Re: Wrap-up - Effective Email Marketing

From: Bob Allen <ballen_at_cobaltgroup.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Feb 1999 06:02:14 -0600 (CST)

I'm not the almighty marketing god, far from it. But I feel
like I have to enter my $.02 about Andy Bouland's wrap-up
about how great email marketing is ("walk towards the
light"), and how businesses everywhere should embrace it.

Here's a little story that sums up my point directly.
Aurora Nissan - a car dealer in Seattle. Wa. - bought into
the power and cost-effectiveness of email marketing without
seriously weighing the effects. He bought a mailing list
and sent mail to thousands of non-targeted recipients about
his new web site, and the latest incentives at Aurora
Nissan.

That's great if you happen to be in the market for a Nissan,
but really, really flame-worthy if you are not. Well, this
Internet Manager found himself written up in on-line 'zines
and in Automotive News for getting picketted - yes,
picketted - by groups of angry recipients for getting
mass-mailed.

Not the result they were looking for.

My experience is that Internet users like the "get what you
want, leave the rest" approach to searching for info, and if
they feel like they want to hear from a particular source,
well great. Give them your email address and enjoy the
marketing updates from that one source. But don't expect
users to like getting "Hey! Join me and my success selling
water filters from home!" kind of mail, or any
un-subscribed-for junk.

As much as we would really like to stick our logos inside
their pupils, interactivity starts with the user. Word to
the wise - Do your own email harvesting and don't bring junk
mail to the Internet. It's not as great as some may have
you think.

Bob Allen
<ballen_at_cobaltgroup.com>


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Received on Tue Feb 02 1999 - 06:47:07 CST