Ask before you send marketing e-mail

Spam is the term used to describe unsolicited commercial e-mail messages, which are becoming a scourge. Between 45% and 60% of all e-mail messages sent are Spam – networks are becoming congested by it. Apart from that, it's a major source of irritation among e-mail users.

How then do you prevent your marketing message being regarded as Spam by recipients?

"You ask their permission to send it to them," says Stephan Pretorius, president of e-marketing firm, Acceleration. "Online marketing provides fantastic opportunities for marketers wanting to reach new customers and communicate with existing ones. But it's important that this is cleared with them – otherwise it's regarded as a violation of privacy," he says.

"The big problem is that there are legions of unscrupulous online marketers who use Spam as their primary resource to target consumers. Just a slight return on a bulk mailing can result in significant income for them. They even hack the servers that legitimate e-mail marketers use to deliver mail in order to get their messages out."

However, getting consumers' permission to send them marketing information via e-mail is not as straightforward as it may seem and there are several ways to do it.

"Permission is what an organisation's clients perceive permission to be. We opt for the double opt-in model although there is a single opt-in model and an opt-out model," says Pretorius.

The opt-out model is perceived by many consumers as devious. It works like this: On a company's website there is a box that is checked next to a message that says something like "uncheck this box if you do not want to receive marketing material via e-mail from our company." It is up to website users to actively say no and very often they don't see the message.

Says Pretorius: "When the marketing material appears in their inbox they get understandably upset."

With the opt-in model, by default the box is unchecked so users have to fill it in, in order to receive marketing material via e-mail.

"The double opt-in model goes a step further and is the least likely to cause problems. Once a person has opted in, they are sent an e-mail asking them to confirm that this is what they actually want. There's then no doubt that the service was requested in the event of any comebacks," says Pretorius.

But permission extends beyond the initial contact – which permission will depend on whether recipients get what they expect in terms of content and frequency on an ongoing basis.

"Frequency is important. If a person opts in and receives no communication for three months and then contact is made, chances are they won't remember authorizing it. You need to send a welcome message as soon as you have been given permission to send messages.

"Contact should be regular but not overwhelming. This serves two purposes – it means customers are kept informed of marketing messages about your goods and services but it also keeps the database fresh. About 30% of an e-mail database is subject to churn – people changing their e-mail addresses or jobs. A database is organic and has to be updated on a regular basis," says Pretorius.

Getting permission to send marketing e-mail messages is particularly important in light of new e-mail software developments. The latest versions of popular e-mail software have a "report Spam" feature which blacklists the source of unwanted commercial e-mail messages.

"The cost of using e-mail as a marketing tool is low. It is high if it is done incorrectly. Obtain the permission of the people you want to send electronic marketing messages to. The cost of getting e-mail campaigns wrong is high. By using the double opt-in model when initiating contact with customers, you lower the risk of alienating them considerably," says Pretorius.