I’d like to clear some confusion up here with regards to practically implementing an email marketing strategy…this should hopefully be helpful and eradicate any confusion…I’ll provide some examples.
Example 1 – I’m carrying out some telemarketing and I call a prospect. I tell them that I’d like to send them some information via email. They agree. I send it. I wouldn’t add an opt out in the email in this instance because they are expecting my email and the email itself would contain a clear reference to the telephone conversation. This isn’t what I would class as email marketing…more like an email follow up. There’s also nothing wrong with following up with another email later without an opt out. If I had said “Hey, can I add you to our mailing list” then I’d expect the contents of the email to be more generic, I would add an opt out and they would expect future emails.
Example 2 – I have an opt in form on a targeted landing page or some form of traditional media (e.g. shop leaflet) with an offer. People opt in. This can be either double or single depending on where your opt in information is placed. This is what most people consider to be email marketing. You then split your list into buyers and non-buyers – it’s about targeting. And then there’s autoresponders, split-testing email subjects and so on.
Remember that even when you double opt in members of your list they may still forget who you are and mark your email as spam. Also, just because you email a business once and they mark it as spam it doesn’t mean that it is, it’s the recipients perception that is incorrect. But you must be practical and expect that if you send lot of emails to a Chamber of Commerce list for instance then these recipients will be receiving lots of emails…so expect there’s an increased risk of having your messages marked as spam.
