Newsletter ArchiveSUBJECT: E-mail Dont's Welcome to The Internet 800 Directory Newsletter. As we all get started on this New Year, one of our business resolutions should be to have closer relations with our customers. The Internet offers a great opportunity for communicating with your customer base, along with some hazards if done improperly. This week I want to go over some basic "Don'ts" regarding e-mailing your customers. Don't send out email messages that show the entire mailing list. If you send the same email message to multiple email addresses, be sure to utilize Blind Carbon Copies (BCC). If you fail to do this simple step, then every one of your customer's e-mail addresses will have been sent to everyone else in the mailing. These addresses can then be used for sending out Spam or worse. Some programs require that an address be placed in the To: field; if this is the case, use your own address in this field. This will keep your customer's e-mail addresses confidential. Don't send out your message in all CAPS. You may think it's more effective and that all CAPS will help you get a point across. However, many internet users perceive the use of CAPS as shouting and thus take offense. THIS IS NOT THE IMPRESSION YOU WANT TO MAKE WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS. Sorry, hope I didn't hurt your ears. Don't send e-mail to people you don't already have a relationship with. E-mail can be a great way to get your message out to your customers, and most people don't mind getting an e-mail if it is to the point. Sending out Spam can fill your ISP's and your mailbox with complaints, instead of the orders you were looking for. Don't create fake headers so they can't reply to your e-mail. This is the action of someone with something to hide. This is not the impression you want your customer to have of you. Don't keep sending e-mail to people that have asked to be removed. If they asked to be removed you should honor their request and not send them any more e-mail of this type. Some people just don't like getting any e-mail; so don't make them mad and frustrated. Don't send HTML coded e-mail unless you know that the person you are sending it to can read it. If their e-mail program doesn't read HTML, then your message is just garbage to them. When in doubt, send the email as just plain text. Don't send attachments. Instead, make the to-be-attached item available on your web site and then send a link to the item in the e-mail. This will do two things for you. It will give you an idea of how many of the people on the list read the attachment and it will make it easier for the technically-impaired to access the item. All Contents Copyright ©1995-2001 The Internet 800 Directory Subscribe To The Newsletter: |