Mystery “From” Names and Nonexistant People

Jobfox has been sending me emails twice a week under the name Peg Chritz. Either this woman is the hardest-working woman on the internet, or she does not exist. Companies need to be clear and honest about who is sending the email, not using gimmicks to get me to open emails. It made me feel tricked, and leads me to distrust them. Email is a relationship. Who wants to have a relationship with a fake persona? When an email shows up from a name I don’t recognize, I consider it spam.

False Sincerity and Misleading Subject Lines

I recently got emails from Jobfox with the subject lines “Alison, just checking-in” and “Alison , maybe now is a better time”. After the momentary confusion of figuring out who Peg Chritz is, and what she is checking in on, I got angry. Job Fox was posing as a friend or client, when all they really wanted was my money. Don’t abuse neurological triggers like names. Be direct in your subject line. If you don’t have anything in your email that will get people to open it, you should not be sending it.

Being Pushy

Every email I get from Jobfox is about its resume-writing services. Obviously I am not interested in this service, since I haven’t responded in two months. Why should I open their email if it’s always the same thing?

Confusing Unsubscribe Process

Once I decided to unsubscribe, I clicked the “Unsubscribe from future resume offer emails.” I was taken to a page that read “Are you sure you want to end all future mailings to paperfoxes@gmail.com?” Wait a minute, I thought, all future mailings? I still want confirmation when I have applied for contract jobs. I have no idea what clicking the link will do, and that’s not good. Regardless, I clicked the button anyway. “You will no longer hear from us.” I wonder what that really means…

Being Out of Touch

Other than being tricked into opening emails with the fake names and misleading subject lines, I had no incentive to open Jobfox emails. If they really cared about keeping me as a customer, they would have offered me something in return for opening their email, and I’m not talking about a percent-off promotion. They should have sent me information about job fairs and networking events in my city, tips on how to dress for interviews, and typical interview questions. They should have sent recommendations on how to research companies, with links to websites that offer this type of information. Instead, all l get is more marketing.

Jobfox didn’t understand that email is a relationship that should never be abused. I have been on some email lists for years, and opened nearly every email, because their emails were useful or entertaining. Sure, they offered discounts, but they were relevant.

Always be honest with your customers. Trust me, we can tell.

When you ask someone for their email address, you are beginning a relationship with that person. After all, you are communicating in the same medium as their family and close friends. However, unlike family, you can’t be forgiven for mistakes.

Be Useful

Whenever you send an email to a customer or potential customer, make sure it is something that would interest them, whether that is an interesting story, household tip, or helpful advice. If your emails prove to be a good time investment for your reader, they are sure to open another email from you in the future.

Make It Easy to Unsubscribe

There is nothing that drives me crazier than jumping through hoops to unsubscribe from an email. There are a lot of reasons to cancel an email subscription, such as moving or a change in circumstances.

Diversify

Smart email marketers offer different types of newsletters so readers don’t have to choose between all or nothing. I may not want to get a daily deal, since it crowds my inbox, but I may want special promotions or monthly travel tips.

Hold on to Your Information

Nothing erodes trust faster than finding out someone sold your information for a quick buck. They may have made a bit of money for selling the list, but they lost out on you as a lifelong customer. Your relationship with a customer is worth much more in the long run.

Don’t Give Up

Some people on your list may never have opened an email from you. Unresponsiveness does not necessarily mean you should delete this subscriber forever. The cost of acquiring new customers is much more than the cost of retention. Instead of wasting money sending an unresponsive person every email, you could send only the occasional email. Some marketers send an email with a special offer in attempt to win a customer back.

Email marketing is a valuable tool in building your business, and can be very profitable if used correctly. Just make sure you are sending something people want to read!

The only thing bothering me about this as an email marketer are the options an email user sees:

You can only “Unsubscribe and report spam” or “Report spam”. What if you just want to unsubscribe? “If you want to unsubscribe without reporting the message as spam, click ’show details’ in the top-right corner of the message, then click ‘Unsubscribe from this sender.’”

I don’t think most email users will think to themselves, “I am receiving this newsletter because I signed up for it, so it’s not technically spam. I’ll take the extra two steps to unsubscribe only.” Email users shouldn’t have to worry about that kind of stuff, anyway.

Unfortunately, email marketers have to worry about it. Every time someone marks an email message as spam, it hurts the sender’s reputation.

The movement of email providers to incorporate unsubscribe services into their interface highlights a very disheartening situation: some companies are making subscribers jump through hoops to unsubscribe, or not offering the opportunity to unsubscribe at all.

Time will tell if only offering “Report spam” as an option will hurt senders. In the meantime, email marketers are holding their breath, and Gmail users are happy.