Question

Topic: E-Marketing

Making A Mass Email Appear Personal

Posted by EH on 7/31/2008 at 3:25 PM ET 250 Points
I am starting a marketing department for a rapidly expanding company. The owner has built an extremely successful business and gained hundreds of clients by emailing people in his database with personalized emails and articles he has written about best practices in his field. We want to increase the frequency of these emails and articles to about every 4 to 6 weeks.

The problem is that he has his assistant and the receptionist send out each email and attachment individually. That was fine when he had 100 clients, but now he has 7,000 people in his database -- needless to say, it takes days and it's not an enjoyable task for them.

At my previous company, we used Swiftpage which was great. The owner of this company, however, doesn't want to lose the look of the personal and direct email. He doesn't want the email to look like an email blast and he is terrified of being labeled a "spammer."

Currently, he gets a ton of responses to his articles and we think it's because people see that he sent them a personal email. We obviously wouldn't want to lost that.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a more efficient solution?
To continue reading this question and the solution, sign up ... it's free!
SUBSCRIBE
Or, SIGN IN

RESPONSES

  • Posted by Inbox_Interactive on 7/31/2008 at 3:31 PM Accepted
    Is there any reason you can't send out a "personal" email to 7,000 people?

    We have done this with great success in situations where we are trying to get people to register for a live event, like a seminar.

    We send out "personal" emails--no HTML, no color, just plain old text--that look exactly like the kind of email that an executive would send to one person at a time.

    Keep in mind that I'm not suggesting rampant use of personalization (like the person's name in the subject line). To me, that does not look like someone sat down and wrote out an email.

    You know you've done your job when you get replies like, "Paul, thanks for the invitation to this event. I can't make it, but..." Then you *know* they have no idea that the same message was sent to 10,000 other people.

    The only thing that really separates this kind of email from a true one-on-one message is the unsubscribe link, and even that can be treated in such a way as to minimize its effect and appearance as it relates to looking like mass email.

    There's no need to spend days on this!

    - Paul
  • Posted by EH on 7/31/2008 at 3:39 PM Author
    Thanks for your response, Paul. Can you give me an example of how you've minimized the effect and appearance of the unsubscribe link? I'm experimenting with a few e-mail services, but I can't see how I could make that link appear less prominent.
  • Posted on 7/31/2008 at 4:04 PM Accepted
    In addition to Paul' s excellent advice, I would add that you can make it look like a letter. Use plain text, no HTML or images.

    Dear (first name),


    (The text of the newsletter)



    Warm regards,



    (Exec Name)
    (Company)
    (Address)



    (Unsubscribe link here)
  • Posted by Mikee on 7/31/2008 at 4:42 PM Accepted
    There is a program that I have used called Mach 5 Mailer, https://www.mach5.com/products/mailer/index.php. this program has worked well for me. It allows you to set up parameters that help prevent Internet Service Providers (ISP) from blocking emails. ISPs do not like to see a flood of emails at one time. Many programs like Mach 5 Mailer can spread out emails to any one ISP.

    I chose Mach 5 Mailer because it allowed me to create a merged email using an Excel file as my database. They also have a feature that will allow you to set your lists up with them so that subscribes and un-subscribes can be automated.

    If you have your own Linux web server you can also try php list, https://www.phplist.com/. This is an open source (free) mail list software that runs on your server. This allows you to keep full control of everything. I am just beginning to use this as well.

    Whatever you do, do not get rid of the un-subscribe. It is better to lose subscribers than it is to get reported to ISPs as a spammer. Once you are blocked by an ISP no user of that ISP will get your mail (even the ones who really want it).

    Mike
  • Posted on 7/31/2008 at 5:17 PM Accepted
    We use PHP and it is a great program that allows you complete freedom to create emails. Because it allows such freedom you may need a programmer to help you set things up but once its set up your golden and then there is no monthly fee to use it.

    I agree that you should leave the unsubscribe link in all emails but you can make this personal as well. A closing sentence that states something like, "I try to send you relevant information but if you wish to longer receive these emails please click here." Or something of that nature.

  • Posted on 7/31/2008 at 11:32 PM Accepted
    I think if you're providing useful content, plus keeping an easy way for people to unsubscribe you'll be safe from being perceived as a spammer.

    The difficult trick as your email list grows is that peoples' definitions of what they deem "useful" begins vary more so. Therefore you might consider segmenting your list based on your readers preferences. For example, we have a list of people who are interested in surgery ... break it down into functional specialties such as eye surgery or trauma, or perhaps trends such as advances in surgery or breaking industry news. Catch my drift? Collect preferences from new subscribers and ask existing ones if they'd like to receive more specific info.

    Here's another idea too. Sounds like this is some sort of consulting and services biz. Maybe you set up conferences, training or speaking gigs. Keep track of which subscribers you have attend an event. Thank them for coming, and provide additional, content related to the seminar which they might not have heard, call it an unexpected bonus. In my book that's more personal than just adding a persons first name to the message.

    Keep on riding that relevancy train.

    Cheers,

    Jess
  • Posted by Frank Hurtte on 7/31/2008 at 11:52 PM Accepted
    I suggest you check out constant contact. With it you have the ability to write an email the old fashioned way... then send it out so it looks personal..

  • Posted by Mark on 8/1/2008 at 2:54 AM Accepted
    Any half-decent email marketing solution or software should let you send out emails that look personal (plain text etc.)

    In terms of making an unsubscribe link look personal...

    Most services automatically append a generic unsubscribe link to your outgoing emails, in order to ensure you're compliant with anti-spam laws.

    However, some give you the code for the unsubscribe link and let you choose where you want to put it.

    Instead of just ending the email with...

    "Unsubscribe"

    ...you could do something like this...

    P.S. Anytime you want me to stop sending you these article recommendations, just let me know in a return email, or visit this link

    "this link" is the unsubscribe link. You can modify the wording a bit in each send.

    One thing you need to check is your local anti-spam legislation. While "personalized bulk" email is an accepted practice, there are still rules about what goes in such missives, since they still count as commercial bulk email.
  • Posted by EH on 8/1/2008 at 8:41 AM Author
    Thanks for all of your suggestions... I will check out all of the services you suggested. I appreciate the guidance. Thanks again!
BACK TO TOP

Post a Comment

Related Discussions

Community Info

Top 25 Experts
(E-Marketing)