Re: Is Fogdog's email marketing Wrong?

From: Adam Lasnik <infolists_at_smilezone.com>
Date: Wed 1 Mar 2000 15:45:58 -0800

MARK WELCH WROTE:
> I spent several hours on Tuesday trying to convince
> Fogdog.com that their current "Draft-A-Friend"
> unsolicited commercial email (UCE) campaign is Wrong.
> They held firm that their practices are not wrong in
> any way, and of course they trumped my complaint by
> insisting that no one else has ever complained about
> their plans.

I respectfully think that Mark's assessment of FogDog
and spam is not really on target.

As long as FogDog does the following (and from the info
Mark provided, it seems that they do), I think they're
behaving responsibly.

1) Stress that the e-mail is only to be sent to
   friends/associates/people who the sender has a
   pre-existing relationship with.
2) Limit the number of people one can send to.
3) Respond aggressively to substantiated spam
   complaints (i.e., if 3 people complain about the
   same "friend," then that friend should have his
   or her bonuses zeroed out)

In short, I feel that criticizing FogDog is pointing
fingers at the wrong person.

For instance, I can't tell you how many zillions of
annoying e-mails I've gotten from people touting
AllAdvantage and trying to get me in their downline.
Is this AllAdvantage's fault? Absolutely not, IMHO.
AllAdvantage makes (and has always made) clear its
enforced anti-spam policy... and the fact that so many
internet lusers are clueless and/or greedy is just a
sad part of net life nowadays.

I think viral marketing, including schemes such as the
one FogDog uses, is a GREAT idea. Too often, people
complain about companies and fail to tell their
friends about companies they like. IMHO, FogDog is
encouraging (albeit with a monetary incentive) the
spreading of POSITIVE awareness, and given the
criticalness of mindshare in dot.comland, I see this as
a necessity rather than a problem.

Regards,

Adam the SmileGuy | adam_at_smilezone.com |
http://smilezone.com/ <--VISIT :)
Humor, music, chat, pictures, free stuff, e-cards, personals, FunPolls,
contests, poetry, and much more... everything to make you smile! :-)




Received on Wed Mar 01 2000 - 17:45:58 CST