I was talking to a friend yesterday and I have had this conversation a few times, in which I still end up in frustration with some executives and marketers that just don’t get it.

My friend told me about an issue in their company in which they are NOT able to get whitelisted at a major ISP because of higher than normal complaints (typical policy at many ISP’s who offer such services). A person above them (exec) said, "take the subscriber permission documentation to that ISP and insist that we have followed the rules", in other words we did it right and you can't deny us to your network services. This is where the frustration comes into play with some executives and marketers who don’t get it. Folks, this is the ISP's house, they can lock the doors to protect their own interest if they want too. You can force anyone to let you into their house just because you have PROOF your a good person without a criminal record. It’s their JOB to do what their customers request. It’s their job to uphold their policies so they bad guys can’t get in. You have to show more than just opt-in these days.

Most CEO's/marketers think it's that simple just with proof. You may at one time have had permission, but now you don't. My friend explained to that executive that even if subscribers subscribed, they still have to help their clients follow best common practices in order to keep them engaged, but when the users wants off... you HAVE TO comply with that request whether it comes from a opt-out or a feedback loop.

I was in Las Vegas last week for the Third Annual LT PACT 2008 conference and I was surprised when talking to some people that they couldn’t tell me who is actually engaged in their email’s and who isn’t. Who’s clicking through them? Who’s actually buying from them? Etc.

This is a GREAT opportunity (depending on your view) for the ESP’s to engage their clients and review all sending practice. A lot of executives on the marketing side some times believe that you have to give away mailings, production services because marketers think they held up their end of the bargain: documentation of permission! Not true.

Maybe the subject line of this post should have been "No such thing as a free lunch either folks". There is work in this and it has to be done.

Email marketing has been pushed as "simple" and “high ROI” so no one is willing to put effort into it like they would with old media. No one is going to pay $2.7MM for 30 seconds of Superbowl time without a lot of demographic research.

Email marketing doesn't require a lot just more than nothing, zip, zilch, zero, zed!

-Dennis
Eloqua

Thanks to my friend for the comments/post

Comments

At this time I am not aware of anything that can actually be considered 'proof' of permission by an ISP. Documented polices can be just for show, subscriber/opt-in information can be purchased/forged, etc. Actual sending performance is the only thing we can rely on.