Building your email list can be a real challenge. In our recent List Growth Study we evaluated 18 different tactics for building email lists. Among the tactics evaluated was co-registration. Among non-organic list growth tactics (tactics that involve the marketer going out to find subscribers as opposed to organic tactics which capture information from consumers who have initiated contact with your site, call center, store, etc) co-registration faired well.
Unfortunately, co-registration is a catch all phrase for anything that involves soliciting potential subscribers on a website other than your own. As such, it may be one of the more loaded terms in email marketing.
I recently came across this great example of how NOT to do co-registration. From this example believe you will agree that the process only benefits one party—the vendor running the program (in this case a company called JoeTec Networks Inc.) Everyone else loses. Customers lose and brands lose.
It all started with a free IQ Test.
They are up front about being an advertising supported site. In fact, in the fine print of the site states “To get your IQ Results you will be required to sign up to our site and view some of our advertisers promotions. You are not required to signup for or buy any of our advertiser's products.”
They are even more transparent in their privacy policy. Here are a couple selections from that page:
In essence, once you give them your email on any form, you’re inbox is toast. This is the perfect example of where visitors would do well to read the privacy policy. Assuming they understand what they are actually signing up for, I cannot imagine many would continue at this point. Fortunately, I have an unlimited number of junk mail addresses that I can use for this type of research on email marketing. And so I continued to take the test.
Once complete, the forms started. Remember the promise on the first page “You are not required to signup for or buy any of our advertiser's products.” Well it is not true if you actually want to get the results. As you can see, I tried to select no to all of the offers presented to me and I was informed this was not allowed.
So, I completed it and got this form…
Many of these are notable brands. Worse still, some of those brands had their own forms requiring me to sign up for their deals or else the process would terminate and I wouldn’t get my test scores.
After no less than 15 pages with multiple offers and another 15 or so forms from specific companies, I finally got my IQ Test score. Apparently my willingness to submit myself to this abuse made me dumber. The score I got was a full 40 points lower than any other score I have ever received on an IQ or similar test.
But now for the consequences. In the two months that have passed since I ran this little experiment, that mailbox has received over 400 email messages. That is 200 a month, or an average of about 7 email messages per day.
A few smart brands have only sent one email to that address asking me to confirm my subscription. I received approximately 20 of these in the first week and I did not respond to any of them. Why? Not because I wasn’t interested, but because I was overwhelmed.
A few other brands continue to send email to that address. They are now on my “do not do business with” list. If companies can’t pay attention to the company they keep, then I don’t want to do business with them.
Don’t play with your companies reputation. If you are going to try co-registration (or any other non-organic list growth tactic), you need to work with experienced and reputable providers that understand the principles of true permission.
Unfortunately, co-registration is a catch all phrase for anything that involves soliciting potential subscribers on a website other than your own. As such, it may be one of the more loaded terms in email marketing.
I recently came across this great example of how NOT to do co-registration. From this example believe you will agree that the process only benefits one party—the vendor running the program (in this case a company called JoeTec Networks Inc.) Everyone else loses. Customers lose and brands lose.
It all started with a free IQ Test.
They are up front about being an advertising supported site. In fact, in the fine print of the site states “To get your IQ Results you will be required to sign up to our site and view some of our advertisers promotions. You are not required to signup for or buy any of our advertiser's products.”
They are even more transparent in their privacy policy. Here are a couple selections from that page:
Solicited Email:
Company only sends email to individuals who have agreed on the Websites to receive email from Company or to individuals who have agreed on third party websites to receive email from third parties such as Company. Company does not send unsolicited email messages. As a result, statutes requiring certain formatting for unsolicited email are not applicable to Company's email messages.
Third Party Email:
When you fill out one of our forms, you are consenting to receive e-mail that informs you about new merchandise, sales, special discounts and promotions from us and our trusted 3rd party partners. If you wish to discontinue receiving these emails you will need to click the opt-out hyperlink at the bottom of the email.
JoeTec MAY sell or transfer individual information to trusted third parties for any legaly permissible purpose at its sole discretion.
Company only sends email to individuals who have agreed on the Websites to receive email from Company or to individuals who have agreed on third party websites to receive email from third parties such as Company. Company does not send unsolicited email messages. As a result, statutes requiring certain formatting for unsolicited email are not applicable to Company's email messages.
Third Party Email:
When you fill out one of our forms, you are consenting to receive e-mail that informs you about new merchandise, sales, special discounts and promotions from us and our trusted 3rd party partners. If you wish to discontinue receiving these emails you will need to click the opt-out hyperlink at the bottom of the email.
JoeTec MAY sell or transfer individual information to trusted third parties for any legaly permissible purpose at its sole discretion.
In essence, once you give them your email on any form, you’re inbox is toast. This is the perfect example of where visitors would do well to read the privacy policy. Assuming they understand what they are actually signing up for, I cannot imagine many would continue at this point. Fortunately, I have an unlimited number of junk mail addresses that I can use for this type of research on email marketing. And so I continued to take the test.
So, I completed it and got this form…
Many of these are notable brands. Worse still, some of those brands had their own forms requiring me to sign up for their deals or else the process would terminate and I wouldn’t get my test scores.
After no less than 15 pages with multiple offers and another 15 or so forms from specific companies, I finally got my IQ Test score. Apparently my willingness to submit myself to this abuse made me dumber. The score I got was a full 40 points lower than any other score I have ever received on an IQ or similar test.
But now for the consequences. In the two months that have passed since I ran this little experiment, that mailbox has received over 400 email messages. That is 200 a month, or an average of about 7 email messages per day.
A few smart brands have only sent one email to that address asking me to confirm my subscription. I received approximately 20 of these in the first week and I did not respond to any of them. Why? Not because I wasn’t interested, but because I was overwhelmed.
A few other brands continue to send email to that address. They are now on my “do not do business with” list. If companies can’t pay attention to the company they keep, then I don’t want to do business with them.
Don’t play with your companies reputation. If you are going to try co-registration (or any other non-organic list growth tactic), you need to work with experienced and reputable providers that understand the principles of true permission.
ExactTarget Feed
Powered by Compendium Blogware
Comments for Email List Growth: Stay Away from the Dark Side