Just a quick update on the Park City Chamber email list article from back in May.
Big, green and explicit
The plan was to take the 1200 or so contacts from the Chamber list and send one last unsolicited message requiring each recipient to explicitly subscribe if they wished to continue receiving the newsletter.
Results: 65 out of 1200 recipients continued their subscriptions.
Overall I can’t say I’m surprised. There wasn’t a number I was shooting for, but I would have guessed something a bit higher. Perhaps even quite a bit higher. I’m attributing the results to one of the following conclusions:
- Most people don’t like receiving email newsletters
- Most people don’t like receiving my email newsletters
That’s not self-deprecation talking… Of all the emails I receive from Chamber members, there are only a handful that I actually read, or that actually pertain to my sphere of relevance. It must hold true then that most members don’t find my newsletter relevant either.
Big thanks to those who did subscribe
To the 65 of you who did subscribe, I thank you. I’m looking forward to sending out my first campaign through Campaign Monitor in the next month or so. I hope you continue to find it relevant and informative. Feel free to forward it on.
If you meant to subscribe but it just didn’t happen, no worries. Scroll down to the footer and you’ll find a hand sign up form. You’ll be on the list instantly. And if you decide later that it isn’t for you, unsubscribing is just as easy.
[...] results are in from my little plan, and while not surprising, still somewhat disappointing.Chamber of Commerce email [...]
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[...] only those who are truly interested in receiving future contact from us.UPDATE on 8/26/09 The results are in from my little plan, and while not surprising, still somewhat disappointing.Posted in Communication | Tagged email, [...]
I feel your Pain…. Where do I “OPT IN” to recieve your email newsletter? If for no other reason than the fact that I fully understand the frustration and the issues revolving around this issue.
All in all it worked out ok. The Park City Chamber has stopped giving out that email list, and instead publishes a bi-monthly email newsletter of their own with offers from members.
If you look in the footer you’ll find our newsletter sign up form.
I am currently working with the Chamber here in Jackson to create an OPT-IN option for facilitating communication between customers seeking information and businesses that are chamber members. If we can make that connection, and be in compliance with the legal Requirements of the
CAN-SPAM act, every one is a winner.
The hard part will then be convincing the email marketing companies to believe your list is legit. :)
The plan is to build the “Official CAN-SPAM compliant” opt in button into the Chamber website so visitors to the Chamber site can specifically sign up to receive email from businesses they want information from.
Therefore they will directly opt-in to any email they will subsequently receive.
I think there is a business opportunity here! Work with Chambers to facilitate communication between businesses and clients seeking info.
Obviously this is a widespread issue.
Upgrade chamber websites to be CAN-SPAM compliant.
Speaking with Campaign Monitor, they want each and every person on my list to have essentially said:”Yes, I really really want Spigot Design to send me email newsletters.”
Opting in when joining your Chamber sounds like it should cover you, but it wasn’t specific enough for them (or any other email marketing company I spoke with).
The Park City Chamber tried to make a deal with a few of these companies to allow their members to use their list, but it never worked out.
Thanks for taking up this torch though. Let me know if you find the solution.
There will be an opt in button for each individual business. So the visitor to the chamber site will have to opt-in individually to each business. This should cover it! That’s the plan anyway…. The whole idea is to make the entire system CAN-SPAM compliant.