Spam Wars:
Keep Your Direct Email from Getting Caught in the Crossfire!
This year we've
been frequently asked about the impact of the growing spam problem
on the effectiveness of direct email. Our short answer has been
"so far, so good." Response rates remain strong in 2003
and in some cases are even stronger than last year. But in the coming
months, a number of ongoing developments will demand close attention
and careful response from direct marketers.
The problem
of spam has mushroomed at an alarming rate this year. Based on an
informal poll of my friends and colleagues, I've found that I'm
not alone in experiencing more than a 10-fold increase this year
in the amount of spam I receive. Virtually everyone I know receives
daily email solicitations for products promising enhancement of
various anatomical features, generic pharmaceuticals, mortgage offers
and many other offers I don't care to repeat here.
While Congress
and dozens of state governments react with a multitude of legislative
options to address the problem, many businesses and individuals
have already responded by depolying spam filtering software. When
you combine the growing spam problem with recent spate of highly
publicized viruses and parade of Microsoft security flaws, you start
to wonder if anybody will ever be willing to open your direct emails
or, for that matter, even receive them.
These developments
undoubtedly alarm many of us involved in legitimate direct marketing
efforts who strive to deal with reputable list owners and carefully
target relevant offers to recipients who have opted-in to a list.
So what's the impact on direct email and how should we respond?
Legislative
Front
Efforts to solve the spam problem through legislation alone will
ultimately fail to solve the real problem -- the mailers who cloak
their identities while sending millions of unsolicited, untargeted
emails at a time. In August, Federal Trade Commission Chairman Timothy
J. Muris commented, "No one should expect any new law to make
a substantial difference by itself," adding that technology
must play a critical role in solving the problem.
Unfortunately,
legislation will more likely impact legitimate businesses that engage
in ethical direct marketing initiatives -- even those who focus
mainly on B2B marketing. Some States have already passed laws regarding
unsolicited emails. Just last month California enacted a law specifying
stringent restrictions on direct email. The new law, scheduled to
take effect January 1, 2004, essentially prohibits email solicitation
unless the recipient has requested it from the advertiser. According
to a New York Times report, the law is expected to face legal challenges
and could potentially by overridden by Federal legislation specifying
milder limits.
The U.K. also
enacted an anti-spam law similar to California's last month. With
an election looming in 2004, we can expect Congress to pass some
form anti-spam bill. The details and impact are yet-to-be determined.
Perhaps it may require adding the letters "ADV" to the
subject line of your direct emails; or it could only require a more
standardized opt-out process combined with a "do not email"
list, similar to the new "do not call" registry.
One way or another,
it's looking like direct marketers will need to comply with some form
of legal requirements in the coming year or two. In the meantime,
here are some helpful tips:
- Build you house list now while direct email continues to be
effective. A robust house list is always an ideal source of leads
that turn into sales.
- If emailing primarily to your house list, be sure to have a
well-defined and consistent opt-in process. A simple, straight-forward
opt-out process is also essential.
- Carefully select the list owners you do business with. The
publishers of trade magazines and online line portal sites often
have the most reliable opt-in B2B lists.
- Be wary of email lists compiled from more than one source. Rate
cards for these lists often provide very non-specific information
about the source of the addresses. If you're unsure of how the
list owner collected the names, find out for yourself by subscribing
to their list. You should be able to easily subscribe yourself
to the list. If you can't figure out how to get yourself on the
given list, have the list manager guide you through the opt in
process or consider using a different list.
- Keep informed on pending spam legislation -- here's a good site
to track proposed federal and state legislation: http://www.spamlaws.com/index.html
Technology
Front
Spam filtering and "black listing" are the two main forms
of spam blocking in use today. Some ISP's and large companies are
also adopting the emerging practice of "white listing"
Here's a quick overview of each:
Spam Filtering
In an earlier issue of The Hawthorne Newsletter we addressed spam
filtering briefly. Popular email clients like Outlook come with
a basic spam filtering mechanism built-in. There are also dozens
of spam filtering software products available on the market that
work in conjunction with email programs like Outlook or Eudora.
These products typically work by scanning the body and headers of
an email, looking for certain elements and key words that could
indicate a message is spam. Each key word or element found is assigned
a point-value and when the number of points detected exceeds a predetermined
threshold, the program either alerts the user that a message is
likely spam or deletes the message outright. It's an imperfect technology.
Filtering products still let spam emails slip through while blocking
other emails, such as newsletters and ezines, that the recipient
actually signed up for.
Larger organizations
are increasingly deploying spam filtering software on their email
servers. Unlike client-side filtering products, which may allow
more individual user control over deciding what is spam, these server
based filters block messages before they ever reach the user's mailbox.
The recipient likely never knows that a given message has been blocked.
Tips on spam
filtering:
- Most B2B direct emails don't contain many of the keywords that
jeopardize them from passing the "spam test." Occasionally
we see B2B emails with words like "FREE" in the subject
line or hard-sell language in the body of the message - these
words and phrases can cause a direct email to exceed the the spam
threshold in many filters. The bottom line: you won't know until
you test the message out for yourself, so…
- Familiarize yourself with how spam filtering tools work. Spam
filtering won't be going away anytime soon, if anything, it will
only become more widespread and sophisticated. Install spam filtering
software on your own system. Some products will give you a report
on each individual email filtered. These reports can give you
much insight on the elements that weigh most heavily in the spam-scoring
process - insight you can apply in your next direct email effort.
- Marketing Sherpa published a good article on 10/1/03 describing
the key elements that most often trigger spam filters. You can
find it here:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2460
Blacklisting
Spammers regularly exploit "open relay" servers to send
messages. Open relays are servers that will relay messages from
just about anyone without "authentication", or verifing
the identity of the sender. Some servers are left as open relays
on purpose but many are left open because the owner or administrator
neglected to properly configure their system. A number of independent,
unregulated anti-spam organizations publish databases listing addresses
of open relays. Many ISPs and network administrators configure their
mail servers to reject any mail coming from these addresses. Configuring
mail servers to reject messages that have originated from or been
routed through an IP address identified as an open relays is a practice
know as "blacklisting". [Note: There are also blacklists
of addresses and domains of known spammers - however, these lists
are not as reliable since spammers can easily cloak their identifies
by falsifying this information in their emails.]
Tips on black
listing:
- As we've said before, make every effort to deal with only reputable
list owners. Broadcasts to rented lists are usually be handled
by a service bureau working for either the list owner or list
manager We've only had one instance in the past two years in which
a reputable list owner's broadcasting service was blacklisted
and that problem was quickly rectified.
- If you see large numbers of your emails to your house list
bounce back, carefully review those "mailer daemon"
bounce-back messages to see why they're bouncing. If your server
has been blacklisted, you must address the problem. PC Magazine
published some good advice on what to do if you've been black
listed. The article is posted at:
http://www.pcmag.com/print_article/0,3048,a=42953,00.asp
Whitelisting
Some organizations and a handful of ISPs have begun using "white
listing". All bulk email is blocked from a recipient's mailbox
unless the sender is on a list of "accepted" mailers.
To get on an organization's white list, typically the recipients
must notify their ISP or network administrator that they do indeed
want to receive mail from a particular sender.
Many client-side
spam filtering systems, such as those integrated with the most recent
versions of Outlook and AOL software also use a system of "white
listing" that work in somewhat the same way and can be controlled
by the individual user.
Ezine-Tips.com
recently published some good advice and suggestions on white listing
- check out the article at:
http://ezine-tips.com/articles/management/20030624.shtml
The
Value of Public Relations, Part III
Part
I - Part II
CONTACTING
THE MEDIA
Pitching the
media
This step in
the public relations process often presents people with the most
difficulty and is, admittedly, a distinct challenge. Even veteran
PR professionals often hire freelance contractors to pitch the media
because it can be a very specialized skill.
If you decide
to take this step yourself, it often helps to begin the process
by thinking like an editor. Editors are seeking newsworthy items
-- information of value and interest to their readers. Your "product"
may represent potential news that will appeal to their target audience.
But rather the pitching the product, begin by citing a trend or
an independent authority in a way that illustrates how your product
is a "story" is of interest to the editor's readers. Ultimately,
the more targeted you are in which media outlets you approach, and
the more you know about the editorial content of those outlets,
the better your final result. (See
Public Relations Part II)
One of the best
means of following up your press release is by phone. Reporters
get dozens or even hundreds of releases a day and they throw away
the information from companies they've never heard of. As a result,
conducting a follow-up call campaign is essential to your success.
Call only your
most targeted media outlets. Selected just the right reporters from
your list -- the newspapers, magazines, or broadcast stations that
are most likely to use your release.
Keep in mind
that editors and broadcast producers are barraged daily by phone
calls and solicitations. If they're on a deadline, they will want
to get you off the phone as soon as possible. Avoid irritating them!
These hints help smooth the way:
- Identify yourself
- Ask if this is a good time to speak, briefly, about a news
item.
- If so, proceed with a succinct description of the news item
and its relevance. It's helpful if you write this out ahead of
time.
- If the time isn't right, ask when you might call back.
- Hint: It can be irritating to editors if you open the call
by saying, "Did you get my press release?" Editors receive
mountains of e-mails and mail, and don't welcome quizzes on their
filing or reading skills.
- If the editor is interested, offer to provide supporting statistics,
local "angles," or usable trend information. Tying in
to a hot topic, a holiday, or event always helps your cause. Again,
be prepared with this information ahead of time. Then follow-up
promptly.
- Limit your follow-up to one call. Don't hound the reporter.
If you get voicemail, leave your pitch with your message and don't
call back.
Observing
e-mail etiquette
When you send
e-mail to media contacts, follow these commonsense guidelines:
- Address each e-mail separately-broadcast e-mails to multiple
contacts can come across as spam and are likely to inspire the
recipient to hit the delete button even before he/she has reviewed
your message
- Get to the point quickly-the "why" of your e-mail
- Proof the e-mail for typos and grammatical errors
- Provide your full name and contact information
Courting
radio and television opportunities
One of the very
best PR avenues is getting yourself or your company's spokesperson
on a television talk show. It's not an easy task, to say the least.
How do you go about pitching yourself as a potential guest on radio
or TV? For a talk show, you'll want to speak with the person who
books guests, appropriately called the "booker." For small
stations, the person may be the producer, the general manager, or
even the program host.
Once you've
identified the point of contact, it's a good idea to send your media
information ahead. Follow up within a couple of days with a phone
call, and ask if he or she has time for you. It's critical to be
familiar with the show so watch or listen to the show a few times
before calling to pitch your story.
If the producer
isn't interested, thank him or her and retreat gracefully. Never
argue with a producer who says no. If the producer is interested,
then offer to send more information based on the discussion. A good
idea is to compile what's called a tip sheet, which is a list of
the 8 or 10 questions the host may ask you or your company's chief
executive about the topic. This makes it easier for him or her to
be impressive on air, and furthers your chances of getting selected.
SUSTAIN THE
EFFORT
Any time your
organization is featured in any media, get the name of the writer
or producer, and add it to your personal contact list. Better yet,
write your contact a thank-you note. This keeps you in the forefront
of that contact's memory. Such positive recall helps ensure that
he or she is motivated to pick up the phone the next time you call.
In time, you can begin to establish yourself as the "go-to"
interview expert and source of relevant news.
The very best
advice is to be there all the time. Keep putting yourself "out
there" in the media-with follow-up notes, articles, press releases,
and human-interest stories-and you will reap tremendous rewards.
The more often people encounter your company's name in print or
on the air, the more favorably they will view you.
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