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Don't Feed Your Subscribers A SPAM Sandwich - Goofy title? Maybe. But if you are tempted to SPAM your subscribers, you will always lose in the end.
Think about the spam you get every day and what you do when you run across it. The last thing you want is for your subscribers to think of your e-mail or newsletter in the same way.
Now, before we go on, let me clear up a technicality. When you use the term "SPAM", you are generally talking about the unsolicited e-mails that a company sends out in bulk in the hopes that enough people will bite on their message to make them a tidy little profit.
SPAM works because the cost of harvesting e-mail addresses and sending them out is relatively small and it takes a very small number of conversions to make the campaign profitable.
But the term SPAM has a socially accepted connotation of being any e-mail that is unwanted, even e-mail sent out by a company with the receiver's permission. Arguing over the technicalities of the definition is a moot point; if the receiver thinks it's SPAM, then it might as well be in your eyes too.
The results are the same. You drive away subscribers who at one point gave you permission to contact them. Being right "legally" is of little consequence when you lose a subscriber because of your SPAMMY messages.
Okay, so what is it that can cause someone on your mailing list to think of your messages as SPAM? (For ideas on building a mailing list, see an earlier article I posted entitled, "Golden Nugget: Collect E-Mail Addresses"). Here are a few tips to watch out for as you contact your subscribers:
1. Contact Often, Just Not Always
It's true that staying in touch with your subscribers is a vital element in keeping your list strong and healthy. But there is a line that you can cross by sending out too many e-mails and becoming more of a nuisance rather than a resource. How many is too many? There is no hard fast rule, I hate to say. It depends on:
- The nature of your business. Some industries send newsletters more frequently than others. If you know what businesses like yours send, then you should shoot to keep the frequency of your e-mail messages in the same range.
- The message you are sending. If there is a special event, such as a sale that is about to end or the launch of your new book, then you can get by with a greater frequency of e-mail messages for this temporary situation.
- The expectations you gave. When a subscriber signed up for your list, did you tell them you would contact them weekly? If so, contacting them twice a week is not a good move.
2. Sell Your Book, But Not All The Time
Hey, people know that you have something to sell and they will expect to hear you promote it when you send a newsletter. In fact, even in light of the bold heading in point two, I'd say that every newsletter or e-mail needs to mention your book with a link to purchase it.
What you don't want is message after message after message being about buying your book. If buying your book is the only message you send to your subscribers, then you will come across very salesman like and you run the risk of making your subscriber flee.
Feed your subscribers a healthy dose of messages that they crave and you won't leave the taste of SPAM in their mouth.
3. Know The Language of SPAM and Don't Use It
This is advice to help you actually stay out of your subscriber's SPAM folder. There are words that often trigger the SPAM guard software that your subscribers uses to send suspect e-mails to the SPAM folder.
You want your message to stay out of that folder. Check with your Email Service Provider to see if they have a Spam Checker that you can run your message through. If not, check out these free alternatives that will give you insight in how SPAMMY your message just may be:
- Spam Check (WARNING-- Annoying video ahead. Skip this one if you don't want to hear their sales pitch)
- Content Checker
- Swiftpage Spam Check
- SPAM Filter Triggers (Here is a page that will actually give you examples of words that can trigger a filter to file your message as SPAM.
Concluding Thoughts
With a little planning and checking, you can create quality e-mails and newsletters that SPAM filters will happily let pass and better, ones that your subscribers will look forward to receiving each time you send them out.