ARTelevision

Let's see here, if the subject line contains, "Free. Opportunity. Exciting. Credit," and stuff like that, and a lot of these: !$!$!$!$!, then it's SPAM.
But if it just says stuff like, "Need to know, Download, Preview, or Trial," then it's a - um - legitimate direct e-mail marketing, and that's not SPAM - or something...I think.
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Spam Is in Eye of the Beholder

http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,59089,00.html

Jun. 04, 2003

NEW YORK -- Exclamation points are evil!!!

E-mail that features an exuberant sprinkling of exclamation points is almost guaranteed to provoke petulance in potential clients, according to Michelle Feit, president of ePostDirect. Free is another word that sparks sudden skepticism and must be used with extreme care.

Feit was speaking at one of the dozen workshops being offered this week on successful e-mail marketing during DM Days New York Conference and Expo in New York City. DM Days is organized by the Direct Marketing Association, an industry advocacy group.

During the workshops, e-mail marketers shared tips on ways to create what far too many here describe as "events in e-mail inboxes" -- exciting sales pitches guaranteed to whet the interest of clients.

But wait, there's more!

They also pondered such questions as the best day and time to send out e-mail advertising pitches, the art and science of subject lines, the "winningest" way to handle complaints, and how to overcome customer skepticism in this "age of disbelief."

Between sessions, some mourned the loss of their very favorite sales-pitch slogans.

"I feel like a lot of really good words have been stolen from me," said Kevin Codell, a freelance advertising copywriter who is attending the conference.

"Free. Opportunity. Exciting. Credit. All of these words are now too 'spammy' to use because they are on the block lists used by antispam filters," he said. "Even e-mails containing the word click are being filtered out now."

The hundreds of direct marketers attending DM Days insist they don't spam, and they would really like to see the shady purveyors of sexual aids, porn and pirated software prevented from darkening e-mail inboxes ever again.

But some antispam advocates take issue with the DMA's definition of spam, saying it contains too many loopholes.

Spam or not, DM Days offers a somewhat unsettling backstage glimpse into the tips and techniques used by marketers to appeal to potential customers.

Consultant Lee Mark Stein offered a workshop on "10 tips that you can use immediately to suspend disbelief." Stein pointed out that the media and government take great joy in exposing the techniques of direct marketers; consequently, many people's "bullshit filters" are now set on high.

In response, Stein suggested that marketers drop phony personalization, overwrought promises and deceptive sales gimmicks like those snail-mail solicitations designed to look like bank checks. Marketers should remember that people who respond to direct-mail ads are optimists, not idiots, Stein counseled.

According to Tricia Robinson, who led Socketware's workshop on why e-mail campaigns aren't working, voracious spam filters and a spam-saturated marketplace are to blame.

Using words co-opted by spammers such as limited-time, free, opportunity and only now makes recipients of e-mailed pitches wary. And a wary recipient isn't going to toddle off to a website and purchase things.

On the other hand, Need to know is still a good phrase to include in e-mail subject lines. Everyone wants to know what they need to know.

Download, preview or trial also work well. And demo is solid gold -- it woos interested customers who are actually willing to look at the product without the promise of a free download.

Dollar signs in a subject line are another proven loser. Especially if that e-mail lands in an inbox on that dreaded Thursday afternoon in August.

"In general, no one buys anything on Thursday afternoon besides their basics," said New York-based ad copywriter Les Callhan. "Business stuff is purchased at the beginning of the week, leisure offers are ignored until Friday, and no one is interested in anything but vacation in August. Thursdays in August are the black hole of e-mail advertising."

Monday isn't a great time for recipients to receive advertising e-mail either. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are considered prime days for pitches, as most people are still in work mode but aren't overwhelmed with Monday's pileup, or end-of-the-week restlessness.

Some of the hints offered at the workshops sounded more hopeful than useful. There's a persistent thread running through all these workshops that customers can be persuaded to really "get involved" with an e-mailed sales pitch.

"Get involved with an ad?" laughed a security worker at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, where DM Days is being held this week. "What kinds of ads are we talking about here? Some new kind of inflatable ads for lonely guys?"

.............

Anyway, when you get real events in your e-mail inboxes, then it's time to get involved!
(oh, ignore the "!" OK?)

__________________
create evolution

cheerios

/me gets involved with clicking the "spam" button so that her filter will snag it next time!

Daval

Its ridiculous the amount of spam that I get. I can't wait for the 'do not email' lists to be made.

__________________
"It is impossible to obtain a conviction for sodomy from an English jury. Half of them don't believe that it can physically be done, and the other half are doing it."
Winston Churchill

denim

I filter very agressively. If I don't recognise the name or the subject, the item is deleted. Period. That allows replies to USENET articles from people I don't know, as well as messages from companies I want to hear from and of course anything from people I know.

Everything else is, by definition, spam.

I'm not an optimist. I'm not "looking for the best of it". I want these people who want me to be that way to fuck off and die painfully. Hang 'em by their genitalia over hot coals. Seems to me that what was needed at that conference was a guy with a loaded machine gun and plenty of ammo.

Prophecy

I have my email set so that if the incoming mail isn't in my address book it gets sent to junk mail box automatically. I had to give up my yahoo account b/c their filter was crap-tastic, I'd get easily over 200 junk mails a day with the filter turned on...

As for "Download, preview, or trial working well. And demo being solid gold" They'd get deleted without a glance if they made it past my new filter. Happened to the federal government bill dealing with spam? Anyone know?

__________________
La Disciplina È La Mia Spada,
La Fede È Il Mio Schermo,
Non salti Ciecamente In Incertezza,
E Potete Raccogliere Le Ricompense.

gov135

I have two yahoo e-mail addresses. I check both, but one is for intimate contacts, may be work-related, etc. The other, the one I use here, I use to sign up for on-line accounts, post where necessary, etc.

In short, one gets spammed and one does not. I deal with the spam in the one so I don't accidently filter out a message I would have liked to have gotten. And the other account is safe to be and is used at work.

This method works nicely for me.

As far as spammers, I worry about the crap they send my mother. It's not the stuff she can tell is junk, but the personalized, illegal crap made to look like you should open it. This makes me mad, as she does not need to be seeing the crap they send. She is still learning the ropes of being on-line, and is not interested in free xxx or coupons - much less spam designed to confuse the user.

BoCo

HA! I rarely get any SPAM at all.

My Mediacom ISP apparently has really good SPAM filters so I only get junk email about once every 2-3 weeks. Add ZoneAlarm Pro's pop-up blocker and I almost never get bothered online anymore.

Suckers!

__________________
Activism is a way for useless people to feel important.

sixate

I never get any spam mail. I don't understand how people get that crap.

MSD

I give out my address to personal contacts, and the only website that has it is the TFP, and I truse Hal not to go selling my info.

LutherMac

I've actually got a really interesting method of spam control. Basically, I've got access to my e-mail server, and can create as many accounts as I want.

What I do is whenever I sign up with somewhere new, I create a corresponding e-mail account. I start getting spammed from that account, I just shut it down. Also, I can filter things a lot better since I can have e-mails from each account go into its own folder, so I easily know what's coming from where.

__________________
Always remember that you are unique... just like everyone else!

hrdwareguy

I hate getting spam mail that says, "Tired of getting spam!! Try our spam blocker"

Kind of ironic they are spamming to sell their product.

__________________
Gun Control is hitting what you aim at

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