Newsletter Nightmares - The Nightmare
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Talk about bad public relations! Sewers were getting newsletters that interested weavers, embroiderers were getting newsletters aimed at crocheters, jewelry makers were getting newsletters aimed at scrapbookers...and all of these newsletters were clogging up their mailboxes despite not even doing a SINGLE opt-in, let alone a double opt-in! It made me shudder just to hear about it, and it should make you shudder too, if your company's policies are anything like this.
And before you say they aren't, consider this: do you have page that shows a group of newsletters which your visitor can sign up to receive? Do they have check boxes next to them? Are any of these check boxes ticked by default? If so, that's not good enough. Let your visitor decide which newsletters he or she is interested in; don't make that decision for them. They just might make the decision to go elsewhere, maybe to some site that isn't arrogant enough to assume it knows exactly which newsletters they want to get in their inbox every week.
But the problem went beyond PR (and by that I don't mean PageRank). One disgruntled recipient of those newsletters went right to the large company's web host and reported the crafting firm as a spammer. The web host, being an ethical and responsible sort, after looking over the complainant's proof, sent an email to the larger company sure to light a fire under any C-level person, whether they knit, crochet, or quilt: stop spamming NOW or we're going to hold your URLs hostage.
These URLs represent a considerable investment on the part of the larger company - not just the cost of the domains themselves but building them out and basically creating the business. It was like somebody threatened to lock up every Michael's Arts & Crafts store and cover their signs with an anonymous drape. I suppose I don't need to tell you about the flurry of excitement that followed; you can probably imagine it for yourself.
It took some high-level discussions, major apologies, and some real changes going forward to keep this from turning into a total disaster. My friend's negotiation skills came into play (when you're juggling kids and a full-time job you learn a lot about negotiating) and she saved the company - for now anyway. There's a mess of database sorting that someone is going to be working overtime on.
Meanwhile, the lesson to be learned here is that, when it comes to doing a newsletter, do it right from the beginning. Start with a double opt-in, keep your databases clean and include an unsubscribe link in every newsletter (and update your databases promptly when you get that unsubscribe notice!). It's not just good for business; it may help to KEEP you in business.
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