Do Others’ Poor Email Practices Hurt You?
Friday, August 20, 2010 by frenchsquared
If I heard it once as a kid, I heard it a hundred times: “You’re known by the company you keep.”
Lately I wonder if as email marketers, and as companies with a web presence, we don’t give enough thought to this, and how it affects how our subscribers perceive us (and how they treat our messages).
The online actions of other businesses, who may not have any association with you, can give you — can give all of us — a bad name.
It’s up to us to make sure that your visitors and subscribers know how you differ from the “bad apples†— because otherwise, you may suffer the consequences of someone else’s poor email marketingpractices.
But Why? That’s Not Fair! I Haven’t Done Anything Wrong!
Remember, we’re talking about “the company you keep,” not necessarily what you’re doing yourself.
Many web users are suspicious and mistrusting, as Mark Brownlow points out.
According to the study he cites, users believe that a majority of companies will share their email address with others. (Unfortunately, some companies still do this, which in my view is an abhorrent practice, no matter how it’s framed or disclosed.)
Combine this with the fear of many (69%) that they’ll be the victim of an email scam, and the fact that half of those don’t know how to identify a potentially dangerous email, and the fact that they’re often told not to trust unsubscribe links, and what do you get?
A situation where the average user may be afraid to share his/her email address because he/she is afraid of getting spam from you — and from other people.
The Goal: Prove That You’re Different. But How?
Most of your visitors don’t know you from Adam. They’ve found you from an online search, or a link from another website, and carry few or no preconceptions about your email practices.
What visitors do know is that you’re a business, with a website, who wants their email address. And what do they believe happens when they give a business their email address?
So to earn their subscription, you have to differentiate yourself from the “bad apples†out there.
A few ways to do so:
- Don’t share subscribers’ email addresses (obvious, but worth emphasizing)
- Create a privacy policy that clearly states what you will — and more importantly, won’t — do with your subscribers’ personal information.
- Near your signup form, tell would-be subscribers what you will send them, and how often they can expect to hear from you. Setting subscriber expectations up-front like this goes a long way to not only increasing your signups, but reducing spam complaints.
- Or, in a twist on the previous idea, record a short video of yourself telling subscribers that you value their trust, and that you won’t misuse it. Put the video near your form.This also shows there’s a real person behind your site and creates another opportunity to ask for the subscribe.
Each of these can potentially reduce your visitors’ fear of giving you their email addresses.
Other Ideas?
While you know your own permission and privacy practices (or, to put it another way, your “email ethicsâ€), your potential subscribers do not. Better to assume you’re not trusted, and go about earning that trust by informing subscribers about both yourself and your business, than to simply hope you are trusted by default.
What other ways can you think of to earn subscriber trust?
