Internet Tip of the Week - by Bob Osgoodby
Fo-Ged About ItI had a call the other day from a person who obviously knew that
we send out our newsletters via email. He wanted to know if we
did bulk mailing. Now the answer to that is “yes” and “no”. We
have a select few that we do this for, and have built up a
rapport with them over the years.
One, for example, sends out an email to her mailing list (which
she maintains) near the end of each of each college semester to
professors, offering to buy their used text books. She maintains
her own list, and all requests for removal and bounces (bad email
addresses) go back to her. When she is ready to send out her
offer the next time, she sends me an updated list and the text
for the emailing and I send it.Now, getting back to the phone call, there are certain "pre-
qualifying questions" that I ask.First – why don’t you send it yourself? Typically the answer is
that their ISP has a limit on the number of emails they can send
at any one time, usually about 50. This is an acceptable answer
as it is true. Now we use an “email friendly” ISP because of ournewsletter mailings, and they know that we do not send
unsolicited email. Depending on their answers to this question,
I begin to get a potential feel for the legitimacy of this
potential client.I require a copy of what they intend to send before accepting
them as a client. If the offer appears to be legitimate on the
surface, I investigate further by checking out any links they
might have in the offer. If it is for your typical opportunity,
that ends that.Second – I ask them the approximate number of emails per mailing.
If they are maintaining an “opt in” list, it is not reasonable
that it would be over 70 or 80 thousand as you would have to have
specialized software, and/or a very large staff to handle
anything larger, and if that were the case they wouldn’t need me.
If they have more people on their list than this, this raises a
“red flag.The person in question in this case had 100 million. Now
figuring a one half of one percent bounce rate (bad email
addresses) this alone would generate approximately 500,000
returned emails. Now, let’s think back. I require the mailer to
provide an email (legitimate) address for bounces and requests to
unsubscribe. 500,000 returned emails, not to mention the requests
to be removed from the list, would cause even the most liberal
ISP to shut down their account.Third – I ask them for a frequency of their mailing. If it is a
notice such as the book dealer, it is periodic. If it is a
newsletter with constantly changing copy, it would be more
frequent.In this case it was an offer for OTC (Over the Counter Trading
Offers) and he wanted it sent out weekly. In this case the copy
would change each week, but they would all have something in
common – an offer to sell them stock.If you are around the Internet long enough, you will get offers
that sound good on the surface. One of my “trainees” came across
this potential client and was deeply disappointed that I didn’t
agree. In point of fact, he was ready to install his own high
speed data line and do it himself.When I pointed out the costs he would incur for a “T-1” telephone
line (about $600 per month with a three year contract) and a very
expensive high speed server, he started to come around to my way
of thinking. The icing on the cake was the credibility of the
person he wanted as a customer. He had no guarantee that the
person would be around for any appreciable period of time, and he
could be stuck with ongoing costs that would be around for a long
time fter he lost him as a customer.Most of people on the Internet are sick and tired of receiving
this “unsolicited junk” in our mailbox every day. Personally, I
am sure I lose some good emails every day due to the volume my
filters automatically delete. But with several thousand junk
emails received on a daily basis, I have no viable alternative.
Yes, I do have mailbox filters that put the majority of my good
email in folders that I can examine, but I am certain that some
get deleted.
Laws trying to protect us from this, simply don’t work. S-P-A-M
is rampant. If you have a legitimate offer and an “opt-in” list,
and are prepared to handle the subscribes, bounces, and
unsubsribes yourself email marketing might be for you. Otherwise
“fo-ged about it”.-----
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