Ethical marketing is the work of business people who believe that the trust and respect of their prospective customers and clients is more important than a sale.
Spamming is the practice of sending out electronic messages via email and other electronic channels (e.g. instant messaging) to large numbers of people/email accounts in one blast without the permission of the person receiving the message. Email spam is the electronic equivalent of junk mail that chokes our snail mail boxes and telephone sales calls that we try to avoid by joining the Do Not Call lists.
There is one simple rule for you to follow if you want to build trust with your prospective customers and new customers:
Don’t add anyone to your email list who hasn’t asked to be added and confirmed their interest in receiving information from you.
How do you manage this permission asking, permission giving and confirmation? How do you ensuring that these steps become an easy and effortless part of the flow of your internet business model?
Ask. May I send you an article via email that I think you’ll find helpful because of your interest in ____? Would you be interested in being added to my email newsletter list which helps new home business owners get started quickly without spending a lot of money?
Internet entrepreneurs ask by having a “squeeze page” with an “opt in box”, in other words, a web page with a web form where people type in their contact information, often just a first name and an email address. When the web page form has been submitted, the contact information is added to the internet business person’s email list and the person is taken to a next web page (which may be a thank you page or a sales page).
Automate. This part of the process is set up and automated using an auto responder. When you subscribe to an auto responder, you set up a way to build a list (or more than one), storing contact information, sending individual emails out in large groups to your list(s), and sending out series of emails at intervals set by you (e.g. same day as new sign up, 1 day later, 7 days later, 30 days later).
Confirm. At the same time that the contact information is added to the business person’s email list a series of automatic emails is triggered. The first email usually thanks the person for signing up and tells them what to expect in their email box and how often. At the bottom of every email sent from the automatic email series, there is a clear way for people to “opt out” or have their name and email address taken off your list (automatically).
Some auto responders require a “double opt in” and some make it optional. A double opt in system means that before the person signing up with contact information to receive something from you (a free report, an email course or a telephone call to schedule a free consultation), they receive an email with a link asking them to click on the link to confirm they give their permission for you to contact them.
Why all this rigmarole, all these dance steps, all this fiddling around?
The benefit of a double opt in system for your prospective customer or new sign up to your list is that they are in control of what mail and information they receive–and what they turn away. In the end it’s a less overwhelming, more empowering (and respectful) way to establish your new affiliation and relationship.
The benefit to you is that you know that the person joining your list is truly interested in what you offer and has taken action to join your list. You haven’t dragged them into your process and your sphere of influence. You haven’t tricked them.
You have invited them and they have responded to your first call to action.
They are more likely to follow your next invitation and call to action with responsive action of their own which results in a sale of product or service. And then another one. And then another.
You have invited them–now delight them.
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