Relationship E-Mail Marketing vs. Spam

by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, E-Commerce Consultant
Web Marketing Today, Issue 59, August 1, 1999

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I don't know how many e-mails I receive that begin with the phrase "This isn't Spam...." You could have fooled me. But then probably 70% of the e-mail I receive is junk mail, and it pretty quickly meets the fate of my delete button. I can usually tell from the subject of the message if it's something I want to look at. Here's a sampling of today's messages that faced the execution squad:

• Make 10K A Month, Famous Private-Eye Tells All
• $200-$300 Per Day! $10,000!
• Are you a Sales Professional?
• FREE vacation and Money too!
• Get out of Debt!

Notice how many of these are "get rich quick" schemes? This type of e-mail attracts the greedy, but is probably sent out by those who are trying to find short-cuts to riches themselves. Yes, some people do get rich with spamming, but these are few. Most spammers get burned. The best use of e-mail is to develop long term relationships with customers, not to accumulate short-term riches. Let me explain, but first, I'll try to define terms.

Some Definitions

I really dislike spam -- bulk e-mails that I didn't request or sign up for. It takes me time to sort through it, and time is a precious commodity to me. But the e-mails I did request, from individuals or companies I am interested in, those I open and read with interest. They have gained my trust and find a sympathetic reader. Here's one: "MCP's August 1999 Hotlist." Macmillian Computer Publishing asked me if I wanted to receive their monthly list of titles, and I said yes. Now I look through it whenever it arrives in my box.

Note that spam shouldn't be confused with bulk e-mail. I am sure that MCP sends out a ton of e-mail and uses bulk techniques, but their e-mail is sent with my permission, and I look forward to seeing it. It's a question of permission, not bulk e-mailing. (Note: see my brief review of Seth Godin's Permission Marketing later in this issue.)

Here are some other distinctions:

• Untargeted e-mail -- Complete spam, sending e-mail to hundreds of thousands of e-mail addresses the spammer has bought or "harvested" with an e-mail address-sucking bulk mailing program. No effort has been made to send me an ad that I might have some kind of interest in.
• Targeted e-mail -- Spam, often, but at least intelligent spam. The e-mail addresses probably have been harvested from websites or newsgroups that show a common interest with a product or service.
• Opt-in e-mail -- Lists where each of the recipients has given permission for information and offers to be e-mailed by the company, or e-mailed by a third party advertiser. Some of these can yield pretty poor results, since the "permission" may not have been deliberately granted or in tiny print, but others of these lists are clean and don't yield a lot of angry responses. I have listed several legitimate companies that sell targeted opt-in lists at http://wilsonweb.com/webmarket/lists.htm
• In-house e-mail lists -- Lists you've developed from site visitors who have filled out your form, indicated specific permission, subscribed to your newsletter, or purchased a product, and you believe will welcome an appropriate message from you. This is your best list by far, and since it has been built with at least a single permission, it has the best chance of building a business relationship with the recipient.

Don't Spam

I recommend that your business NEVER send out bulk e-mail without permission (spam). There are five reasons for this:

1. Your company's business is built on trust. Anything you do that is perceived as breaching that trust hurts you.
2. Spam fills your e-mail box to overflowing with lots of angry responses, and will probably cause your ISP to shut off your account as a breach of your service contract.
3. Spam can cause rapid anti-spammers (and they are out there) to sic their dogs on you and send mail bombs, flames, and other harassment.
4. An increasing number of state and federal laws make certain spamming practices illegal.
5. You may face a civil liability suit for certain kinds of spamming.

I recognize that some businesses and products, especially those you wouldn't think of to search for, require some kind of outgoing e-mail to get new business. I recommend that they use only opt-in e-mail lists. The Internet, as any other culture, has unwritten rules. Break them at your own risk.

Relationship Marketing

Spam aside, I believe that e-mail can be the perfect tool for relationship marketing, that is, building a relationship of trust with site visitors that allow you to send them e-mail over a period of time, building your business over the long term.

Build this relationship deliberately, beginning with the way you write. Write personally, as if you were chatting with your reader. You'll find it much easier to write that way, and your reader will enjoy it more.

I picked up Boomerangs: How to Make and Throw Them, at my local library book sale the other day, and laughed out loud at the stiff formal style that was in vogue in 1937 when the book was written.

"One's first attempt at boomerang making should be confined to small sticks. In making the little boomerang here described, we will become familiar with all the essential techniques in boomerang construction, thus making it possible for us to attempt the larger ones with ease and assured success." (p. 15)

Compare that rather stand-offish language with my late 90s e-mail-ese translation:

"Make your first boomerang using small sticks. We'll help you learn all the important tricks of boomerang making, and soon you'll be able to make larger ones with ease."

Note the use of "you" and "you'll" and "we'll," the informal language of people who are chatting with each other -- the language of personal relationships.

Types of Regular E-Mails

One of these types of regular e-mailings might fit your business to a tee.

• Newsletter. This can be anything from an informal, chatty piece to a serious informational periodical of more enduring value. Information seems to be the currency of the Web, so find ways to educate, entertain, and enhance your readers' lives in your newsletter and you'll be on the right track.
  
  Don't begin with a blatant ad for your business -- it will only spark mass defections from your subscription list. Instead, use the classic Web Marketing strategy, "give something away, sell something." Save your pitch until you've offered something of value. When readers recognize that you are contributing something valuable to them, they'll let you talk business, too.
  
• Sale Flier. This type of e-mail may not be as regular as a newsletter, or as informational. But it may be of value if the products or services you offer are of special interest to your recipient. For example, I let MicroWarehouse.com e-mail me their weekly or monthly specials, since I believe I may find a good buy, since I have been happy with their prices and service for computer products. If your business has a special offer, why not share it with those who have visited you before and have indicated an interest in hearing more?
• Updates and New Products. If you have a niche site, why don't you offer to let your site visitors know when new products come out. Amazon.com Books, for example, has a service that will tell you about new books in your particular field of interest. Every couple of weeks I get an e-mail entitled something like "What's New at Land's End." I must admit I don't often read it, but then I haven't sent a "remove me from your list" note either, and one of these days I may just open it when it comes -- especially in the fall when one of their wool sweaters would feel especially good.
• Thanks You's. About a month ago I sent an e-card from Amazon.com (http://cards.amazon.com) to my daughter. Then a couple of weeks later I received a message entitled "A Thank You from Amazon.com," that expressed appreciation to me "for helping to build Amazon.com Cards over the last few months" and offered me a $5 Certificate for use in one of their stores. The certificate expired in about a week, so I was urged to use it immediately. This is a great example of relationship marketing that began with a thank you, continued with a plug for some of their new lines of business, and ended with a gift. It made me feel special.

Use your imagination. Ask yourself: What kind of e-mail would my site visitors be likely to welcome on a regular basis. Then provide it for them.

Top-of-Mind Recognition

Your goal in relationship e-mail marketing is top-of-mind recognition. Recipients may not need your product now; they may not need your product tomorrow ... but soon, and for the rest of their lives. :-) And when they're ready to purchase, they'll think of you and respond to your e-mail offer.

Sure, this is a slower way to gain customers than spamming half the human race. But you won't need to change your e-mail address as often, or look behind you on a dark night. And the relationships you develop with your customers will benefit both them and you, a truly win-win situation.

Okay. As you've been reading you've been thinking of a kind of e-mail marketing you can do to benefit your business. Go and do it!

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Read additional articles from Web Marketing Today, Issue 59, August 1, 1999