Online Advertising
Opt-in e-mail advertising
Opt-in e-mail advertising or permission marketing is a
method of
advertising by
electronic mail wherein the recipient of the advertisement has consented
to receive it. It is one of several ways developed by marketers to
eliminate the disadvantages of e-mail marketing.
E-mail has become a very popular mode of communication across the world. It
has also become extremely popular to advertise through . Some of the many
advantages of advertising through e-mail are the direct contact with the
consumer and is “inexpensive, flexible, and simple to implement” (Fairhead,
2003). There are also disadvantages attached to e-mail advertising such as,
alienating the consumer because of overload to messages or the advertisement
getting deleted without getting read.
Permission e-mail marketing may evolve into a technology that uses a
handshake protocol between sender and receiver (Fairhaed, 2003). This system is
intended to eventually result in a high degree of satisfaction between consumers
and marketers. If opt-in e-mail advertising is used, the material that is
emailed to consumers will be “anticipated.” It is assumed that the consumer
wants to receive it, which makes it unlike unsolicited advertisements sent to
the consumer (often referred to as
spam).
Ideally, opt-in e-mail advertisements will be more personal and relevant to the
consumer than untargetted advertisements.
A common example of permission marketing is a newsletter sent to a firm’s
customers. Newsletters like this are a way to let customers know about upcoming
events or promotions, or new products. In this type of advertising, a company
that wants to send a newsletter to their customers may ask them at the point of
purchase if they would like to receive this newsletter.
With a foundation of opted-in contact information stored in a database,
marketers can automatically send out promotional materials. The marketers can
also segment their promotions to specific market segments.
Email Marketing Services and CAN-SPAM Compliance
Because the
CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 authorizes an USD 11,000 penalty per violation for
spamming
each individual recipient, many commercial e-mail marketers within the
United States utilize a service or special software that helps ensure
compliance with the Act. A variety of older systems exist which do not ensure
compliance with the Act. To comply with the Act's regulation of commercial
e-mail, services typically: require users to authenticate their return address
and include a valid physical address, provide a one-click unsubscribe feature,
and prohibit importing lists of purchased addresses which may not have given
valid permission.
In addition to satisfying legal requirements, services such as
ConstantContact help customers to set up and manage their own e-mail
marketing campaigns. The services provide e-mail templates, automatically handle
subscriptions and removals, and generate statistics on how many messages were
received and openned, and whether the recipients clicked on any links within the
messages.
References
- Fairhead, N. (2003) “All hail the brave new world of permission
marketing via email” (Media 16, August 2003)
- O'Brian J. & Montazemia, A. (2004) Management Information Systems
(Canada: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.)
External links
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