Is it better to get permission up front for your email marketing program, or just beg for forgiveness later?
The short answer is YES, of course it’s better to get permission. It’s always better to get permission. Permission is the first step toward setting expectations, creating relationships and keeping data clean. Permission is a subscriber engagement opportunity.
However, it’s only a first step. Permission does not give marketers a license to just send whatever, whenever. In fact, more than just a one time exercise, permission must be re-earned with every message. Lots of subscribers who gave permission unsubscribe or just ignore future messages. They also complain (click on the Report Spam button), which depresses inbox placement for all campaigns. You can’t earn a response if you aren’t in the inbox.
What really matters is not that permission was granted, but that it is earned. Adopting this attitude leads to decisions like:
- Sending only messages that have real value, at the time when they help subscribers most. For example, sending newsletters every month on the third Thursday might be a fine strategy to just “stay visible,” but sending promotions on days when subscribers are ready to take action on timely deals is a better one. Send more messages when a subscriber is “in market” (e.g.: just purchased, up for renewal, etc) and fewer when they are not.
- Re-engaging with non-active subscribers before too much time goes by. If the messages are not resonating, stop them, or offer to change frequency or content type.
- Preventing list churn and fatigue by moderating frequency. More messages are not welcome. More messages that are valuable and relevant are welcome.
I’m sure that advocacy of permission over forgiveness will take the wind out of a few readers’ sails. Permission requires a strong value proposition. It also means your file could be smaller. That is more work for fewer records. On the surface, it might sound like poor marketing strategy, but actually, it results in a better situation. Subscribers who really want to be on your file are always going to be more engaged and return higher response and revenue. Lots of “sleepers” on the file only return somnambulant results. Subscriber satisfaction and the resultant ROI is, after all, the whole point.
Marketers might also consider that not every subscriber has to be subscribed for everything, or forever. If you gather business cards at a trade show, for instance, it’s not illegal to email them a single follow up note (or maybe 2-3) that thanks them, offers a nice treat and invites them to opt-in for your email newsletter. Woo them rather than just assume they want to be on the file. Similarly for co-reg data or whitepaper download requests or sweepstakes. Interest in a particular offer like these does not necessarily also mean ongoing interest in a newsletter or promotional offers. Take time to nurture these prospects, rather than flood them with messages they didn’t ask for, and don’t really speak to their needs or interests.
I’d love to hear from folks who have adjusted permission rules and found good (or bad) results. How are you thinking about permission as a strategic engagement tool, rather than a barrier to list size?
Tags: customer relations, Email Marketing, email ROI, Marketing Strategy, permission, permission marketing, return on investment
Great perspective, thank you. I always find it a head scratcher that given the wide-spread use of email as a marketing tool, so few understand the concept of opt-in.
“well they bought something from me once upon-a-time and I have their email address….”
Thanks, Pat – totally agree. It’s a shame, but I think many feel that it’s our God-given right as marketers to send whatever we want to customers. Of course they will be interested
The social nature of the Internet changes the game – and increases the penalty if we don’t respect customer permission.
Thanks for the comment!
Good point about sending a follow-up e-mail and asking if recipients want to subscribe. Thanks, Stephanie. Common sense reminder.
Glad you found it helpful, Elaine! It seems sometimes to go against common sense to ASK rather than ASSUME permission – but if we want to have relationships and not just connections, we have to respect the other person’s interests and wishes. Now, that doesn’t mean you stop selling
Provide a compelling experience and great reason to sign up, and you’ll have lots of active subscribers.
THANKS
Stephanie
@StephanieSAM
You said it, “Permission does not give marketers a license to just send whatever, whenever.” According to a recent (1/28/10) Smith-Harmon (Responsys) report, the volume of promotional retail emails grew 12% from 2008 to 2009 and 39% from 2007 to 2009. Forrester has been reporting for some time that email registrations by consumers with companies grows during a recession because consumers want deals, coupons, discounts, etc. That’s the #1 reason. But most of the email coming my way is “whatever, whenever.”
The problem consumers are facing now (especially over the past holiday season) is a significant increase in the volume of emails in their inboxes. Again the Responsys report showed that monthly volumes of emails by an individual retailer grew 16.8% from 11.3 to 13.2 emails in November. I think I subscribe to maybe 20+, so do the math. The clutter is overwhelming. Unless I’m in the market for what’s being offered or there’s a really tempting deal in ther subject line, the “delete” factor is significant.
Email marketers have to focus on being relevant through better segmentation strategies and by understanding behavior (browse and purchase triggers are a good start). And if they really want the channel to succeed, it’s a great idea to seek “permission” regularly. Call it a list hygiene strategy if that’s what it takes, but I think it’s common sense and fundamentally good customer relationship management.
Thanks so much for the thoughtful comments, Hugh. Totally agree with you – subscriber fatique is very real.
Factor in also that many subscribers now access email via a mobile device or even a social network, and it complicates the challenge. Relevancy and amazing subject lines can make a huge difference.
Wonder how many marketers spend time on their subject lines, given how important they are?!
Not enough, as evidenced by my own inbox!
Best,
Stephanie
@StephanieSAM
I was wondering if you have any statistics on open rates and CTR for:
1- 100% Permission email lists.
2- Non permission lists that have been used over a period of time.
3- New non permission lists.
Anybody?
Great questions, Harry! I have not seen a report like that, but would sure like to.
We have some data from client activity – where click through rate lifted by 20% when a file was re-permissioned. Also, some of our retailer clients have both kinds of files… an opt in and an opt out. The opt in always has higher response rates, sometimes by just 5%, often by closer to 50%. Really depends on the business and the brand relationship.
Anyone else have any good stats?
THANKS
Stephanie
Thanks Stephanie. We also have to be careful when we measure. Smaller lists generally get ( in my experience) higher open rates. So when you do a double opt in, I have to assume you get a smaller number of registrations and the list is smaller.
Would you also agree that email open rates have been dropping over the last 10 years? Back in 2000 we often got 40-60% open rates and now $15 is considered great.
I’m not sure that open or click through rates are down overall, but certainly, for those marketers who are only broadcasting generic messages, their rates will be down. As you say, it’s hard to use those “industry benchmarks” because you don’t know the personality behind the data!
What we do see increase response is more segmentation, more targeted content customization and more interactivity.
Best,
Stephanie
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