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WILL SPAM KILL EMAIL AS A MARKETING TOOL?
We may throw the baby out with the bath water.
by Brett King (July, 2003)
(Note: Brett is the President of kNet Solutions, a
computer consulting company that serves as the webmaster for Creative
Leisure News and a number of other craft-related websites. Brett
is also responsible for re-designing this CLN site.)
The dictionary says spam is "unsolicited, usually commercial
email sent to a large number of addresses." As a computer
network administrator replied when I asked him for his definition of
spam, "You know it when you see it." We all know what it
is and we consider it yet another common irritant of business life.
However, spam and the reaction to it is may soon be much more than a
minor problem for our industry. Many of us now rely on sending mass
emailings to customers. More and more retailers of all sizes now
blast email newsletters to customers, notices of new products at
upcoming trade shows, announcements of sales, and so on.
That may all stop, for two reasons: The new spam filters and the
refusal of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to send out or blocking
mass emails. Here are some examples:
Feisty ISPs.
Recently, CLN sent a "mass email" to a few people
who had registered for CLN but had not yet paid for their
subscription. This is a standard practice for all publications,
print or online. Well, guess what? Our ISP emailed the next day that
they had received a complaint of CLN sending spam. Someone
had registered for CLN, forgotten about it, and then
complained that we had sent unsolicited email.
Well, our ISP was nice about it and simply asked us to explain why
we were sending it. After a lengthy discussion and an offer to
provide back-up documentation (that the complainer had, in fact,
registered), we were left alone.
The problem was resolved, but if the ISP decided we could not send
out mass emails, subscribers would not receive notices of when a new
issue of CLN is online.
Another recent incident was not so pleasant. As usual, I sent out a
monthly mass email to customers of an e-commerce site I manage for a
client. Someone complained, and the ISP simply blocked my client
from sending email. The ISP didn't even tell me.
After sending the mass email, I noticed that mail wasn't going out,
but just dismissed it as a temporary outage or blip. It happens and
I've learned to be patient with these things. Finally I had to call
the company and find out what was wrong.
This ISP was not very friendly about it. Matter of fact, the support
person was extremely rude and flat out accused me of being a spammer.
No chance for us to explain ourselves. The plug was simply pulled.
About two days later I got a voice mail from the tech guy. I called
back. Another two days later I got another voice mail and then
finally got a hold of the guy. Turns out, after receiving a
complaint, they had simply turned off the service.
After some arguing and a somewhat heated call, the account was
turned back on. Needless to say I'm a bit weary about sending mass
mail now, but my client depends on those emails for business!
I can't really blame the ISPs for trying to stop spam. We all hate
it and probably bombard ISPs with complaints. But the ISPs'
over-reaction is making it more and more difficult to communicate
with your customers.
Feisty filters.
So ISPs are making it more difficult to talk to your customers. Now
the customers themselves are throwing up roadblocks, too. And again,
it's an over-reaction to spam.
The problem is a challenge system -- a type of spam filter.
Basically, a challenge system attempts to decipher if there is a
human sending email rather than a machine.
It works like this: I send an email to customers who have instituted
a challenge system for their incoming mail. Before my email will go
through, I'm directed to a website to answer a very simple question
that only a human could respond to. A computer would not be able to
answer it.
For example, the challenge question might be to type the code that
is pictured in the image on the screen. A computer couldn't decipher
the image, but a human could, easily. In order for my email to go
through, I must answer that question.
Suppose you want to send your newsletter to 1,000 customers; you
don't have time to send it individually, so you use a mass email
program. Suppose half of your customers have this type of spam
filter. That means that you'd have to respond to 500 challenge
questions in order for your message to go through. (A Business
Week article is available online at www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_27/b3840044.htm.)
Here's another variation: filters that block all emails except for
those on the user's address list. That becomes a problem when a
client's customer emails a question to me. I answer it, but the
answer bounces back to me. The customer doesn't receive an answer
and becomes angry at my client and me.
Spam continues to grow and the problem will probably get worse.
Millions have signed up to block telemarketing calls, so experts
believe many companies will turn to spam to augment their declining
telemarketing efforts. (To sign up to block telemarketing calls
under the new federal law, visit www.donotcall.org.)
The more spam we receive, the more desperate we'll become for
solutions. The problem is, the solutions may cause all of our
businesses even more problems.
(Note: Have any questions or topics you'd like Brett to
address in future columns? Or inquire about his company's computer
services? Contact Brett at 815-877-7975 or email bking@clnonline.com)
xxx
