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However, many unscrupulous marketers selling email lists fail to respect
the basic idea of permission marketing. In fact, the word “opt-in” is
the most misused word in online marketing today. Their antics have blurred the lines between “opt-in” and “opted-in.”
I am sure that like me, you have received countless emails that says “This
is not spam. Your name is in the opt-in mailing list.” If I indeed
opted-in to join the list, why is it that I never remember signing up to
receive their product offers or newsletters? I haven’t even heard of their
site!
When I receive these kinds of emails, I pity the newbies who erroneously
believed that the list they are buying is legitimate and opt-in. They shell
out money to buy email lists from people who merely collect email
addresses, even harvesting them from unsuspecting web sites that posts their
email addresses. Instead of enjoying the anticipated high returns, all they
get is a deafening silence from a non-responsive audience, or worst, even
hate and flame messages.
To practice real permission marketing, you must first understand the
different types of permission:
1. Opt-Out. There are two approaches to creating an opt-out list.
- The legitimate approach to an opt-out list is through the use of
pre-checked boxes on your registration or order forms. If you are offering
free downloads for your white papers or software, you can have a pre-checked
box in your registration form that states the user agrees to receive product
updates or offers from the company. If the user keeps the box checked, it
means that he or she agreed to be part of your mailing list. However, if
user unchecked the box, it implies that the person is “opting-out” of
your list.
- The dangerous approach is when you collect emails from just about
anywhere in the contact page of sites, business directories and
classified ads on the Web and
put these emails together in a list. You then send out an email to these
people saying that they are on your list, and in order to be removed, they
have to respond and opt-out by unsubscribing. If the person does not
respond, it means that he or she has now given permission to receive
mailings.
Whatever the approach, the main complaint about “opt-out lists” is
the assumption made by the marketer that the person wants to receive
mailings from them. For many people, filling out a registration form to
download a software does not necessarily mean that they agree to be hounded
by emails from the company. They simply want that particular software
nothing more, nothing less.
The need to do some action whether unchecking a box, or replying to
the message to request removal from the list irritates a lot of people
who don’t see why they have to do something to get out of a list they
never agreed to be with in the first place. The second approach is
particularly risky since in many users’ mind, putting them in a list
without their knowledge and consent is tantamount to spamming.
If you are planning to use “opt-out” to build your list, stick with
the first approach. However, make sure that you explain thoroughly what that
pre-checked box in your registration or order forms really means for the
user. Stay as far away as possible from the second approach, lest you be
branded as a spammer and suffer the consequences.
2. Opt-In. An opt-in list is one where people have knowingly signed-up to
receive certain mailings from you at a pre-agreed frequency. They may have
agreed to receive your newsletter, product announcements, site updates or
even product offers and advertisements from your partners.
Your opt-in list must contain two key elements: (a) the user knows what
he or she signed up for; and (b) you, the marketer, must deliver only what
the user requested. A person who recommends an article in your site to a
friend should not be included in your opt-in list, unless the person
specifically asked to be included in your newsletter. Same with an
acquaintance you bumped on your way to lunch and handed out his
business card with his email.
Part of your agreement with the user is the frequency of your mailings.
If you stated in your sign-up form that they can expect a weekly mailing
from you, and then you begin sending them an email every single day, you are
basically violating the permission they gave.
A simple yet effective way of determining whether a person really wants
your mailings is to send out a confirmation email immediately after they
sign-up. Not only will this help you determine the validity of their email
address, but it will serve as a reminder to the person that he or she has
agreed to receive your newsletters or other mailings.
3. Double
Opt-In. This is the safest way to build a mailing list. It
takes the confirmation letter approach used in an opt-in list a step
further: instead of merely confirming their subscription, you send out a
message requesting them to reply back to you if she or he really wants to be
added to the list. A positive response means that the person has affirmed
his or her intention to receive your mailings. If the person does not reply
or replied negatively, then he or she is immediately removed from the list.
The double opt-in approach is favored by those who rent out their mailing
lists or offer confidential information in their messages. This is also the
approach endorsed by Mail Abuse Prevention System (MAPS), a non-profit group
based in Redwood, California that monitors spam activity on the Internet.
Marketers it deem not following the standards are included in their Realtime
Blackhole List (RBL) ( http://mail-abuse.org
).
However, many direct marketers think that double opt-in is too much, even
an overkill. This approach requires that you send an email to someone who
has just signed up asking “Are you sure you really want to sign up?” For
many legitimate marketers, PowerHomeBiz.com included, the single opt-in
approach, does the job of requesting a user’s permission perfectly.
