Things to Consider Before Email Advertising

If you wish to advertise your business by email, all you need is a computer, Internet service provider and email address. You can send to any email address yourself, purchase a list of email addresses, use a program to harvest emails from the Internet, or you can request your site visitors to give their email addresses. Only one of these choices is a good one.

You can send to anyone at any domain by typing anything in front of the @ followed by any domain name. For example, if you wish to send to anyone with a Hotmail account, type anything@hotmail.com. Well, some accounts do look at the first few letters, but others simply send any email that matches the domain to any accounts with that domain. Most of us receive email that was addressed to something other than our exact email address. Those emails take advantage of the default programmed into all email accounts.

If you want to send an email to my business account, you could type anything in front of @powerpageswebdesign.com and the email will still be delivered by default to email@powerpageswebdesign.com. So, if you don't remember my email address, you can type webmaster@powerpageswebdesign.com or somebody@powerpageswebdesign.com and the email will be delivered to my account. Of course, any email I receive that does not have my exact address looks suspicious. When I get email to undisclosed recipients, I figure it is spam (unsolicited junk mail). When it says webmaster, I figure someone is requesting a link exchange.

If you receive an email from my domain, it will be from email@powerpageswebdesign, include an appropriate subject line, be typed personally as text and sent in webmail. I do not use Outlook Express, because it causes problems for some recipients. I don't send HTML, because it takes up more space, doesn't work for all email clients, and may include image attachments that some may believe contain viruses. For those who received spam send with my domain name, that is called spoofing. Someone was using my email address to send junk mail. Read Who is Really Spamming You? to understand who is the real sender before accusing anyone of spamming.

Because spam wastes time and bandwidth, recipients want stricter rules about email. Unfortunately, spammers learn how to work around the rules and legitimate advertisers have difficulty sending email successfully without being accused of spamming. If your business chooses to buy a list of email addresses, you would like a list of potential customers who have expressed an interest in your type of product or service. You wouldn't send ads for denture cream or adult diapers to teens, or acne medication to the elderly, so why pay for those email addresses that are not your target audience?

You also have to wonder how these email addresses are acquired. I have received calls and emails from businesses who apologized for bothering me, explaining that they bought my information and thought I was interested in their products or services. There are legitimate email lists at a high price, but there are many more that are useless lists. Research and referrals for sellers are recommended, but sit down before you hear the prices for the good ones.

If you think you want to use a program to collect email, think again. There is talk that this practice should be illegal. But if that doesn't deter you, then remember what I said about sending to your target audience. Don't waste your time and bandwidth sending email to people not interested. Besides, your ISP or web host may disable your service for breaking their rules, just as some do not allow newsletters. Recipients of your email may report you to your ISP or web host, dependent upon the email address you used to send the email.

You can request your site visitors to give their email addresses for more information, a free newsletter or something else. If you do not have a site or you wish to send a newsletter or an email to get someone to visit your site, you can send an initial email with a statement that allows the recipient to request that you remove his/her email address from your mailing list. Then you should not email this person again. You do not want to be put on the black list with spammers and have your email address blocked by ISPs. You can also lose your ISP, get a fine or get sued.

Thanks to people who abuse email and send spam, you must now be very careful when sending email. Allow people to contact you first. They are showing an interest in what you offer. Or politely contact people according to proper email advertising rules and be sure to keep track of all email addresses and what reponse you get. There are double opt-in services that protect you from being accused of spam. Those who choose to receive email from you must opt-in, receive another email that requires them to respond to say they are sure they are willing to accept email from you.

Before you send any email, answer these questions. Who is my target audience? Does the subject line make me want to read it or delete it? Do the contents make me want to learn more, ignore it or report it as spam? Is there an explanation how to be removed from the mailing list? Is there a confirmation when the email address is removed? Send a copy to yourself to see how the email looks. Sometimes senders forget to send HTML as HTML, forget the subject line, have spelling or grammatical errors or forget to attach files. If you have an autoresponder, send to your personal email address.

Do research to make informed decisions. Do keep copies of email you send and receive. Do update your removal list as soon as possible. Consider other forms of advertising. Follow the rules and do not abuse the Internet. Telemarketing started out as a good way to advertise, but became annoying. Now email has become a bother. Please send email only to those who request it or that you believe would be interested. Remember, no sales come from deleted email.

Yvette Kuhns, Power Pages Web Design, May 19, 2003

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