I used to be part of a local marketing group, and so I volunteered my email address, happily. Now I’m rethinking my decision.
It’s not that I don’t believe in the work their doing. It’s that they’ve done some things lately that really annoy me.
First, they gave my email address to another organization that I have no interest in.
Second, to promote an event they send out way more reminders than is warranted. Lately it’s been four emails in a little over a week.
So here’s my dilemma: I like most of the information they send me, I’m just worried that they are going to continue to give my address away and flood my inbox with unneeded reminders.
Don’t put your constituents in the same position.
If you have an email address, don’t give it away. These people told you that they want communication from you, not your affiliates, subsidiaries, etc. I don’t care if you have a disclaimer in your opt-in policy that says anyone who gives you an email is going to get spammed by all of your corporate partners. It’s a betrayal of trust to give an email address away.
Second, it’s good to segment your list, test subject lines, times of day, days of the week, and so on. It’s not good to blindly blast 4 reminders and hope that your constituents will see one or two of them. Sending several emails in a short period of time may slightly increase your response rate, but at what cost? Annoyed people are far less likely to act, and really annoyed people are likely to unsubscribe and sever ties forever.
But one could argue that in market economy it’s best to let a cost/benefit analysis decide whether it’s okay to sell email addresses or send a ton of emails at once. But the rules of business are changing. I’m calling the the cost/benefit model will soon be replaced with a relationship model (a la Twitter).
What do you think?
-Andrew
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