By Anthony Lambrianos – S3668693 – Week 10 – Digital Marketing Blog
Firstly we look at what is Opt-in Email Marketing, Opt-in email is a term used when someone is given the option to receive email. Typically, this is some sort of mailing list, newsletter, or advertising. Without obtaining permission before sending email, the email is unsolicited bulk email, better known as spam. So its important to have Opt-in for Email Marketing to work.
According to Kait Westbrook, there are three major reasons you need all new subscribers to Opt-in. The first reason is because you are able to build effective lists, you need people to actually Opt-in so that you can insure that you don’t alienate potential customers, by Opting in you know they actually would like you hear from you and thus you preserve the image of the brand. The second reason is because you want to avoid blacklisting, which is being added to the domain name system blacklist (DNSBL), which generally happens because of overly aggressive attempts at list building by the brand. If you get added to a black list you are essentially losing more and more customers, so its imperative for the brand to avoid this. The third reason for Opt-in is to avoid breaking the law by not following the CAN-SPAM act and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws. This generally only affects brands within the European Union and United States, however, its still important to make sure you are not breaching these as according to Kait Westbrook the penalties reach up to $41,484 per spam email. According to Industry ACMA even within Australia sending spam mail is prohibited by the Australian Spam Act of 2003.
As for my readers and fellow digital markers please comment below as I’d like to know whether you think Opt-in requests from brands is annoying or you think its a good way to market their products? Personally I feel as though its too much, I prefer to go looking for something if I need it, then have stuff I don’t want force fed to me via email. Most of the time in my eyes I dislike the brand more when they send me many emails. Finally, thanks for stopping by this weeks blog, I appreciate all readers, please feel free to comment below.
Kind Regards, Anthony Lambrianos – s3668693 – Digital Marketing – Week 10
Anthonys Blog 
Hey Ant, great blogging and I think your personal opinions have a lot of validity. I think that opt in email marketing can be a very powerful tool for any company but as you mentioned has a risk of damaging the brand. So time needs to be taken to do it right as the main form of contact between a supplier and their customers is usually email. The recipient should receive something that is tailored to them. This means the supplier must provide a variety of preferences which can be selected and deselected when opting in. An extra step like a quick incentivised survey could be taken to gather as much data as possible. Combining this with something of interest or value that is unique like free content, a coupon, promotion, etc. should prevent customers from unsubscribing. Most importantly customers data needs to be protected and not sold for profit! How do you feel about my points above?
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I completely agree Michael, I think that each and every opt in email process offered should be set up in such a way that consumers can tailor it to their personal needs, as to avoid breaching privacy. In other words the ability to choose how often they fill you in on their updates and what kind of updates you wish to receive, whether it be product launches or specials. I also 100% agree with avoiding the sale of personal information, this is a definite “no go” in every customers eyes and could ruin the reputation of the business. Do you find that many business sell information?
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I agree, those are both very useful ideas and would definitely help to refine the Opt-in email process in such a way that customers are content. I’ve found that the sale of information often occurs with companies that we make online purchases from or programs that we download onto our computers, however, you also have reputable companies such as Facebook also doing it. One last question for you Ant, do you opt-in to any email related stuff?
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Yes, the Facebook scandal was huge, not a very good look for Facebook at all. I personally feel like that may have killed its reputation for a lot of people, including myself. I only opted into Twitch.tv and its filled my email up with over 10k emails, I regret it massively, however, I cant seem to find a way to stop it. Since then I avoid it at all cost, unless im sure it wont do the same. Also, thank you so much for your comments Michael.
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Hey Anthony! Another great blog this week! I wanted to get your opinion on whether or not you think merely using an Opt-In Email Marketing system is good enough to quell customer concerns regarding receiving spam email?
I don’t feel that it is. In my experience, giving my contact details to a company results in a flood of marketing notifications, regardless of whether or not I “Opted-In”. I also find that in many cases opting out of these email marketing schemes is near impossible.
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Thank you so much for your comment Stellios, to be honest with you, I don’t think that the use of only a basic Opt-in Email system is good enough. I feel that businesses who aim to use Opt-in email to benefit their sales and customer relationships should put in some effort into making it more consumer friendly and customer tailored then it is. Allow the consumers to choose what information you give to them and how often, I feel like that would be received much better by the majority of customers. I can totally, agree with you, getting out of these opt-in processes often feels impossible.
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Yes, I would have to agree with you, tailoring the process to each customers specific needs and wants is a great way to gain the favour of consumers and really create what seems like more mutual relationships with them. As a digital marketer do you think that these emails should be restricted to adults specifically and that targeting young children is a unfair practice?
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Wow, this is a great question and a hard one to answer! Personally, I feel that it depends on the product, for example if you are marketing video games or toys for kids then its fine to do so via email, however, if I were a business that sells alcohol or clothing for elder ladies, I wouldn’t suggest emailing underage people. You need to ensure that the person is old enough for the possible product offerings your going to be sending when they opt-in.
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Having opt-in email is a very good way for brands to market their specials and deals. In today’s economy most people do not want to waste money so having a way for brands to market specials is a good way for them to increase sales.
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I would have to Agree steve, Thank you so much for commenting. It is a very cost-effective marketing method and also helps to create relationships with consumers.
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