Increase Web Traffic with Voluntary Spam

Spam is everywhere, both on and offline. In its strictest definition, spam is unwanted email that is sent out en masse to potentially millions of people, in the hope that a tiny percentage of them will buy whatever you're selling. But in reality, we're surrounded by spam all day, every day. TV ads, telemarketing, catalogues in the mail, billboards, banner ads, pop-ups - it's all spam, when you get right down to it.

And more often than not, spam is counter-productive, both to the end-user and to the company sending it out. I mean, if you really think sending millions of random emails out to people trying to convince them that their penis is too small is doing a public service, or making your company look good - it's not. It's a giant pain in the user's rear end.

But there is a way to harness the power of spam for good and not evil. Make it voluntary.

How many times have you seen a website asking you to put your email address down for their weekly email newsletter? A few million? And how many times have you started receiving newsletter emails you never asked for? A few million more?

But there are ways to make users WANT to be on your mailing list, and there are even more ways that you can exploit that mailing list in a way that doesn't annoy the user. Here are a few of them:

1. Make your newsletter content unique: If I decide to allow you to send me weekly newsletters, I don't just want my inbox filled with emailed ads, I want ACTUAL content. Take, for example, the Wake-Up Wal-Mart website. They offer weekly content to their mailing list of social activists that includes ways to protest Wal-Mart's business practices, news on what laws Wal-Mart broke this week, and much much more. And they don't ask for a sale, they ask their users to help, they ask them to get involved, they build a community and inform them of what's going on in the world. This pushes those on the list to sign up their friends, and thinigs keep on growing.

2. Build an online community: Most net users have half a dozen websites that they visit pretty much daily. If you can convince them to make your site one of those daily stops, they'll do business with you. Your newsletter should ALWAYS give people a reason to click through to your website, whether it's to see more information on a topic, or to get some sort of free offer, or to ''have their say'' on a messageboard or poll on a specific topic. Interaction is key - when your users talk to other users, they come back to speak to their new friends daily.

3. Don't inundate your users: I found myself unsubscrubing from many newsletters I've been signed on to because I just get sick of the daily email. If I join an insurance company's newsletter mailing list, I want them to tell me A) when they have a special deal, B) when there's news in that industry that I should really know about. That means there should be a compelling reason to ask me to come visit that website, and by compelling I mean a REAL reason. "Come see our catalogue" is NOT a real reason. "Come and take advantage of this week's special 30% discount" is most definitely a REAL reason. In short, if you're emailing your customers more than once a week - it's spam, it's counter-productive, and it'll hurt you.

4. Don't sign people up if they didn't ask to be signed up: Put simply, that sucks. It's sneaky, it's unprofessional, and though 60% of people won't bother unsubscribing, they won't be buying from you either, because you're annoying the hell out of them by PRESUMING they want your newsletter. As an alternative, offer users a bonus if they recommend your newsletter to two people who sign up. That way it's THEIR choice to join, and others do the hard work for you.

5. Start a messageboard - and STAFF IT: Every website known to man has a messageboard, but most of them are boring, message-free, and full of spam. You NEED to have a moderator if you're going to run a messageboard, and part of their job must be to keep the board spam-free, but also to inspire debate. They should offer up news items and encourage people to discuss them. They should seek people with interests in your industry out and bring them to the site. They should cross-promote and work hard at making your messageboard constantly worth checking. Sure, you're adding a wage to your payrole, but if this person does the job well, it'll pay off in return customers and brand loyalty.

That ought to help you - one last thing, always remember to add links back to your website in your voluntary spam, and always make your newsletter text-only, perhaps with the exception of one logo in the top of the email. There's no point in bothering your users if you're not going to make it easy for them to visit your site, and there's no point making the email an HTML page that half the email reading software out there won't be set to see.

posted by Oz @ 6:43 PM