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How do you define spam?
Posted on Wed, 01/02/2008 - 20:40 by Amy BlackWhat is your definition of spam? There’s a good chance it might be a little different from the next person's and that both of yours might be different from the legal definition. It’s vital that we are all aware of what the law is, as it relates to spam, but it’s also important that we understand what our subscribers see as spam.
A recent survey conducted by MarketingSherpa and Q Interactive found that 50 percent of those surveyed see emails that arrive too frequently (from people they know!) as spam. Additionally, 56 percent see marketing messages and newsletters (also from people they know) as spam. Why? Because, as the question was phrased, these emails are “just not interesting to me.”These results show that we can’t get too comfortable in our permission-based lists. Just because someone signs up to get my emails doesn’t mean that they will always want to hear from me.
How do I combat this new, broader, non-legal definition of spam? Relevancy. I have to understand who I am talking to and what kind of information they want to get from me. I have to keep my content interesting so they have a reason to open and read my emails. And I always have to make sure that I’m meeting the needs of my subscribers first and my marketing objectives second. The good news is that it is possible to do both.
For more on relevancy, read my blog entry, The Importance of Being Relevant.
