Still Looks Like Spam To Me
from the flooded-inbox dept
A major marketing company has begun offering clients a way to supposedly make their email marketing messages more effective by tracking test viewers' eye movements to determine what parts of a message they spend the most time looking at. Newspaper publishers have used similar studies for some time, but this is apparently the first time it's been used forThank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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blarg
first
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Isn't there a difference
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New Tactic for Fighting?
What I've been wondering is if we were to pool anti-spam resources and create a public awareness campaign. You know, teaching people to NEVER buy anything from an unsolicited email. NEVER click on a link in an unsolicited email. That sort of thing. If we were to take the profit out of spamming, maybe that would help.
Then again, I'm sure they reply rate is already so low, it only takes a very small percentage of recipients to respond in order to pay for itself, that we may never get to those people in the first place.
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Re: New Tactic for Fighting?
E-mail campaigns typically cost less than $250 to send 1,000,000 emails. If you could invest $250 in the market and get $10,000 back, you would do that all day every day, wouldn't you?
There is no way to educate every consumer against clicking links in unsolicited emails.
So, the question remains whether legitimate companies should continue to use e-mail in their marketing efforts and the answer is yes. I get at least one email per week from Big Dog clothing company. Most days I just delete them. Howevr, because I like their brand, and opted in for their ads, I welcome their receipt and if I am in the market to buy new clothing, their ad may be timed perfectly that I buy from them rather than from Target or some other company with whom I do business but from whom I do not receive e-mail newsletters/ads.
Brand awareness is a good thing to advertise generally via banner ads, billboards, magazines, etc. Sales and promotions are well suited for opt-in email campaigns.
Side note: My Yahoo! email account has over 17,000 messages in the SPAM folder that I will never see. If I have not opted in for your e-mail newsletter, be certain I will report it as SPAM and never see it again. If I have opted in, you are on my safe sender's list and I will see your messages.
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Mis-understood?
It is well known now that user's eyes tend to look in the top -left and then work left-to-right top-to-bottom scanning the page for what they want.
This service sounds like it does exactly that - with e-mail. Testing different styles of e-mail to see which design/template/structure works best for converting the recipient.
It is intirely unrelated to the method or style of delivery, frequency of e-mails or whether or not it is spam. Indeed, spammers are unlikely to care about eye-tracking or conversion rate that much because most spam is utter garbage anyway (unless it's phishing, of course).
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Spam?!
Use Mozilla's Thunderbird for your email client. Adaptive controls allows you to select some stuff as junk, and it learns, took about 3 weeks for me to be spam free.
I get maybe 1 spam email in my inbox every 2 weeks or so now. I junk it and that type never comes back.
Best way I know of to destroy the jerks spamming me.
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Re: Spam?!
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Spam?!
*Just add $9.95 S&H
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Re: Spam?!
Gee, you found yet another method of selling!
You don't need to buy anything to rid yourself of spam people. This guy is one of THEM!
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Sorry
I see advertising on the Internet, on TV, in the movies, hear it on the radio, see it in magazines and newspapers, have it delivered to me through snail mail, see it on billboards, sides of buses, bus stands, sides of trains planes and automobiles, sides of buildings, in buildings . . . everywhere.
Ask me if I REMEMBER ANY ad I saw coming into work today!
Do companies honestly believe that email marketing is necessary to be added to this deluge of IGNORED content? Does email advertising offer some staying power over the slew of other methods we get advertising?
Do what I do, set my email inbox to only accept whitelisted addresses. I am tired of spam filters missing 50% of the spam, I am even tired of people sending me chain mail or joke lists. If your on the whitelist, I want to hear from you, if you're not, then either you send spam or send something I don't want to see. If you want to be on my list, then I need to talk to you in person first, or call you, or some other method of contact or opt to receive your newsletter or whatever.
Its time for people to grow up and realize that the reason why spam continues is that people are too afraid of missing that important email, or loosing contact with someone they haven't preconfigured to be included in their whitelist, and they have to get over it and make the switch. Instead of adding people to a trusted list of acceptable emails, we want to allow ALL emails through, and then sort out which ones are good and bad, and add the bad to a filtered list, and this method doesn't work. You will receive 100 bad emails for every good one you get, it is eaiser to filter on the good stuff.
I think ALL email needs to go through a handshake process, if your receive email from somone not on your whitelist, you are asked if you want to accept email from that person, is so, it adds it and every email sent then on from that address is accepted, if not, then it is blocked. Further to that, the blocked request is sent to the source ISP or your email server, and if the same address gets blocked some pre-defined amount of times, the email address is permanently blocks or suspended, period.
Anyways, marketers thinking email is a valid method for advertising need to be lined up and shot. It will NEVER be an acceptable source of advertising, and regardless of how cheap it is, valid marketing and spam will always be lumped together, and if you started only adding trusted addresses to a whitelist rather then accepting all email, then you will find that both spam and email advertising will end.
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Re: Sorry
Actually as an online marketing person I DO see the results of successful email marketing. It is completely trackable and we see the effects. With over 55,000 people in one partition of our newsletters, I see a high open rate and click rate which in turn keeps our advertisers on. People who don't think that advertising works, especially online advertising, just do not know what they are talking about. You subconsciously see those advertisements regardless if you say you don't. Just look at the numerous case studies and open your mind to facts and not personal opinions.
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Re: Sorry
Actually as an online marketing person I DO see the results of successful email marketing. It is completely trackable and we see the effects. With over 55,000 people in one partition of our newsletters, I see a high open rate and click rate which in turn keeps our advertisers on. People who don't think that advertising works, especially online advertising, just do not know what they are talking about. You subconsciously see those advertisements regardless if you say you don't. Just look at the numerous case studies and open your mind to facts and not personal opinions.
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Re: Re: Re: Sorry
Maybe i should do the same for billboards. Visual spam, they are.
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Re: Sorry
I prefer tortured live on TV. As we're turning back to the middle ages, let's try some middle age justice to set some examples. Then they will think twice before sending unsolicited email :D
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Spam?
(Gotta throw in Monty Python somewhere.)
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Re: Spam?
Monthy Python rules!
Every Spam is Sacred... oh no, it wasn't Spam they sang about in that one ;-)
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Best response to email advertising is no response
The opt-in criteria is you have an email address; an email address will opts you in; you must want this advertising since you have an email address.
There must be huge profit in email advertising (aka SPAM) judging by the huge amount of SPAM I filter daily. I want to smack friends, family and co-workers who tell me they respond to SPAM but it would not do any good.
The fact that SPAM is profitable is proof that people are stupid.
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spam will always exist
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other ways?
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Re: other ways?
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Re: other ways?
most of my mail is from fellow gmailers.
my account has a" . "in it too. i doubt that helps any.
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Re: other ways?
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I want my e-mail so I can contact my friends and family - not to be deluged with even more commercial crap.
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Re:
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Re: Re:
Are you a lawyer? If not, then don't forget to have a lawyer check it out for you and explain all the implications since it was probably written by another lawyer with his own client's best interest in mind. Of course marketers know that isn't practical and take full advantage.
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Re: Letitimate Email Marketing vs. spam
I came across a website about tennis that I really liked. They had a newsletter. So I filled out the form on their site to recieve it (opted-in). They sent me an email requesting that I reply to confirm my subscription to their newsletter (double opt-in). They specified the frequency and content of the email that I would receive. I really enjoy getting that newsletter each month. In each edition, they have an opt-out link in case that I want to stop receiving the newsletter. They also clearly identify themselves in the header of the email and signature. There is a reply to address and it works.
spam (non-permission based):
Some spammer found my email address on an online forum (they harvested my email) or from a disreputible email list provider. They send me email about penis enlargement, viagra or anything else that they want to push regularly. The reply-to address doesn't work. I'm not really sure who it is sending me this mail. There is no way to opt-out and I didn't sign up for it.
I think that should clarify the difference between legitimate (permission) email marketing and spam.
It's not really too complicated.
All the best
Tom
Tom O'Leary
Editor, The Messaging Times
blog: http://www.messagingtimes.com
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Re: Re: Letitimate Email Marketing vs. spam
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Re: Re: Re: Letitimate Email Marketing vs. spam
There are any number of legitimate marketers out there using email as a platform to communicate and build relationships with their customers. I am subscribed to quite a few. WebProWorld.com, Amazon.com and other reputible businesses send you what you sign up for - nothing more, nothing less. They may ask you if you're intersted in something else, but won't force any of it on you. And they will always provide an opt-out link so that you can stop receiving the mailing when you want to.
It's not disimilar to blog spam these days. Does the fact that some Internet users spam blog comments mean that the Internet, as a platform, is a spam utility? Of course not. There will always be a number of people who misuse a distribution channel - be it a forum, a blog or email.
Nobody likes spam, and we didn't like junk mail in our mailboxes either when the postman delivered it. And as an veteran mail carrier, believe me, we didn't like carrying it to you either! I used to rip that up, now I just have to hit the delete button. I think anti-spam funds would be better used fighting fraud and phishing, where the consequences are more serious - more than just an annoyance.
All the best
Tom O'Leary
Editor, The Messaging Times
blog: www.messagingtimes.com
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Letitimate Email Marketing
But listen, most online marketers using email aren't trying to spam you. A small tennis club that has an email list of 200 subscribers for their monthly newsletter aren't likely to start sending Viagra spam just because they can. They just want to get their own information out to you, build a trusting relationship over time and hopefully be your choice when you want to do business with that industry. Any good marketer doesn't want to piss you off or be underhanded about their strategy.
Good businesses build brands. And good brands are trusted.
All the best
Tom O'Leary
Editor, The Messaging Times
blog: www.messagingtimes.com
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spam
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Re: spam
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Spammers Should be Shot
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Ugh. All the money!
If anyone wants REAL spam protection get GMail. Ive never even had one so far!
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Re: Re: New Tactic for Fighting?
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Looks, tastes, and smells like...SPAM!
Create your own internet! That way when people want to be sold something while checking messages from people that matter to them, they will have a choice. The way things are now you have to lie, cheat, and steal to advertise and no one would ever buy from you due to that fact, yet you still think people are interested in your shit.
I am amazed how much money is spent on this advertising and clicking crap.
Want to know some real statistics? I never, ever, EVER respond to any ads on the internet, if I do, I was duped into looking but as soon as I discover I was duped, look out! You won't dupe me a second time in the same manner.
Most marketers and salespeople never really went to school or if they did they majored in liberal arts, history, business, or some other meaningful degree. They have no idea what theyt're doing really, They are masters in the art of deception. Not only do they deceive any potential buyers but they deceive the customers they sell for as well. No one ever looks into the effectiveness of advertising except by the advertisers themselves.
- No honor among thieves.
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Higher Energy Prices = More Commercial Email
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Re: Higher Energy Prices = More Commercial Email
I just started receiving a slew of unsolicited email from your company. I have unsubscribed once and will see if that stops the flow. After searching the web I see that a number of folks on various forums and blogs are mentioning your company in the same breath as some well-known spam houses, and I have seen several responses by you protesting such characterizations. If your company is not sending unsolicited email, how do you explain the sudden spate of people complaining about receiving unsolicited messages from your company? Your company's emails to me are saying that I am some sort of "Senior Estate Advisor", which is about as far from reality as you can get. So either you have a legitimate company that happens to get a fairly large number of people's email addresses purely by mistake, or you are doing exactly what it appears to be.
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