E-Mail Marketing Tip

Here’s a tip: If you are conducting e-mail marketing, don’t do it from a free e-mail account. It kills the credibility of any e-mail marketing campaign. It also increases the probability that it will get caught in spam filters.

That reads obvious, right? Well I was surprised and disappointed to get a “Come to Our Booth!” e-mail from a company whose brand I admire enough that I am not calling them out in this post.

It was sent from companyname event.return at gmail dot com. Everything else about the e-mail, from the format and subject line to the graphics and VP of Retail Industry Solutions sig file was fine. Instead the gmail domain gets this company negative attention. They should know better.

As any good trade show will do the NRF rents out its attendee list to exhibitors so they can promote their presence at the show. I’ve been getting a ton of extra, completely untargeted e-mail and mail as a result.

Maybe I’m cranky because the annual National Retail Federation show is a week away and I’m busy preparing. In addition to media briefings, two of our vice-presidents are presenting at the show.

tags | e-mail marketing | trade show marketing | marketing

Comments

[Mike Bawden]

Boy, it seems so obvious, but I can't tell you how many times I've seen stuff come across my desk with a generic e-mail domain name on it and it calls everything into question. You wind up thinking either this person is a "fly-by-night" operation or is so clueless when it comes to the Internet, they only feel comfortable with a basic, generic service (a la AOL).

Good, straight-forward advice, Kevin. Thanks. I've added it to Monday's (01/09) "Much Ado About Marketng" blog.

Thanks again,

Mike Bawden
Brand Central Station