**Vienna! See! See!** [www.vienna.cc] [English / Deutsch / Po-Russky] [Search/Suchen]
		Hotel ONLINE English / Italiano / Deutsch Español / Français 日本語 / 中文

ViennaCC-Music online

Deutsch

English

Shopping:
Deutsch
English
Po-Russky

Bulk E-Mail Services - What Are They?

We've received a lot of questions at our office lately about bulk e-mail. Bulk e-mail, also known as e-mail list services are becoming quite popular, but what exactly is it and can it work for you?

In this report we examine the following important points:

What is bulk e-mail?
Where do the names on an e-mail list come from?
What is the purpose of bulk e-mail?
Does bulk e-mail work? What to look for if you decide to use a bulk e-mail service.

What is bulk e-mail?

Bulk e-mail or e-mail list services are what they sound like. A company or service offers to send your message, word ad or announcement out to a specific number of e-mail addresses for a certain fee.

Where do the names on an e-mail list come from?

Names on an e-mail list are procured in the following ways

a) through subscription (users request the mailing and submit their e-mail address)
b) by using a software program to strip off e-mail addresses from Internet postings like newsgroups.
c) Taken from various web site user logs (that's right there are no secrets on the web).

What is the purpose of bulk e-mail?

The general idea is similar to mail order. Send out thousands of "advertisements" and statistically speaking you will get a certain percentage of positive responses. The main purposes of bulk e-mail are to: generate traffic to a web site; to get leads or prospects; to distribute a newsletter; or to sell a product/service/opportunity.

Does bulk e-mail work?

The answer to this question is both yes and no. Yes, bulk e-mail can produce positive results if all of the following conditions are met:

a) You choose a legitimate service who does what you pay them to do.
b) Your message goes out to a target group of people who REQUESTED the information
c) The target group are people who would likely be interested in what you have to offer.

With reference to the first point. We have received several complaints from people who have paid a company for bulk e-mail, yet feel they were taken advantage of. Specifically we know of a gentleman who paid $100 for an autoresponder and delivery of his ad to 1,000 people. But what he got was an autoresponder filled with fake responses. When he attempted to contact these people he was either unsuccessful, was treated rudely, or was asked if he had "been taken like they were" by the same company.

All attempts to receive a refund from this company have been unsuccessful. Of course, not all bulk e-mail companies are going to take your money and run. The point is this: find a company, ask some questions and be assured of what you will get for your money.

To address the second point; the biggest problem with bulk e-mail is that most services do not offer a subscriber list. That is; the people on the list are not there because they want to receive information. They are there on the list because their address was stripped off a newsgroup or some other Internet resource. Want to confirm this for yourself? Post a message to a newsgroup and see for yourself what happens.

Within hours, and for the next few weeks you will get mysterious solicitations popping up in your e-mail box. This practice of stripping e-mail addresses off newsgroups and then sending solicitations to them is called spamming. Spamming is considered offensive and several counteractive measures against chronic spammers have been posted on the web.

If you want bulk e-mail to work, first, the mailing must go to a group of people who would be interested in what you have to offer, and secondly they must have requested to receive it. A good example is that of a specialized newsletter that people subscribe to and receive by e-mail on a regular basis. In this case, the newsletter is of interest to certain people (target market) and is requested by voluntary submission of their e-mail address. Your results will be better and no one will be offended by having received it since they have requested it.

Is it a good idea to use bulk e-mail services?

The answer to this question will ultimately be answered by you. The Internet's mail system was not created for the use of distribution of "junk mail". But just as advertisers now inundate our snail mail boxes with the material of dead trees, the practice is now being used on the Internet (fortunately without the destruction of our forests). For the "newbies" out there, unsolicited mail is highly discouraged, and on the web is generally considered unacceptable. As always, there will be some toads out there who will try and spoil a good thing like e-mail, but (thank goodness) there will always be a "trash" button on your e-mail software.

If you yourself don't like to receive unsolicited e-mail, why then would you force this upon someone else by purchasing from a bulk-e-mail service. Ask yourself if this practice makes sense to you? Is it something you want to engage in and encourage? What to look for if you do use a bulk e-mail service.

Convinced that you want to give bulk e-mail a try? Here's what to look for when selecting a list service.

Look for an e-mail list that has actual subscribers; that is, people who have requested to receive the information (not a spam list). Ask the service provider how they have developed their list; through voluntary or involuntary methods.
When you have found a service you would like to use, go to the web site of the service. If they haven't got one or, if it doesn't provide you with solid information about pricing, policy, list procurement etc., click off that page and go on to the next one.
Consider realistically the size of the e-mail list. 5,000 - 10,000 e-mail addresses makes sense, 100,000 sounds a bit unbelievable and is hard to confirm.
Subscribe to the list you want to advertise in to see what it is you are going to get (and what others are getting).
Be sure to find out before you buy, what kind of guarantee or money back plan the service offers.

There you have it, our abbreviated version of Bulk E-mail 101. Bulk e-mail holds promise and will likely become an integral part of web publishing, webvertising and web site promotion. However, bulk e-mail is only a useful tool if the practice is not abused through spam lists, and only if the list is subscriber based and voluntary.