BAD EMARKETING CAN DAMAGE YOUR PROFITS Bad email marketing can do serious harm to an organisation, says emarketing guru Nick Pauley of Shortburst. Many companies are still taking a DIY approach to email marketing by despatching badly constructed emails which look not only look unprofessional but in many cases flout European law and cause negative reactions. "Email marketing done badly can impact reputation and have an effect on the likelihood of sales. Marketing managers need to wise-up otherwise they’ll continue to make mistakes and these will inevitably take a toll on their company’s reputation." said Nick. "The most basic principles are often disregarded. For instance, is not legal to send email marketing material to a private individual out of the blue unless you have their explicit permission. Neither is acceptable for the message to arrive with massive graphics files attached to it, or worse still, as a page of unintelligible computer code." Nick says that consumers faced with a relentless stream of unsolicited and badly designed marketing emails will react negatively. An organisation is judged on the quality of its marketing. He believes that there is a very fine line between acceptable email marketing and spam and it is one that some otherwise highly respectable organisations fail to recognise. "What might be quite acceptable to one person will be another person’s spam. No-one can draw a hard and fast line, so the best way to approach it is to use common sense. Adhere to current legislation – that’s a ‘must’. Ask readers what email communication they want and when they want it, design it properly and promptly unsubscribe recipients when they ask. ” says Nick. “If you approach it that way you can’t go too far wrong. Done well emarketing can bring enormous benefits, but done badly it can dent the reputation of an organisation and impact the ‘bottom line’." © 2008 ShortBurst Ltd.