Finding the Ethical Line in Email Marketing Versus Spamming
As businesses worldwide grow smaller, email marketing is increasingly becoming much more important to them.
It should not only give you a straight line into consumers’ inboxes (a.k.a. their holy space) but should tend to yield higher return on investment (ROI) than other forms of marketing.
Every $1 invested in email marketing brings an average return of $38. Not bad, right?
But not just these cold, hard numbers have business owners practically bowing down to the Email Marketing gods. A well-designed and thought-out campaign can create a positive brand image, boost credibility, and create a community, abstract goals that most modern-day businesses strive for.
In that light, it is no wonder that over 86% of businesses are planning to increase their email marketing budgets in the next year.
The importance of email marketing ethics
Direct access to consumer inboxes requires all businesses to adhere to strict rules of legislation and ethics.
Here’s what you’ll need to know about devising ethical email marketing campaigns and why they’re important to your business.
What exactly does the CAN-SPAM Act entail?
First off, let’s outline the CAN-SPAM Act. No, it’s not a tin of processed meat or whatever you had in your mind. It is a law that protects consumers from unwanted commercial emails and imposes rules on businesses about sending marketing emails.
The Act passed in 2003 after a surge in the number of spam emails consumers received about medical enhancements and other irrelevant additions to their lives.
The Act sets out several requirements that would apply according to national standards for email marketing set out by law. In a nutshell:
1. Use a subject line that does what it says
Have you ever received an email with a really exciting subject line, clicked through with anticipation, only to be totally let down by the offer on the other side?
It could be a matter of the content having nothing to do with the headline—or it probably just leaves you feeling as if you’ve been mis-sold, considering how clickbait-y the subject line was.
It’s a requirement by the CAN-SPAM Act that, at all costs, make sure your subject line doesn’t mislead the recipient in any way.
2. If your email is an ad, say so.
Besides, if your email in question is advertising or, generally, subject to the view of any kind of advertisement for any company, product, or otherwise, you need to make sure it is clear within the email.
This law does not specifically state in what manner you have to make it clear to the recipients of your email that it is an ad. The law summed up the matter: your disclosure has to be “clear and conspicuous.
” If your subscribers can see and understand the email is an ad, you’re in the clear. The subject line. You also don’t need to place this disclosure within your subject line.
3. Your sender info should be strictly true
Though it might be tempting to fill the sender line of your emails with some zany name, according to the CAN-SPAM Act, you do have to make sure that the “From,” “To,” and “Reply-To” fields in your emails, along with the routing information, are correctly filled out with your information as the sender.
4. Provide a physical address
Many business owners try to avoid this option, most especially when their business is ultimately run online.
But really, you do need to provide a legitimate address where your email recipients can reach you. This is non-negotiable under the CAN-SPAM Act. If you do not have a physical address, it is easy and very affordable to acquire a PO Box or a physical mailing address by using a virtual mailroom or office.
5. Easy Opt-out
It can be excruciating to watch the unsubscribes roll in one after the other, but you are essentially breaking the law unless you give your recipients a chance to opt out of your emails.
Always include a link in each email so that subscribers may opt out of your mailing list if they are not interested in receiving them.
You want to do this, kind of, anyway: imagine a potential customer getting so wound up because they can’t unsubscribe that they don’t buy from you or, worse, bad-mouth you to other potential customers.
What are the consequences?
We could be fined up to $16,000 if one gets reported to the CAN-SPAM Act requirements. Seems like quite a lot.
This is why double-checking and reassessing your email marketing strategy form are key to remember so your company doesn’t break any laws.
Maybe it’s not illegal, but is that ethical?
The CAN-SPAM Act covers a lot of ground. One has to ask himself: Is it really ethical and effective to include such things in your marketing strategy? (The answer would be a no most of the time.)
Purchasing email lists
You must have run into list brokers on the market who claim to be able to sell even those lists of persons interested in whatever you have to offer. Sounds too good to be true.
That’s because it is. Most of these claims are just false, but let’s say, for a minute, that they were true. Just imagine how many other marketers the list brokers have made their offer to – of whom you have no clue.
Now, consider all the emails that all those marketers sent to people who could be on a purchased email list. And then, consider how many other offers, along with yours, that recipient receives daily from businesses that have bought their way into your prospective buyers’ inboxes.
Do you want your brand related to just about everyone and everything?
Of course, the answer would probably be no. So, it would be a bit more decent if we could avoid buying leads from such brokers to be ethical and in compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act.
The best part about building your email list from scratch is that it’s packed with people who will be interested in hearing from you. Plus, you’re segmenting your list based on the actions and offers that are most pertinent to them.
Buying traffic
It is legal to buy traffic. However, you must make a wise decision about how to buy traffic.
For example, the list owner identified can have mail sent to his or her list asking the readers to visit one of your webpages. In return for the visitor’s email address, you give something of value.
If the list owner has an audience interested in what you have to offer and markets it accordingly, then you’re in business. Now, you can humanely start building your own email list safely.
The same goes for the case when buying ad traffic from advertising companies (Google AdWords, Facebook Ads, Bing, etc.) and sending it to the same kind of lead acquisition process—although in most cases, direct traffic to a form like I described is frowned upon, so you would instead send it to some content buffer.
The benefits of abiding by the rules
You probably always know when a tactic is bad. Things like purchasing consumers’ email addresses most likely give you a sour feeling in your stomach, but they sure are tempting, aren’t they? especially when trying to get your business off the ground. However, as life progresses in your business, one mistake you made in the early days could haunt you.
From bad brand cohesion to consumers avoiding your products because you’ve bombarded them with too many irrelevant emails in the past. Great. So, now you know what makes an email marketing campaign “bad” and “unethical.” But just why is it SO important to be “good”? The results are plain to see:
- Higher open and response rates: it makes unsubscribing easier, and thus, only the responsive people remain: those who want to hear from you and read your emails.
- Increased sales: by developing your list of interested parties, you will only offer the products and services to those whom it relates to and are needed by them. Which ultimately means more sales.
- More trust: Today, trust and authenticity are king if you want your business to shine. Sending relevantly targeted campaigns to the right people means you will build more of that all-important trust.
But perhaps the greatest plus of all is the fact that you know you’re building the business in a way YOU want, with a list brimming full of POTENTIAL prospects who are sitting on their hands, just waiting with bated breath for your emails to drop into their inbox.
Conclusion
Knowing the difference between what is ethically right and wrong in marketing can only help you ensure that your emails reach their intended recipients and build a more engaged base of subscribers and customers. This will keep your business from getting in trouble and, in so doing, protect it against costly fines since you will be in the know of the current laws.