Some business owners are unknowingly losing clients by making three basic email marketing mistakes. Last week, In part 1 we looked at the first email marketing mistake which is no-opt in. In this blogpost, you will find the two remaining ways to really annoy clients when emailing a newsletter or promotional information to them.
2. No opt-out
In part 1, we saw that it is rude not to ask for clients’ permission and that it can be illegal in the UK as well. The Data Protection Act is applicable when collecting personal information. On the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website it says ‘The most important thing to remember is that you can only carry out unsolicited electronic marketing if the person you’re targeting has given you their permission’. Additionnaly, the ICO mentions that there is an exception:
‘However, there is an exception to this rule. Known as the ‘soft opt-in’ it applies if the following conditions are met:
- where you’ve obtained a person’s details in the course of a sale or negotiations for a sale of a product or service;
- where the messages are only marketing similiar products or services; and
- where the person is given a simple opportunity to refuse marketing when their details are collected, and if they don’t opt out at this point, are given a simple way to do so in future messages.’
When I received the newsletter from the well being practice, I wanted to unsubscribe and could not find any opt-out box or link in the email. So contrary to the ICO’s guidelines I wasn’t given the option to opt-out.
3. No response to clients’ emails
In the end, I replied by email to the sender of the newsletter. I asked him to kindly remove my personal data from the mailing database and stop emailing the newsletter. I never received any response from the sender who was the owner of the practice, and I kept receiving the newsletter.
So what was my take from a client’s perspective? I thought the clinic was run in an unprofessional and unethical way. I didn’t trust the clinic’s owner and the therapists to care enough about their clients, let alone about their health and well being. When I next needed to see a therapist, I registered with another local clinic (and yes, there was an email opt-in box in the client details form).
I hope my story explains why best practice in email marketing is so important. We are not talking just about email addresses and boring email databases here, but more about customer excellence and reputation.
As it says on the ICO’s website: ‘In summary, we recommend that your marketing campaigns are always permission-based and you explain clearly what a person’s details will be used for. Provide a simple way for them to opt out of marketing messages and have a system in place for dealing with complaints.’
Are your marketing campaigns always permission-based? Is your email marketing tarnishing your reputation?
