Email Marketing by the Numbers: How to Use the World’s Greatest Marketing Tool to Take Any Organization to the Next Level

Email Collection: What NOT to Do

The first step to successful email marketing is permission. I have a core rule here: Permission is not transferable. Others in the email industry may disagree with me. They assume that if we have any relationship at all, I’ll be open to receiving their emails. I disagree. The only way you can get permission to email market to someone is to ask directly. I know it’s contrary to both phone and direct mail practices. The last thing you want is to assume that you have permission to send email to a group of people who (1) don’t like you or (2) don’t remember you, which is a recipe for getting perceived or reported as spam. In the direct mail world, spam and junk mail land you in the trashcan. In the email world, it lands you in big, big trouble with ISPs such as Yahoo, Google, and Hotmail. Assuming permission is not worth the expense of your email deliverability.

Here are a few other email address collection no-no’s:

• Selling or renting your lists: Does your organization need to make a quick buck or two? Selling your list is not the way to do it. Email marketing is different from catalog marketing. Catalog marketers will make money from you in two ways: by your sale and by selling the fact that they made a sale to you. They provide this data to a list broker who is happy to pay the fee to the catalog so that he can in turn sell your data to other catalog companies who sell similar products. We’ve all experienced it. You buy one little thing—a new kitty ...