This one seems to come up often with
smaller businesses or email marketing newbies. I thought I'd give you
some food for thought as to why pasting code into Microsoft Outlook and
blasting is not such a good idea for your company, its brand or your
sanity. I vow to post three new reasons a day until I run out. (hint:
maybe there are a lot of them).
Reason # 1 - No Multi-Part (MIME) delivery means ugly code in your customers inboxes
If
your recipient can not or wishes to not view email via HTML (text
only), then they will get a slew of HTML code (bad for corporate
branding) showing up in their inbox if you send via Outlook. Looks
pretty unprofessional and can damage your rep. Professional email
marketing software solutions send what is called Multi-part messages.
Essentially it is a copy of the HTML or graphical version, sent along
side a "text-only" version of your email. Regardless of an individuals
preference to read mail graphically or as text, the system will serve
up the right version and ensure your message stays in tact. (and no
ugly code displays in their inbox!)
Reason # 2 - Zero Tracking of Mailing Results
If
you are into sending email into a blackhole and wondering if anyone
received it, whether or not someone opened it, clicked a link to your
web site, or if someone asked to be removed permanently, or if their
email addresses are not current (and thus bounced), then by all means -
send "blasts" via Outlook. Was your mailing successful? Did people like
to click through to offer A versus offer B? How many times on average
did your recipients open and re-open your email? Again - if you prefer
the old model of direct mail (pump out as many as possible, don't worry
about undeliverable rates and sit and wait to see if it was
successful), then blasting via Outlook might be for you.
Reason # 3 - No Bounce Management
Face
it, a percentage of the emails you send to will no longer be
working/valid addresses. And if you send to thousands of addresses
(hint: if you send to more then that - start becoming a very good
you-know-what kisser with your IT group), your inbox will come flooding
back with server messages telling you of bounced or undeliverable
messages. Look forward to deciphering those and finding a way to clean
your contact database. (hint: if you don't you will get that nice flood
of bounce backs each and every time you send to those folks). A
reputable email marketing software solution will handle this for you,
routing undeliverables back into the system and automatically cleaning
your lists of bounce backs. Of course, if you love exhausting data
entry, maybe using Outlook to blast emails out is the way to go.
Stay tuned as I deliver the next 3 reasons...