Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Is spam costing us more than we think?

Devin Ben-Hur (dbenhur_at_egames.com)
Tue, 16 Dec 1997 23:53:34 -0800

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"David Fox, KnowledgeWeb" <david_at_knowledgeweb.com> wrote:

> During our order process we offer trial users/buyers an in-house mail list
> "opt-out" option (if they uncheck a box they won't be added to our mail
> list). We've offered this since October when I reviewed the numbers tonight.
> 44% of our users had opted out!
> My first thought was that with an ever increasing amount of spam heading
> their way, net users are taking whatever steps they can to shield
> themselves from even closely related, occasional mailings.

Yup!

> How do your numbers compare?

We have a similar mail-list opt-out check-box on eGames's user
registration and product order forms. But our numbers are dramatically
better than yours. Only 5% of our users opt-out at the initial form
entry and perhaps another 3% drop out with the remove options from our
later mailings.

Why the dramatic difference? I'm not sure. Perhaps our users are just
more interested in the sort of news and updates we send about our site
and products then yours are. I looked briefly at your URL and got as far
as the free horoscope so I could see how you handle the opt-out.

My gut feel is that the sort of person who comes and samples your chart
service is less interested and invested in astrology than the people who
come to eGames are interested in game industry, product, & site news,
and contest updates from our site. Many people dabble in astrology,
most gamers spend a lot of time playing games.

I think our wording makes a better case for why our users should sign-up
for the mail-list than your form does. See for yourself, follow the
sign-up link from the URL in my sig.

> Maybe we should drop the question and as forgiveness later?

Nope, you'll probably get more ill-will then positive responce this way.

If I were you, I'd try several changes:
1) More strongly state the benefits to the user of recieving your
mailings.
2) Completely drop the option about mailings from other companies and
stress how you value your users' privacy and wont use the info they
provided for anything but your site's mailings.
3) Include a link to an archive of past mailings so they can see what
they're signing up for.

--
Devin Ben-Hur     <dbenhur_at_egames.com>    Speaker to Silicon
eGames.com, Inc.  http://www.eGames.com/  The World's Game Store
"For those about to play, we salute you"


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