I like e-mail. I really do. I am not one of those people who waxes poetic about the pre-internet days or who rues the fact that I am slowly but steadily losing the ability to write in cursive because I type everything instead of sending actual letters. Forget cursive: I am an e-mail gal!
What I dislike, though, is excessive e-mailing. I know that we’re all guilty of doing it at times – just a few weeks ago I placed an order for one of my customers at Baptist Health South Florida. As I worked on my PO I came up with a question for her, so I shot her a quick e-mail and she responded immediately. Then, of course, I came up with another question, so I sent another note… it went on and on! I spent 20 minutes on e-mails even though a minute-long phone call would have resolved all of my issues. I wasted too much time because I am a habitual e-mailer; however, I am trying to break that habit.
While I am making a conscious effort to limit my e-mailing, some individuals and corporations are clearly OK with sending out excessive numbers or electronic messages. Retailers seem to be the biggest culprits. On “Black Friday,” my entire personal inbox was crammed with sale information from the likes of Macy’s and J.Crew. I enjoy both stores and I do shop online at both sites, but I received multiple e-mails from both companies on that day alone. I get it, you’re having a sale! Please just tell me once – if I want to purchase something, I promise I will remember to use promo code “SantaForgotMe” and that your shipping is free for the next 47 minutes!
I also subscribe to certain blogs who are guilty of over e-mailing. Yes, I know that as a subscriber I am choosing to receive updates from your blog. And as a blogger myself, I understand wanting to notify readers when you post a new article, but if you are posting more than once each day, please send me one comprehensive daily e-mail. Or, better yet, compile all of your new posts into a weekly or bi-weekly newsletter – that’s what Gossett Marketing does. We find that it is more impactful to send a comprehensive e-mail every once in a while than to inundate our customers and followers with one-sentence messages. I don’t know about you, but Microsoft Outlook constantly tells me that my mailbox is almost full, and I do not feel like spending half of my day finding your rogue blog update e-mails to delete!
E-mail is a wonderful thing, but it needs to be used correctly. Always remember, spamming is not marketing! It just irritates your potential customers and could cost you business.
Check out this YouTube video – if you send spam you could be doing something illegal!
I can so relate! I’m a blogger too and somehow people try to insert spam into my site!! Thank goodness for security I’m placed in my site. Still, it takes work to maintain the security.
Doesn’t it just drive you crazy?! As if e-mail spam wasn’t enough – now we get blog spam too! Thanks for your continued support, Rodeth!
I Totally agree… Even the emails that I have agreed to receive have gotten to be out of hand. Feels like I spend an inordinate amount of my day deleting all of the spammy emails that I simply do not have time to even open.
My best to you in the New Year and I look forward to your continued posts,
Cynthia