Cleaning Up Your Act
Targeting for fun and profit!
Pop quiz- What is the difference between marketing and spam?
Now that’s a loaded question, isn’t it? -Because just about everyone has an opinion on spam. Most of the arguments you hear are relatively sound, I mean they sound reasonable, right? But just because they sound reasonable doesn’t mean they are right. I got a cousin in Nantucket who sounds really reasonable. –Ain’t ever been right once. Anyway, the big question regarding spam really is who is right and who is wrong. I’m telling you right now; do not listen to anyone’s opinions. Opinions simply do not belong in the email space. -Nobody’s opinions. -Not even your opinions. What you think might be spam and what actually is spam are two entirely different things. In the real world, whether it’s fair or not, the definition of spam is constantly being shaped and defined by the individuals who receive mail.
That’s right. It doesn’t matter what an ISP thinks, what an ESP thinks, what an email expert with ESP thinks, or what the Kermit The Frog thinks. Unless they have validated results on your lists, campaigns, ISP’s and domains then they are full of crap. Let me tell you again. There is only one person who matters, the person receiving the email.
If you listen to what an ISP will constitute as spam or not – you’ll be driving yourself mad for a very very long time. If you talk to an email consultant they will most likely have no idea what to say because they never lived in the trenches of day-to-day mailing, if they actually have – it was probably back in the forties when email was actually shot out of a cannon. And on a personal note, if I hear one more toupee-wearing consultant mention “best practices” ever again, I’ll punch their mother in the eye.
Wait, I didn’t mean to get angry. I get that way when I’m hungry.
Listen, do not give up hope. Here is what I’ve found out after years of training mailers. A lot of performance is directly related to the offer you are pushing. Meaning some offers have higher complaint rates, higher opens, higher conversions.
What does that all mean? -It means target, baby. Target your users with appropriate advertisements that they are more likely to click, open and not complain. Some users will like dating offers, some will like free stuff, and others will have different tastes, styles, and moods.
Send your targeted emails to targeted offers. Because who has the ultimate power of inboxing? Your email list, that’s who. And how do you go about targeting? Use a service like ours for starters. (duh) But don’t take my word for “ours is the best” or anyone else’s word for it. Test for yourself. Make it your new mantra. Chant it as you fall asleep.
“Test, test, test.”