So for those know me well I have been in the anti-spam side of things for around 15 years. I worked for many ISP’s and anti-spam organizations to stop the flood of spam and non-permissioned based email. I jumped the fence about 4 years ago to the technology sending side of things to StrongMail (strongmail.com) and current am the privacy officer for the Eloqua Corporation (elqoua.com) which to most is now the sending side of things. With that in mind, most of my views have always been and still are on the permission side of emailing. Being a privacy expert, I expect people to ask me for my permission to use my personal information.
As time has moved on, I bump into more and more companies that still think that buying email lists or obtaining emails lists through "fishbowls" is the only thing to do before sending out their blasts these days. A few out there that I have talked to believe in the notation of quantity vs. quality in their list management practices. The problem with that model is that you many have a big list, but a big list of nothing when it comes to not obtaining permission BEFORE you send them the BIG email. When you don’t obtain permission you run a higher risk of generating complaints which in turn gets you blocked and then you have nothing to be delivered. It’s better to have permission before sending them that big email and a smalller list that can get delivered than a big list of nothing if that makes sense.
I am against the idea of buying a list from which you have no idea what the person on that was told their email address would be used for. To many times I see senders buy lists from "reputatable" companies just to find out that the list was bad. Buying lists, even those who say it’s in your market doesn’t work plain and simple. When people are bothered, yes bothered, by unsolicited phone calls, door to door salesman, and even email… they will tend to ignore it or if they have the ability to vent (this is spam button) about will. I want relevant and expected messaging, especially in my time sensitive days.
So now you ask, how do I generate QUALITY leads then? I don’t have an existing relationship. The Online Lead Generation Association (OLGA) posted Guidelines for Online Lead Generation on their website that I think might help, but I do want to stress that even though you got a business card from a fishbowl or your can spam compliant, this doesn’t mean you have permission. My good friend Laura Atkins made a post titled "Dealing with ISPs when you are blocked" and she made an interesting comment within that post that I agree with. "Do not mention CAN SPAM. That’s like saying “I do the bare minimum the law requires and expect you to accept my mail anyway.”
1) Advertisers should always know exactly where their offers are running.
This requires extra diligence, but so does doing media post analyses to
make sure that a marketer’s radio, TV or other ads ran when they were
supposed to run, on the outlets the marketer chose and in the rotation
specified. Lead generation should be no different. Marketers risk
cheapening their brands and flirting with regulatory sanctions if they
turn a blind eye to where their offers are being proferred in
cyberspace.
2) Avoid forced selection of offers.
If Web site users will go through the time and effort of registering
for a particular site, let them check offer boxes that start out blank.
Forcing them to uncheck five or 50 boxes serves no useful purpose. If
today’s marketing is all about consumer choice, let them choose-as
opposed to them having to reject someone else’s pre-made choices. If
offers are pre-checked, this should be made clear to users along with
instructions that explain how they can avoid the process.
Dennis NOTE: There has been a judge that rules that a pre-checked box is NOT permission.
3) The opt-in or opt-out mechanism should not hinder consumers.
Offers that are easy to bypass will result in more registrations,
opt-in acceptances and quality marketing leads. Web sites should make
every effort to allow consumers to continue on through the registration
process and bypass offers in which they have no interest. Any
interruption in the sign-up flow could potentially be perceived as
"forcing" an opt-in and create a damaging user experience.
4) Any incentives should directly relate to the offers consumers are selecting.
If
a user is receiving some type of product or service for signing up for
a product or service that is not related to what they are signing up
for, such leads are seldom of high quality. Although many leads are
created with incentives, problems can arise when a consumer is required
to opt in to a completely separate offer in order to qualify for an
incentive.
5) Led generators should use auto responders with clearly delineated unsubscribe or opt-out links.
A
true "opt-in" occurs when a user selects an offer, submits the
selection request, and then finds the confirmation in their inbox-an
absolute must for maximizing a lead generation campaign. Don’t hide the
unsubscribe or opt-out or bury it in a mountain of text.
-Dennis
Eloqua
Last 5 posts by Dennis Dayman
- European Data Protection "Upgrades" - January 30th, 2012
- Return Path acquires OtherInbox - January 10th, 2012
- How NOT to react to spam complaints - January 9th, 2012
- Care2 breach is something to care about - January 3rd, 2012
- The passing of a great mind and great friend - November 17th, 2011
