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

I AM NOT A SPAMMER!!!!! And Other Myths Threatening the Efficacy of Your Email Communications

By Deirdre BairdPresident and CEO, Pivotal VeracityWebsite: www.pivotalveracity.com

Recently, I sat in on a meeting with our sales staff. They were discussing various prospects, using terms from their unique methodology for segmenting clients based on needs and perceptions. One of the terms that kept popping up was FSS. There were lots of these FSS prospects that represented different industries, different size companies, and different mailing objectives. Try though I did, I just couldn’t figure out what it meant. So I finally asked.

FSS stands for False Sense of Security and refers to companies that, with unwavering confidence, say, “I don’t spam, so I don’t have those issues,” when asked what they are doing to mitigate delivery issues, safeguard their reputation, and optimize the inbox delivery and the integrity of their critical email communications.

This brings me to the first myth that exists with respect to deliverability: I only mail customers who opt-in to receive my emails . . . ergo, I am not a spammer . . . therefore, I do not have deliverability issues.

Unfortunately, while we proudly and self-righteously stand on our soap boxes proclaiming, “I am not a spammer!” the emails our customers requested are being blocked, stripped of their links, images suppressed, redirected to spam folders, and randomly deleted.

A flagrant disregard for permission will certainly lead to deliverability ...