RE: AM: email marketing; opt-in or out?

[Mitch Arnowitz <marnowitz@morino.org>]

One alternative to an opt-in policy is opt-out email- in which one 
has to proactively tell you they don't want email. This process is 
also known as negative option marketing and is used by lots of 
successful off-line direct response marketers.

We have gone one step further then having an opt-in policy over here. 
We insist that a member (or two) of a list deem our message appropriate 
and relevant before they post. Our response rates are probably not as 
high as others but we know those that respond are relevant and 
interested in what we have to say.

BTW- are you familiar with the spammers blacklist?-
  

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From: 	Ross Stapleton-Gray[SMTP:director@embassy.org]
Sent: 	Monday, June 09, 1997 7:14 AM
To: 	Mitch Arnowitz
Subject: 	Re: AM: email marketing; opt-in or out?

On Mon, 9 Jun 1997, Mitch Arnowitz wrote:

> Concerning response and responsible emailing; do you think its 
> appropriate to have an "opt in" policy regarding email? In other words, 
> people have to tell you they want email before its sent. 
> A well known service: <http://postmasterdirect.com> currently uses
> a 100% opt-in policy.

If the alternative to "opt in" is the celebrated "spam," I'd have to vote
for the former only.  The growth of the spam market has been truly
amazing; I'd love to see any sort of authoritative study on the returns
seen by the spammers.  Given that even a fraction of a percentage point
response rate can mean positive returns, and P.T. Barnum's famous dictum
suggests you'll get a few suckers every few minutes, maybe it's a business
to be in, BUT... it's a business wholly separate from your interest here,
in maintaining a useful relationship with a friendly audience.

I'm working on an essay on the spam problem... I don't think it'll be
solved either by good behavior, or either of the two Congressional bills
that propose putting restrictions on spam, but by mechanisms that will
allow us to better ascertain, assert and challenge identity on the
Internet.  Not something that will happen overnight, but a necessary stage
in the Net's evolution.

Ross
_____________________________________________________________________
Ross Stapleton-Gray                     TeleDiplomacy, Inc.
director@embassy.org                    2503 Columbia Pike, Suite 118
Director, Electronic Embassy Program    Arlington VA 22204
http://www.embassy.org                  +1 703 685-5197 / 5257 fax