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How Do I Email Businesses?

by tftom
10 replies
I have done some email prospecting on and off for a couple years using Outlook and a plugin that sends bulk emails. I have also used Gmail directly to do some of this. I know the benefits of personalizing messages as opposed to just blasting them out there.

What I need to know is how most experienced marketers keep everything organized. If someone asks to be removed from future mailings how on earth do you track that outside of an auto-responder that automatically manages that? Unless you have a special program, process or an AR that allows you to import addresses I can't imagine that most marketers even care about removing email addresses.

I want to respect the wishes of the companies I email, but how is this done without being a burden on me? What is best practice for this?

Is there a nice system for doing follow-up emails? Since most recipients don't respond until several mailings I guess I need to use an AR series? Again, I guess you will need to use a mailing service that allows you to import lists?

Thanks.

Tom
#auto-responder #businesses #email #followup
  • Profile picture of the author misterkailo
    Make sure they opt-in with permission, and make sure the email has an unsubscribe link. It's usually a default option when you are using an autoresponder
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    • Profile picture of the author tftom
      Originally Posted by misterkailo View Post

      Make sure they opt-in with permission, and make sure the email has an unsubscribe link. It's usually a default option when you are using an autoresponder
      I always give them an opt-out message. They won't be opting in since these are cold call emails.

      I know cold emails are not optimal, but it is what it is. There are millions of people doing this. I want to know how they handle the opt-outs.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sandi Valentine
    I have a small disclaimer at the bottom of each email I send:

    Disclaimer: The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act) establishes requirements for those who send commercial mail, spells out penalties for spammers and companies whose products are advertised in spam if they violate the law, and gives consumers the right to ask mailers to stop spamming them. The above mail is in accordance with the Can Spam Act of 2003: There are no deceptive subject lines, and the mailing is a manual process. You can opt out by sending a request to xxx. However, your email will be removed automatically if you fail to respond to this mailing.


    Then I keep a spreadsheet to make sure I don't email the same people twice, and add anyone who contacts me to a list to email again about joining my mailing list.
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    • Profile picture of the author tftom
      Originally Posted by Sandi Valentine View Post

      I have a small disclaimer at the bottom of each email I send:

      Disclaimer: The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act) establishes requirements for those who send commercial mail, spells out penalties for spammers and companies whose products are advertised in spam if they violate the law, and gives consumers the right to ask mailers to stop spamming them. The above mail is in accordance with the Can Spam Act of 2003: There are no deceptive subject lines, and the mailing is a manual process. You can opt out by sending a request to xxx. However, your email will be removed automatically if you fail to respond to this mailing.


      Then I keep a spreadsheet to make sure I don't email the same people twice, and add anyone who contacts me to a list to email again about joining my mailing list.
      I like the idea of adding someone who responds to a list. In effect, by replying to you they are opting in.

      The part I couldn't handle is checking emails against a spreadsheet. That is exactly what I don't want to do.
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  • Profile picture of the author TrumpiaTim
    Find a way to build an opt-in list and use an email vendor to blast your messages. Don't send individually, you'll only flag your own account.
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    • Profile picture of the author tftom
      Originally Posted by TrumpiaTim View Post

      Find a way to build an opt-in list and use an email vendor to blast your messages. Don't send individually, you'll only flag your own account.
      I have never had an issue, but I have not sent thousands of emails (more like a couple hundred maximum a few times). Using a gmail account is not risky, and I would not be just spamming left and right. These are very targeted leads with custom data.
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  • Profile picture of the author MartinPlatt
    Wow, that sounds like a lot of effort - do you know how much 'better' things are doing this manually in Outlook and manually versus the results you might get from an autoresponder?

    Unless you're doing some sort of a mail merge, this is surely not going to be worth your time doing? And if you're doing some sort of mail merge, or driving the e-mails from the spreadsheet, you're pretty much doing what an autoresponder can do for you anyway?

    I guess I'm not understanding why you'd want to do that at all?
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    • Profile picture of the author tftom
      Originally Posted by MartinPlatt View Post

      Wow, that sounds like a lot of effort - do you know how much 'better' things are doing this manually in Outlook and manually versus the results you might get from an autoresponder?

      Unless you're doing some sort of a mail merge, this is surely not going to be worth your time doing? And if you're doing some sort of mail merge, or driving the e-mails from the spreadsheet, you're pretty much doing what an autoresponder can do for you anyway?

      I guess I'm not understanding why you'd want to do that at all?
      Auto-responders have all of the tools, but they don't have the connection that a personal email from your gmail account has. Yes, I am using a mail merge tool, but I am open to whatever works best. I am really just asking about how to easily opt them out and not email to them again. It sounds to me the best way to go is an AR with import capability.

      Here on the WF those catering to small business recommend to send from a personal account not auto-responders. If it is required to opt these business in I won't bother since that takes traffic to a landing page. I have already scraped publicly available email addresses or had a VA send comments using their web forms.
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  • Profile picture of the author tyronne78
    Google the terms "permission based email marketing" and "email autoresponders".
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Rosmer
    There is auto-responder software you can get that integrates directly with Outlook.

    What kind of results do you get?

    Have you tested your assumptions based on actual data that you get a much better response from your gmail account than via an autoresponder software? You can build autoresponder campaigns that look and feel very personal I'd question the actual improvement of value from say a gmail address but I'd love to hear results of your testing if you've done some.
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