| There's an old Far Side cartoon that I love. It shows an | | | | first place? Where was she???? She never said, "I'm |
| open refrigerator with a cartoon container of potato | | | | sorry for the trouble" or "We had a glitch." No. People |
| salad, complete with arms and legs, holding a pistol to | | | | were screaming, people were angry, people thought |
| bottle of ketchup. The caption reads: "When potato | | | | they were getting spammed. |
| salad goes bad." | | | | I know why I was on her list. I downloaded a free E |
| That image came to mind yesterday as the whiff and | | | | Book once. And since then, she's sent me email after |
| stink of bad marketing floated through the ether and | | | | email, like clockwork. Some are pitches for her books. |
| wafted into my open Outlook in box. I subscribe to | | | | Some are newsletters. I'm betting that lots of people |
| probably 20-50 newsletters, email marketing | | | | who were claiming they were spammed just couldn't |
| messages, and other files in a variety of fields. I like to | | | | remember signing up for her E Book. |
| see what others are doing to use email for direct | | | | But gosh, she needs crisis management training and |
| marketing. | | | | procedures...fast. |
| One came through around noon. It wasn't very | | | | Because she lost many, many readers and potential |
| interesting so I moved on to other things. Then the little | | | | customers yesterday due to some unfortunate glitch. |
| "ping" noise that signals messages started going | | | | Key takeaways for entrepreneurs and marketers: |
| off...then again....and suddenly my in box was | | | | - If you're scheduling emails, make sure you'll be near |
| FLOODED. | | | | the computer when they hit your customers in boxes. |
| We were held hostage as surely as if someone held | | | | You want to be available for any problem-solving |
| us at gunpoint. Like potato salad gone bad and holding | | | | should the need arise. |
| a pistol to the ketchup bottle, I guess. | | | | - If you have a system administrator, make sure he's |
| Someone hit "reply all" to the email. | | | | awake, fully caffeinated, and has a procedure list if |
| And that's when good marketing went B-A-D. | | | | something blows up. At the least - make sure he |
| Suddenly, everyone and his brother on this contact file | | | | knows to alert you asap. |
| started hitting reply. I don't know if they were hitting | | | | - SAY YOU ARE SORRY. Yes. Apologies never go |
| Reply All or just Reply and something was wonky in | | | | out of style. Even if it's not your fault (perhaps the list |
| the contact management system. I'd never seen this | | | | management company went cukoo on you), say |
| particular contact management system used before | | | | you're sorry anyway. Lots of people in this world are |
| nor am I familiar with it, so I can't even speculate as to | | | | kind and will give you a second chance. But you've got |
| what was happening. | | | | to say sorry and then work on regaining their trust. |
| All I know is that the woman sending out that email got | | | | - NEVER use "BCC" in Outlook to send a newsletter |
| hammered. | | | | or mass marketing email. Many people cheap out and |
| "Get me off your list NOW." | | | | try to use Outlook for this. If you are sending massive |
| "Why am I getting this? I didn't sign up for this." | | | | email newsletters or marketing messages to more |
| "STOP hitting REPLY ALL or I am going to report you | | | | than a handful of people, don't use the BCC function. If |
| to Ad Age" (that was my favorite angry note) | | | | one person hits REPLY ALL everyone will get the |
| "Just get me out of here." | | | | message. |
| I counted at least 48 of these messages before I | | | | And that brings me to my last point: REPLY ALL. The |
| myself got fed up by the response from her site | | | | bane of many a corporate email in box. Don't you just |
| administrator. Whoever her administrator was needs | | | | want to whack those folks who hit "Reply All" to say.... |
| some sensitivity training. He kept sending an email out | | | | - Thanks |
| with "how to unsubscribe" instructions. Gee whiz, ya | | | | - Okay |
| think you could have at least apologized to us? | | | | - Got it - will do |
| Mentioned there was something weird going on? | | | | - Yes |
| And how about the marketing expert who owned the | | | | And other scintillating messages? |
| list, whose name attracted me to her newsletter in the | | | | |