More or Less Just Meat in a Can
Bring up the subject of SPAM in a conversation, and the person you are talking to is likely to wonder if you are referring to the precooked, gelatinous canned pork product, or the legion of unopened, unsolicited, mass emails that have been cluttering their abandoned email account for the better part of a year. Which party can claim the greatest offense from the connotation remains open for discussion. What is less ambiguous is the fact that, ever since the first army of unsolicited emails were dispatched back in 1978, corporate and private email accounts have faced constant bombardment.
Who Eats This Stuff?
Much like the continuation of its potted namesake, the persistence of the bulk email practice astounds. Since no one likes the way Spam tastes and most don’t even go so far as to open their SPAM, why do grocery stores keep ordering it, and businesses keep sending it? The conundrum is similar to the Nickleback paradox of 2005: if everyone hated their music, and no one listened to it, why were their albums going platinum and their concerts selling out? The reason for the success of SPAM, just like the reason for the success of Spam and Nickelback, is that- as revolting as it may seem-
some people do fall for it. Naturally, they are just too embarrassed to say so.
Nutritional Information
There are similarities between SPAM and Spam other than that no one ever actually asks for either. For starters, both consist primarily of fat. For your business, this means that, for every positive response received from an unsolicited email, 999 others produced less than a halfhearted stab with the fork. While you did manage to entice the 82-year-old Price-is-Right loving widow in Eastaboga, Alabama into clicking on your embedded link, you also managed to alienate a larger portion of your potential customer base, who now resent your business for the unwanted email. Dangers such as this are prompting many businesses to move to Qualified Email Lists.
Quality Over Quantity
Though it probably goes without saying, Qualified Email Lists are not the same animal as your run of the mill email list. Qualified lists contain email addresses that have been organized and selected based on parameters meant to maximize the chances of recipient participation. On the other hand, email lists are simply lists of email addresses that have been active at some point in history. Though qualified lists pack more quality, yet the web is crawling with cheap email lists. They are a dime a dozen.. They’re a lot cheaper than that.
A Healthy Alternative
Making the move to Qualified Email Lists will improve your brand’s reputation by removing any association with SPAM or Spam. It will also lead to higher degree of optimization. These qualified lists provide your business with email addresses that are verified for CAN-Spam compliance and contain only recipients who have chosen to participate in this type of marketing campaign. Since you are sending your marketing literature to people who have asked to receive it, there is a higher probability that you will receive a greater return on investment. Working with a provider, you can also further your specifications based on a variety of qualifiers such as age, demographic, income, business, lifestyle, etc.
Cost vs. Worth
Most of the time, the people who willingly ingest Spam do so because it is a cheap alternative to genuine meat. In other words, it will provide sustenance in a pinch. It costs less because it is worth less (worthless.. see what happened there?). The problem is that eating meat that isn’t meat is only cheaper up front. The long-term impact on the cost of healthcare is difficult to quantify. The same is true for the other type of SPAM. It won’t cost you much because it won’t give you much.
Getting Down to the Meat
When you purchase a traditional email list, all you receive are hundreds upon hundreds of email addresses that were active at some point in the (hopefully) recent past. Only a few of the recipients will read what you send, and still less will engage. Though initially more expensive, when you move to Qualified Email Lists, you won’t have to worry about what type of person is on the receiving end of your marketing message. You will already know who they are, what they like, their range of income, and you will know that they signed up to receive just the type of message you are sending.
Discover more email marketing tips in our articles below!
