Universal Wilde Blog

If you’re like me, you like coffee – and you like it a lot. However, you only like your coffee a specific way – for me at Starbucks, it’s a venti, sugar-free caramel soy latte (sometimes iced). Yes, I’m selective, but I keep going back to Starbucks. Why? My order’s not explicitly on the menu and it’s a little pricier, but it’s what I like – and clearly, I’ll pay the price to get a drink that I feel is the perfect cup of coffee (or three) for me. The best part of all? I’ve never had a barista tell me they can’t make that latte for me because it’s not on the menu.

Last week we talked about what spam emails were and how your emails can – unfortunately for you – end up being classified as spam. This week, we’re going to tell you how to get rid of some of your spam and how to avoid making your emails spam-tastic!

What is spam, exactly? If you asked this question to someone before the age of the internet, they’d tell you it was some concoction of ingredients – some meat, some unidentifiable things – that was put on the shelves of the supermarket. Turns out, their answer is really similar to what spam is in email form.

As marketers, we often face the challenge of keeping current, relevant, and engaging – and this problem worsens as social media becomes a source for news bites. We saw FEMA’s suggestion to use social media to let loved ones know you were okay post-Sandy, and we thought it was a fantastic way to use Twitter and Facebook in times of crises. However, a couple of brands have been using social media marketing and email marketing to attempt to make light of a gloomy situation and promote their brand a little more. The backlash was ugly – proving that not all publicity is good publicity.

      A friend of mine is responsible for automated sale emails at the discount merchant website he works for. He had sent out one thousand emails – and had a 20% bounce back rate. This was not good for the start-up website; they were still navigating their auto response system, learning the strictness of can-spam laws, and trying to develop a strong, trusting relationship with their new customers. Many of the emails they sent out went straight to spam because the information in the email was incorrect. Now, to avoid these issues, they use a back-end “scrub system” to ensure that all the information being sent to the customer is correct. Many crises have been averted, and any issues that have arisen, they’ve owned up to and sent apologies to their email lists.

In direct marketing, you would be in danger of thinking like a dinosaur if you didn’t have a multi-channel mindset. The core principle of successful direct marketing is driving your audience to a specific "call to action." and getting them to take action.