Like my favorite show, “What Not To Wear,” here is a quick list of some things you really don’t want to do:
- Buy lists
- Use the word “blast”
- Think it’s OK to forego the test “this time”
1) Why Not to Buy Lists
This has been around in marketing for years. Telemarketing folks bought lists, and really buying an email list is no different. The customers have no connection with you. There’s no context, no entree, no reason and no relationship. Consider how they elected to get their email picked up, too. They’re not savvy online consumers. If their email was sold to you, it was sold to many people. Your email will be one in a million in their inbox. And, the relationship started from nothing. It’s a crap shoot.
2) Why Not To Use the Word Blast
A guy, from a very good company, wrote me referring to his email campaign as “blast”. “My ESP calls it campaigns, but I like ‘blast.’” Well, the moment you use the negative, spammy words, you not only flag your project as ill-conceived, but I question your intentions, as well. So use courteous, nice, and polite terms for dealing with your customers. Especially in this Web2.0 world where everything is indexed!
3) Foregoing tests: not a good idea
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been included in a preview feed, found something, flagged it for the managers, and then heard later that “nobody caught this.” Not tooting my own horn- I’m just saying that lots of things need second pairs of eyes, especially those little electronic missives. And, it really helps to setup a webmail account with nobody in your address book so you can see your email from a prospect’s viewpoint.
