Email to customers

jamesbil

Hi just looking for some advice.

Can I use customers email from orders to send them an exclusive offer or voucher?
Or does it have to be authorized similar to newsletters, eg; via a check box allowing to send mail?

Thanks
James
equipatrip.com

Peterdalkey

See http://www.dataprotection.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=905 for the full detail, but generally it is OK to email anyone who has done business with you in the past 12 mionths, provided they have not specifically opted out from your messages.

jamesbil

Great info
Thanks..

Trojan

I'd suggest you email previous customers once off asking them to opt-in, and only mail to those who explicitly do so.

Then I'd suggest you ask new customers at the time of the sale for permission to email, and honour that choice.

Peterdalkey

Trojan wrote: »

I'd suggest you email previous customers once off asking them to opt-in, and only mail to those who explicitly do so.

Then I'd suggest you ask new customers at the time of the sale for permission to email, and honour that choice.

I would certainly not recommend this course of action, email/telemarketing is very restricted by legislation as it is. From a marketing perspective this is pure suicide, offering anyone the unnecessary and undesirable option of saying no!! You communications already have to contain an opt out facility, that is quite sufficient.

Atomico

Trojan wrote: »

I'd suggest you email previous customers once off asking them to opt-in, and only mail to those who explicitly do so.

Then I'd suggest you ask new customers at the time of the sale for permission to email, and honour that choice.

No chance, if someone has purchased from you or engaged with you in a way that indicates an interest in your products and services, then onto the list they go. It is a simple step to just opt-out, and people are more than used to and expect to receive updates once they have engaged with a business.

Would be madness to do it any other way!

jamesbil

Great stuff!
Another one for ye..
Any links to info on cookies re; pop-ups, are they legislation? or is the info ok in the T's & c'c and/or privacy policy?

Kenny Logins

Have a look at Mailchimp, it will manage all of the opt-out and analytics stuff etc. for you.

jamesbil

Using Mailchimp, seems like a good service..
If any one wants to give me some feed back on my newsletters, sign up here: http://eepurl.com/yi4un

(hope this is ok admin?)

Trojan

Peterdalkey wrote: »

I would certainly not recommend this course of action, email/telemarketing is very restricted by legislation as it is. From a marketing perspective this is pure suicide, offering anyone the unnecessary and undesirable option of saying no!! You communications already have to contain an opt out facility, that is quite sufficient.

We may ultimately have to agree to disagree, Peter, but I should have offered more context to explain my post above.

I believe there should be a clear benefit to the recipient outlined in the request to subscribe - preferably a direct bonus immediately, plus a general overview of ongoing benefits.

There is evidence that offering the "unnecessary and undesirable" option of saying no can actually reduce unsubscribe rates - I'll see if I can find a public reference for this, my source is a paid private forum.

The logic is that because you have a very clear unsubscribe link near the start of every email, the recipient sees it and reads past it reassured that they can always go back and unsubscribe. In tests many email markets have found this actually reduces unsubscribes.

If you've got a large list, it's worth testing against a segment to see how your audience acts because every list is different.

Peterdalkey

I whole-heartedly support the notion that recipients should be able to opt out at any point, even if they originally subscribed to the newsletter/offer notice and that the unsub process should be obvious, clear and simple.
My experience would be confined to B2B, it may well be different in B2C sectors. However a communication from a company that you have done business with in the past 12 months, as a business or a consumer, is completely reasonable and extremely unlikely to cause any offence. If they do opt out it is imperative that you delete the database record and not mail them again.

Trojan

jamesbil wrote: »

Using Mailchimp, seems like a good service..
If any one wants to give me some feed back on my newsletters, sign up here: http://eepurl.com/yi4un

I'd remove the checkbox for verification, because they're already opting in by hitting the big Subscribe button.

jamesbil wrote: »

(hope this is ok admin?)

Ok by me but local mods are the primary arbiters of what's allowed here.

--

Some further reading on email marketing: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2013/02/11/how-email-alienate-users/

Trojan

Peterdalkey wrote: »

My experience would be confined to B2B, it may well be different in B2C sectors. However a communication from a company that you have done business with in the past 12 months, as a business or a consumer, is completely reasonable and extremely unlikely to cause any offence.

I'd agree with that - B2B customers are going to be far more tolerant of marketing efforts because they're working on the same coal face.

On a tangent, I recently had a pensions rep at one of the banks take great offence when I asked them casually to "Sell it to me, tell me why I should take this option". Apparently accusing them of something as uncouth as "selling" was reprehensible. Tolerance levels for what one might consider commonplace actually vary wildly