Hi, folks! I found a thread about an email marketing and now I have a question for you! What the difference between email marketing and spam. In my opinion these are the same things! In both cases simple users will receive a lot of unwanted information via email. Correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks!
The spams are unsolicited/unwanted e-mail messages, this could be big difference, However I am interested to know what you consider to a welcome email?
IMO its the same thing except with email marketing the people have pretty much agreed to receive the spam.
Its hard to distinguish between the two. If only one uses ethical ways to post emails then its not spam. such ways could include using a newsletter sent out or replies to subscribed info. otherwise theres no point of sending mail to some one who doent reply, its a sign that you are a bother read spam. http://www.seojiffy.com
Spam is what you get when you NEVER signed up for the newsletter service or subscriptions. WITH the usual wtf is this in my email box? Email Marketing is what you get when you HAVE signed up for the newsletter service or subscriptions. WITHOUT the usual wtf is this in my email box?
While I agree that spam is useless and actually counterproductive as a marketing tool, the definition of spam may be a little more gray than what has been posted above. For example, if a customer has purchased a specific widget from me but has not signed up for my newsletter, is it spam for me to send him an email a month later telling him about a special sale that we are having on widgets? To make it even murkier, what if the person is not a customer but only a prospect that contacted me a month ago about widgets and I now have a special promotion going on? Getting even murkier, what if a customer or prospect bought or contacted me about widgets and I now have a special deal running on gadgets? I would love to hear opinions on all of the above scenarios.
You are indeed wrong, so here's the correction. Spam is unsolicited email marketing. Regular (legal) email marketing is received when the user has knowingly placed him- or herself on the email mailing list.
Legally speaking spam is unsolicited commercial email. From a brand perspective even opt-in emails can be viewed as spam by the recipient. That's why it's important to offer useful information in mails, and not just push products down their throats. The hard sell in email marketing has long gone if it ever existed.
Not sure that I entirely understand this. What if I offer useful information about my products or special promotions that we are having? Could that be viewed as spam or hard sell? Can I only email useful information to my customers that does not relate to selling my products?
From a legal POV anything the customer has signed up for is fine, you can just send them links to products with BUY THESE written in huge flashy text if you want. My point was that in order to retain people you should offer useful information as well as your aim of selling products.
I think, there is difference. In email marketing, prior permission should be taken to send emails. This way emails will reach to targeted customers. Spam is spam .... collect thousands if ids from here and there and shoot email. bad practice
I have to admit that it has been a while since I have been involved in a discussion on spam...probably the late nineties on the old market-l newsgroup, in fact. Back then, it was felt that a customer who had purchased from a company could be emailed by the company at a later date and it was not considered spam. The same was even felt back then about a prospect who emailed the company for information about its products. You could send an unsolicited email to either of these folks, and unless they requested to opt out, they were fair game. Has the legality or generally accepted practices changed in this regard? By the way, just for the record, I am absolutely not a spammer. Just an interested marketer. JRBIZ
If you're seriously looking to get into email marketing then you should read this, CAN-SPAM http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/canspam.htm