In a previous post I discussed some of the problems involved in building an email list. This was written against the backdrop of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 which lays out rules for conducting commercial email campaigns. I also discussed what I consider some of the questionable claims internet marketers make about “opt-in” lists.

What Most Email Marketers Seem to Think

Here are some general conclusions I have drawn about what most internet marketers consider to be effective email marketing strategies:

1. First, most internet marketers I am familiar with emphasize the importance of having a more-or-less “pure” opt-in list when doing email marketing. They do not advocate harvesting email addresses, or buying lists.*

2. Second, internet marketers and people who write about email marketing strategies are usually negative about using non opt-in lists because of ethical and legal reasons. These reasons include the general perceptions people have of email practices, the blacklisting policies many internet service providers and email service companies have developed to prevent spamming, and the provisions of laws such as the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Most marketers don’t want to be labeled as spammers, so they do not advocate any practice that might be construed as spamming.

3. Third, apart from legal and ethical considerations, the other reason they advocate using only opt-in lists is that they think these are the only ones that work. What we mean by an “opt-in” list is one that contains only addresses of people who have asked to receive the specific information you are sending them.

In a previous post I discussed some of the ways in which email marketing practice does not measure up to the theory, but we can set that aside for the moment. The point is, nobody I know who actually discusses email marketing strategy thinks sending unsolicited email messages to millions of harvested email addresses actually works.**

Fourth, most email marketers think that sending email messages to non-targeted lists is probably not worth doing. For example, if you have a list of car enthusiasts, trying to sell them dog training information products will likely get you very disappointing results. In other words, an email campaign will only be effective if both the list and the product are targeted to the same market.

The Relationship Factor

But what if you have a list of car enthusiasts, and you try selling them car products? Let’s say you have a car wax product. If you got your hands on a reliable list of car enthusiasts would emailing that list result in significant sales?

Of course there are many variables, but the commonly accepted theory is that an email campaign will be more successful if the recipients “trust” the sender. This is what we call the “relationship” factor. Not only should the list and product be targeted to the same market, but the sender has to be “qualified” too. The owner of the list will have developed a relationship with his prospective customers.

This is why the “frequency” of your mailings is so important. The more often you email your list with interesting and valuable information, the more they will get to know and (hopefully) trust you.

This is also why “joint ventures” can be so effective. If you find a joint venture partner who will promote your product to his or her targeted list you are getting the best case scenario: a targeted list of people receiving messages from someone they (in theory at least) know and trust.

But what if you have access to a targeted list but you have no history of mailing to that list? In other words you have no “relationship” with the people on the list. They don’t know you from Adam. Is it possible to “build” a relationship?

Surely the answer to this has to be “Yes, you can build a relationship.” But how?

Well, consider how TV ads work. The first time you see an ad for a brand new product you have no relationship whatsoever with the product or the company selling it. You see it a few more times and you start to become familiar with it. You recognize the people in the ad, the music, the script. You become comfortable enough with the product that you can actually visualize yourself buying it.

In other words the secret to building a “relationship” is what advertising people call “frequency”. That’s why they repeat the same ads over and over again. If you see an ad often enough you will become familiar with it and come to trust what it is saying.

But the other factor is the actual content of the ad. If the message is irritating, unpleasant, comes on too strong, or is obviously misleading your reaction will be negative. In that case the relationship you’re building will be a negative one too.

A Relationship Building Strategy

What this suggests is that you can build a relationship with an email list using the same principles. Plan on sending out a sequence of messages aimed at making your recipients familiar with who you are and what you do. Build a relationship of familiarity and “comfort”. Concentrate on creating messages that will leave a positive impression, and send them out on a regular basis in a planned and systematic way.

In my next post I will try to leave the theory behind and make some very specific practical suggestions.

NOTES:

*By the same token, some are involved in so-called “co-registration” programs where they buy addresses of people who have clicked a box saying they would like to receive general types of information. Companies and individuals who sell these “co-registration” addresses usually say they are selling “opt-ins”, but this is a stretch because co-registrants have not opted-in to your specific list. Many of them are also not “double opted-in” - which means they do not have to verify their email address. My own experience is that co-registration addresses are virtually worthless - no better than just buying lists of random addresses. Those are worthless too.

**Of course there are probably some spammers out there who disagree with this, but I don’t know any of them, and they are not in the habit of sharing their secrets anyway, so for the time being we can ignore them.