Thank goodness e-mail’s effectiveness appears to be on the wane just when regulatory scrutiny is heating up. In the course of researching recent articles for our print publication, I’ve spoken with a few marketers who are turning back to paper mail after not getting the results they wanted from this supposedly cost-free channel.
Why is this a good thing? Because when the industry finally does lose control of this channel, it won’t sting as much.
Any marketer not prepared to give up this medium should get ready to pay to keep it. Contrary to popular (lack of) wisdom, e-mail marketing isn’t “free.” Its costs are hidden, but with every negative media reference the value – and therefore the cost — of self-regulation becomes more apparent. If e-mail seems free, it’s only because nobody’s figured out how to present an individual firm’s marketing department with an invoice for damage done to the entire industry.
Here’s one way of doing so that may also reduce some of the problems that plague it. What if a five-cent surcharge for every message sent were turned over to a “legal offense” fund? The money would be used to retain an aggressive international law firm, which would be charged with tracking down and prosecuting spammers that make offers that are flat-out fraudulent, such as those that take payments for goods not delivered, or those that harvest credit card numbers and other tools of identity theft.
A law firm so charged would vastly extend the reach of the anti-spam enforcement arm. An international law firm has options available to it that American law enforcement officials don’t, such as the nuisance lawsuit. An outfit in Antigua that sends out millions of e-mail solicitations has a lot more to fear from one international lawsuit than an entire tome filled with American laws.
The five-cent assessment would amount to a $5,000 cost for a 100,000-piece mailing, which might give some legitimate e-mail marketers a bottom-line reason to explore the joys of segmenting and targeting. (An open note to the bona fide mortgage refinancing companies that have contacted me recently: Thanks. I rent.)
But the true benefit of the program would be to demonstrate that the industry is not waiting around for the government to legislate and enforce regulation. It would be a hell of a public relations coup at a time when the direct marketing industry desperately needs some good publicity.
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