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Every now and then this happens. I get an email that breaks all the rules! It’s happened twice recently and so prompted me to write this post. Here are the mistakes you need to avoid:
1. Typing Email Addresses in the ‘To’ Field
By doing this you are effectively sharing all the email addresses that have been entrusted to you with everyone. It leaves them open to being mailed by everyone else on the list. One of the mailings I recently received had simply hit ‘Reply All’ and sent out his own promotional email to everyone, while no doubt thinking Santa had come early and presented him with a lovely new list to market to.
If you must use Outlook, put your own email address in the ‘To’ field, and use the ‘BCC’ field for all the other addressees. This will keep your list safely hidden from the other recipients.
2. Sending Your Main Message as an Attachment
People are sensibly wary of opening file attachments because of the dangers of incipient viruses. So the chances of your message being read are greatly reduced if you send it as an attachment. And you will have no idea how many people read it
3. Using Your Outlook/Outlook Express Address Book
Outlook and Outlook Express are great for emailing individuals and small groups of people who know each other, from your address book. They should not be used for large mailings because you won’t know how many have actually been received and opened. Once your list grows to over 50, you really need to use one of the purpose-designed professional email services to deliver your bulk messages.
Another potential problem with sending large mailings in this way is that your ISP (the service you use to send and receive your emails) could think that you’re a Spammer and suspend your service. It would then be up to you to convince them otherwise which could take a while. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to be without email for any length of time!
In future posts, I’ll be sharing alternative and more effective ways to send out Email promotions, and hope that today’s examples of how not to do them has been useful. Feel free to comment if you’ve been on the receiving end of any dubious practice emails!
