Q. I use e-mail marketing—only to customers who have given me permission to do so. But I get much more unwanted e-mail these days, and I worry that if my customers do, too, my legitimate marketing e-mails may be lost in the flood. Is spam getting much more common?
A. It’s not your imagination. The amount of spam reaching Internet users’ inboxes has exploded in recent months, experts say, as spammers have adopted new tricks.
TheNew York Times reports that worldwide spam volumes have doubled from last year, according to Ironport, a spam filtering firm. Unsolicited junk mail now accounts for more than 9 of every 10 e-mail messages sent.
Retailers who use legitimate e-mail marketing are right to be concerned that their messages may be lost in the deluge of spam. Consumers, who may welcome the merchant’s e-mail but are frustrated and annoyed by spam, may delete all messages from anyone other than individuals they know.
Two tips from e-mail marketing consultants may help until the anti-spam industry catches up.
First, craft the subject line of your e-mail messages even more carefully than before. Include the store name and a specific, clear reason to open the message, advises Bob Negen, of Whizbang! Training.
Second, make sure your e-mail address—the part that shows up in the “From:” line—is professional and recognizable.
“No longer can a business get away with an e-mail address like joe221@aol.com,” said retail consultant Doug Fleener.
“It’s too easy for a customer to assume that the message is unsolicited, whether or not it is. Find an e-mail service that will obtain for you an address following the pattern of name@(yourbusiness).com,” Fleener advises.
If you’re wondering why the problem has worsened, it is because spam filters and other anti-spam technologies have not kept pace with new tricks spammers have developed.
One of the newest dodging techniques is sending spam in the form of an image rather than text, which allows it to get past filters that trap spam by hunting down specific words. The anti-spam industry is struggling to develop techniques that defeat spammers’ tactics, but no solution is in sight.
Despite the spam problem, no one believes that e-mail is going away any time soon. It is still a powerful marketing tool; it just takes some skill to use it effectively.
