touch to show that I and the company that I work for are more than the regurgitated email spam they get daily? How do I make corporate meet Mom and Pop and really connect to get where business correspondence should be going?
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Wow Annie, that is a great question. I think many people are asking themselves that very question right now. Do you go the “safe” and potentially boring route? Or do you put yourself out there and show them what makes you different? These are questions only you can answer for yourself. You have to find your own voice and style — whatever works best for you.
At the end of the day, we’re all people at the receiving end of the email. I will say that in every instance, making a personal connection is going to be way more effective than sending the same old boring crap you’ve been sending. Especially if you’re sure no one reads it.
Never be afraid to experiment!
Great tips! Good critique.
Don’t forget:
A study by Jupiter.com showed that the main objectives of e-mail marketing include: The strengthening of relations (41%), bringing in new clients (28%) and reducing the purchasing cycles (13%). Know your objective for running email campaigns and carry it out without alienating your customers.
No typos
Font and Style is important!
Know your target audience
Maintain brand integrity
Have opt-in opt-out options.
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Thanks Kevin! Just curious, what font(s) do you prefer to use? I’m assuming Times New Roman isn’t one of them!
I use various fonts, never just one and absolutely not Times New Roman unless I’m going for boring. For font newbies I suggest this list http://bonfx.com/the-100-best-fonts-in-a-huge-sortable-table/ It isn’t all inclusive but it is a good start and bonus that it is sortable. Paul, I will let you know my favorite font when I have seen them all. It may take awhile! I do like Neutraface though.
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the biggest mistake we marketers make is to think we have to reach out to everyone, to that vast audience of people we aren’t talking to yet, when that time is better spent listening to those already in our community.
also, i share Annie’s frustration with keeping a tone in those emails to one that is human. i find it easier when i think of them (as they should be) part of our community.
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This is great info! Does anyone have an example of an email that they send out to potential clients that may need a new staffing agency? Any advise/examples would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
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The FIRST thing I noticed was the poor spelling, grammar and incomplete sentences. Dreadful! I get spam every day and yet, there are some emails I have to remove from the spam folder because I actually read them. Usually the ones I read are either in a newsletter format that contains both helpful or interesting info. coupled with a marketing pitch… or they are for goods/services I actually use and offer $ savings. I also seem to pay attention to new product announcements.
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The difference is that e-mail marketing is spam, but spam is not always email marketing!
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