Sending out a new letter

[alana138]

I am getting ready to send out an opt-in annoucement for our new e-newsletter. We rented a list from a non-competitive company and we want to send these doctors a notification about our newsletter without getting them upset for sending an unsolicited email. We also do not want to get in trouble for spamming. I was wondering if i could get some critique on my letter:

Dear Doctor,

Somewhere along the way, you gave me your email address. To be honest, I am uncertain about whether or not you asked to receive email updates about articles, special services, and other helpful information from AFTCO.

I am publishing a monthly informative newsletter for the dental community. The newsletters will have article summaries with links to the full article and an article written by a subscriber for your enjoyment. There will also be facts for you and helpful hints for your practice. A question and answer section that you can submitt for answers from me. I believe you will find my newsletters insightful and helpful.

I would love to share these informative newsletters with you, but your privacy is important to me. If you'd like to receive these articles, announcements, and other offers please click on the appropriat link below or visit AFTCO’s web site at:
http://www.aftconet.com

If you are a new practictioner with interests in purchasing a practice, associateships, or buy-ins please click here:
Link
If you are an established practitioner with interests in merging an existing practice, management, or a three day work weeks please click here:
Link
I you are an established practitioner who is interested in selling your practice, pension funding, or decreasing administrative duties please click here:
Link
If you are unsure about the newsletter you would like to receive, feel free to visit our website for further information on our services, informative articles, and C.E. credits at http://www.aftconet.com.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Sincerely,
Alan Thornberg
President, AFTCO


If you no longer wish to receive mailings from AFTCO please go to the URL below:
http://www.optout.com
::D :) :( :rolleyes: :o: :mad:
:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

[WebSavvy]

First off, you state here that you "rented an email list from a 3rd party," but, in the letter you are telling a bold faced lie by saying; "Somewhere along the way, you gave me your email address. To be honest, I am uncertain about whether or not you asked to receive email updates about articles, special services, and other helpful information from AFTCO."

No one here is going to advocate the SPAM you are about to send. Where do you people come from?!

Why can't you just email them and be honest? Say you bought their email address from someone else and you want to know if they are interested in more spam from you, because you don't feel they're getting enough of it from everyone else.

[Blue]

alana138,

Please don't join the ranks of the spammers! Get a refund on the list you bought, or just eat the expense, and find a more honest way!

Dear Doctor,

Somewhere along the way, you gave me your email address...... I may not know every one that has all my email addresses, but I DO know whom I gave out my email addresses to. If I received this email from you it would be considered unsolicited, and therefore deleted. I particularly hate liars that state that I gave them my email address when I know I didn't. SPAM!

[ihelpyou]

Yes. If you bought a list from anyone, you bought a bogus list. Only companies who advocate spam sell these so-called 'opt-in' lists.

The truth is, no one on that 'list' wants to receive email from anyone. They did not opt-in to Your list. They may have opted in to someone along the way at anytime, but that does not mean they want email from anyone else.

No need to buy a list. Simply look up phone numbers, and call them to "ask" them if you can have their email address. Do things right and you will have no problems. Do things wrong, and your reputation is at risk.

[Mertu]

Somewhere along the way, you gave me your email address.

Right in the first sentence you've sent the spam klaxons blaring. Half the spam I get says they got my e-mail address from a submitted form or something I've agreed to receive. It's always a lie and anyone making a similar claim is immediately suspect.

Of course, if you told the recipient where you got the list, the company that rented the list would get some unkind e-mails about how their privacy was handled. That should be a tip-off.

If the purpose of the e-mail actually is for the newsletter, then I would suggest a different track. Post the newsletters on the website. If the content is actually worthwhile, people will find it in searches and come to your website--double bonus of bringing in targeted traffic and getting keyword rich pages in the search engines. From there they can subscribe to the e-mail form. The initial number of subscribers may be small, but should grow steadily with consistently good content.

Now, if the actual purpose of the e-mail is to tout services of the company or the purpose of the newsletter is a monthly ad with a token article, then what you have is spam asking them to signup for monthly spam.

Any which way, I'd ditch the e-mail. You'd tick off more people than you'd get and it's bad business to get a potential customer upset with you when introducing yourself.


Sean

[scottiecl]

If you are going to do it anyway, don't shatter your credibility in the first sentence.

what you have is spam asking them to signup for monthly spam LOL!! True.

This is spam- no way around it. Start out by admitting it.

This is a one-time e-mail to let you know about our services and newsletters. We will not contact you again unless you request it.

We thought you might be interested in a monthly informative newsletter for the dental community. The newsletters will have article summaries with links to the full article and an article written by a subscriber for your enjoyment. There will also be facts for you and helpful hints for your practice. A question and answer section that you can submitt for answers from me. I believe you will find my newsletters insightful and helpful.

I would love to share these informative newsletters with you, but your privacy is important to me. If you'd like to receive these articles, announcements, and other offers please click on the appropriat link below or visit AFTCO’s web site at:
http://www.aftconet.com



BTW- Check spelling carefully Save the advertising for the site- don't put it in your email.

I do not condone spam but that aside, I have found some spam I received that truly did reflect my interests. Working in a niche industry, e-mail solicitations are rare and sometimes catch my attention. That is what e-mail marketing WAS SUPPOSED TO BE all along- matching users to interests.

Another point: "renting a list" sounds extremely dangerous. How do you know these are dentists? How can you verify that they are? If I'm a carpet salesman and get your e-mail about dentists, I am likely to report you as a spammer.

DON'T DO IT UNLESS YOU CAN VERIFY THE SOURCE OF THE EMAIL LIST.

[bigDugan]

>>a notification about our newsletter without getting them upset for sending an unsolicited email<<
Please hold the SPAM! I get upset over every piece of SPAM I receive. Just becareful who you send it to. I like to hammer spammers!
:hit: :hit: :hit:
Just say 'NO' (to spam). DON"T DO IT!

[bigDugan]

>>We rented a list from a non-competitive company<<
And how many others 'rented' that same list?
:confused:

[alana138]

We recieved the list from a dental magazine that we work closely with that has permission to use their members addresses. We work closely with the company and they are highly trusted. We put out very unique articles for dentists about how to optimize practice proformance, information on buying practices, and we will have a part of the newsletter with articles written by subscribers. I am changing the beginning (someone else recommended that i write it that way)
Dear Doctor,

I recieved your email address from our afiliate Dental Town. I would like to know if you would like to receive email updates about practice opportunities, associateships, pension plan funding, etc. Our monthly newsletter covers many of this topics plus much more. Your time and privacy, however, is important so please indicate your primary area of interest by
clicking on the appropriate link below, or visit AFTCO's web site at
http://www.aftconet.com

For information on:
Getting started: purchasing a practice, associateships, or buy-ins
(Link)
Dental Entreprenurialship: building a fee for service empire (Link)
Quality of Life: three day work week, funding your pension plan with the
value of your practice, work less, earn more, selling your
practice, decreasing administrative duties, etc. (Link)
General Interest: I'm interested in everything that has to do with
dentistry (Link)

Let us know what interests you the most. I'm sure you will be delighted with
this information.

> Thank you for your time and attention.
> Sincerely,
Richane Walters
> Vice President, AFTCO
>
>
> If you no longer wish to receive mailings from AFTCO please go to the URL
> below:
> http://www.optout.com

I want to make it so this email will not upset the dentists. I thought that it was ok to send a one time email to inform them of the new information that was coming out and if they are interested than they can click on a link and subscribe. We just want to make the dentists aware of the option.

[bigDugan]

>> thought that it was ok to send a one time email to inform them of the new information that was coming out <<
No, that's where you are DEAD WRONG. SPAM is NEVER OK! The only people that like spam, are the spammers.

[alana138]

Also... renting a list was the term that i had heard. We recieved the list because the owner of dental town liked the idea of our email newsletter. We also have email addressses on the list that we collected ourselves thru client inquiries. I was trying to tie in an opening that would cause interest so they see what we have to offer... I don't know if it is bad or good. I am in a new situation with no prior experience, just what i have read and advice from experts like yourselves.

[WebSavvy]

If you want to learn the right way, you've come to the right place. What kind of information do you need to ask about? Make a list of questions and post them here and we'll help you as much as possible.

[alana138]

My boss wants me to utilize a list of email addresses that were recieved from an affiliate company in order to inform them about our new newsletter that we are going to put out. He wants a one time mailing to all the dentists on the list. I know spamming is inappropriate, and intrusive, but what the boss says goes. I was trying to write an email that was short to the point and as non intrusive as possible. I really feel as though our newsletter will contain pertant, important information for the doctors, and they can interact by writing articles themselves to submit for the newsletter. It is hard to reach this audience because they are not computer savvy. They don't go on the internet to get information and what not. One of our companies goals is to help dentists utilize the internet and computers for their practices. This letter is a one time letter, This will also be one of the first newsletters of this kind for the dental industry.
How can i open the letter so as to cause as little annoyance as possible?
Should i have links to the site, or just links to sign up for the newsletter?
Should it be shorter or longer with more info?

[robwatts]

Have you considered the pen,paper and stamp approach? Or as doug suggested, a telephone call.

No matter what way you frame it, unsolicited email is spam.

Stand up to your boss, tell him what spam is or send him here to argue his case ;)

[bigDugan]

Would that be the DentalTown magazine? I noticed when you sign up with them they do have an option:Would you like to be on our e-mail promotion list? But I would ASSume that means dentaltown's promotions. It really says nothing about any partner's or affiliate's promotion list. If you're going to spam, just be ready for the repercussions.

[WebSavvy]

If the Dentists are not "computer literate" what makes you think the email you send will even be read?

Most private people have mail washer, or some sort of spam filters setup in their email clients to rid their email of spam such as the one you propose.

You will be cutting your time and work efforts in half if you approach this using snail mail or the telephone. I would suggest snail mail because it will be the most effective for your purposes. If you call them via telephone it will be placed in the same category of the other kind of spam "the telemarketer."

It's best if you send an informative, well written formal letter of introduction, with information about your company. Dentists are professionals and would most likely respond when dealt with in a traditional business manner.

Best of luck, and don't go the spam route.

[alana138]

Dentaltown is where we recieve it from. We work very closely with them. These are the lists of dentists that clicked that box. It is sort of permission based but that is where i am running into trouble. It is while it isn't.

[bigDugan]

>>These are the lists of dentists that clicked that box<<

Not true. This box is already 'checked' when the page loads. The dentist would have to 'uncheck' to opt out.

It should be the opposite. By default it should be unchecked. How many unknowingly left that box checked?

[WebSavvy]

Double talk, and "well this is another thing I heard to say" and "this is what I was told" aren't going to wash.

You need to clearly outline your objectives and approach it that way or you will defeat yourself before you begin and it will have been a waste of time and effort.

Please visit some sites like Topica, to understand how email newsletters work.

Spamming a Dentist who is NOT computer literate to begin with is the WRONG approach.

Also, please beware that many states do now have spam laws in effect. For information please follow the link posted in the Spam & Ethics forum in this thread where we tried to turn around another spammer who just still DOES NOT GET IT:

http://www.ihelpyouservices.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4928

[bigDugan]

I would say just advertise your newsletter on your website, but you have a gray google toolbar. Why? Perhaps your meta tag keywords is a bit spammy? You should also consider adding some content to your <noframes> section, or better yet...offer a noframes version of your page. Then you'd qualified inquiries, instead of having to spam.

[bigDugan]

Why is it that people feel a need to 'inform' me of what I may need or want? Do they think that I'm so stupid I can't figure it out for myself what I need or want, or where to get it?

[Blue]

Why is it that people feel a need to 'inform' me of what I may need or want? Do they think that I'm so stupid I can't figure it out for myself what I need or want, or where to get it? Here! Here!

<rant>That is one of the main issues about spam that really gets my goat. I don't need information forced down my throat. Like I have the time! Any intelligent person can go out and search for any information they are interested......WHEN THEY WANT TO! If I'm looking for something you offer, I'll go out and find out about it ON MY OWN TIME!</rant>

alana138, please consider what we all have been saying here, and present it to your boss. Maybe s/he'll see the light.

[bigDugan]

:cheers:

[nice pic, i luv the web!]

[scottiecl]

People tell you what you want and need every day- it's called advertising!

The difference is that most advertising is paid- either by sponsoring something or just flat payment.

Spammers can advertise for nearly free so they don't feel the need to make it useful. A few clicks and it is paid for!


PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't make telephone calls. Personally, I don't mind clicking a button to delete an e-mail but a phone call that takes me several minutes to determine what the person wants before I find out it is a SPAM call really ticks me off. Don't waste my time.

Telemarketers are way lower than spammers in my book.

[Blue]

Thanks bigD! :cheers:

[bigDugan]

SPAM IS SPAM. I dont care if it's email, telephone calls, or snail mail. I don't like it one bit at all! And yes, there is a very fine line between spamming and advertising. But to me, advertising is not 'personal', and would be in magazines, newspapers, billboards, radio, or tv. Not in my Inbox, Mailbox, or on my Phone!
:barf+:

[robwatts]

Telemarketing or telesales is a perfectly valid way of gaining new business.

I employ a telesales person one day a week, it gets me new business, keeps a person in work for a day, and is a good and valid way of gaining new leads.

A good telesales person is polite, concise and to the point. My experience has shown me that people are more than happy to receive an email, fax or mailing when approached on the phone.

Dont forget in the UK local calls are not free, so perhaps people place greater value on them.

Sure, some people are rude and find the calls unwelcome, but lets face it, you cant please all of the people all of the time.

[ihelpyou]

Yes Rob, that's a good point as if the caller has to pay and the receiver knows that, over there is probably waaaay different than here. We have free numbers and get hundreds of calls weekly. Not good.

That being said, there is something to say for making phone calls the right way. I would employ someone who knows HOW to do this. I would train someone the Right way. There is a knack to it. Most who call me though, simply have NO CLUE at all. THey get the quick hang-up.

[ihelpyou]

Great pic Blue! :cheers:

Alana, it's a touchy subject. I strongly suggest your boss come in here to discuss things, OR he can personally call me if he wishes. There are certain ways you have to go about it. If you make a wrong move your bosses business goes down the drain.

[alana138]

My boss saw the responses from the forum and is making a meeting tommarrow to discuss alternatives. I couldn't have done it without yall!! Thanx agian

[Blue]

So maybe you can stop banging your head against that keyboard now.......LOL!

[WebSavvy]

Good to hear alana138. :thumb:

Let us know how it goes. I'd be very interested to know what the final outcome is.

Hey Blue ... nice pic! Is that why the nic "Blue" .... those eyes? Sure are very blue. LOL! :D

[Advisor]

Holy cow...you guys are brutal.

She was renting a perfectly valid opt-in list from another dental site that had already collected the names in a legitimate fashion.

She's not planning to spam. She's not sending dentists something about pig farms, she's sending them an announcement of the sort that they opted in to receive.

As long as the Dental place where she's getting the list is a reputable company, there should not be a problem with what she wanted to do. I agree she should say where she got the names from and even mention the other site so that they remember (some may forget and think it's spam).

I would ask the Dental place how they collect their names, and what kinds of responses they get when they or the companies they rent their lists to send out emails. Find out if you can talk to any of their previous customers who rented the list.

It's not always about spam guys. There are legitimate forms of email marketing out there. Just because you and I would not opt in to those kinds of lists doesn't mean that there aren't others out there that would. It makes perfect sense that dentists would opt into a list like that so that they could find out what other dentists were doing online.

Alana, don't let these guys scare you. Do your homework and then make an informed decision.

Hope this helps.

Jill

[scottiecl]

Yea Jill!!

E-mail marketing can be very effective when your audience is highly targeted. And it can even be welcome. E-mail marketing was supposed to be the best of all worlds- matching receivers to information that was relevant to their interests, lifestyle, and career.

The web-wise people here know to go out and look for newsletters on a topic they would be interested in but as pointed out earlier, dentists (typically) are not the most computer literate. (Sorry dentists!)

If the e-mail has VALUE to the user, even if they didn't request it, it is not a bad thing. They probably would not sit around, searching the web for useful newsletters but would be interested in them if too much effort were not involved, ie, they were invited to receive the newsletter.

Again- if the list isn't well qualified and you send the dental news to truckers or corporate executives, they won't be happy and you can get tagged as a spammer.

For the best response, remove advertising (Click here to sell/buy a practice) and make the e-mail as clean as possible. Pick one objective: getting them to sign up for the newsletter. Make it as useful and interesting as you can.

You can hit them with the advertising and commercial aspects after they sign up and agree to receive it.

[Advisor]

Right, Scottie!

If you find that the list is a good one, and a true opt-in, then I would make my email short and sweet.

We got your name from blah, and we heard you were interested in [whatever dental info]. We just wanted you to know that we have designed a brand new dental newsletter about [whatever] and would like to invite you to sign up to receive it. If you're interested, you can sign up here: url here or email me personally and I'll add you to the list.

Something to that effect.

Jill

[Wodan]

We recieved the list because the owner of dental town liked the idea of our email newsletter.

Maybe a bit to much logic, but why not ask the owner of Dental Town to suggest your News Letter in his mailings?

[alana138]

Well, we are going to go for the email approach, but we are going to send out a test of 500 first. We are going to use a short email that explains what will be in the newsletters and an opt in key. (we decided we would personlize the newsletters as we track what articles they click on). The company that we recieved the email addresses from is a highly reputable company. They run one of the largest dental magazines (print) in the country. We are going to put their endorsement for the newsletter on there so the doctors know they what they are going to recieve is quality. (at first we were not going to associate dental town with our letter). If the results we get from the first 500 are good then we will proceede to email the rest. I know alot of yall think of this as just annoying spamming, but dentists aren't likely to go out looking for a great new email newsletter, but if one falls in their lap, they are very likely to subscribe to it. These are people who are used to being catered too, and everything done for them. So I hope yall don't get too upset about our desision, but i think testing this offer is great. I really think our newsletter will be extremely bennificial for the dentists.

[Advisor]

Alana,

That makes perfect sense, should work fine for you, and is not spam.

Good luck!

Jill

[WebSavvy]

Good luck with it alana138. :) At least you are approaching the email from a different angle now. That's all we were trying to get across to you. I also apologize if I came off sounding rude and attacking. I've just had my fill of spammers this week.

Best Wishes,
- Deb

[Blue]

Good luck with it alana138. At least you are approaching the email from a different angle now. That's all we were trying to get across to you. Yes, with the different perspectives presented, you now have a viable aproach to your campaign.

Good Luck! :cheers:

Hey Blue ... nice pic! Is that why the nic "Blue" .... those eyes? Sure are very blue. LOL! Thanks, Deb. Actually, the nic is a derivative of a stage name from my musical ........... erm........ persona.

[Advisor]

Thanks, Deb. Actually, the nic is a derivative of a stage name from my musical ........... erm........ persona. And all this time I pictured you as a flying squirrel! :D

[Blue]

And all this time I pictured you as a flying squirrel! Well, I have been known........

[maninderwalia]

Hi!
Yeah Jill your points for email marketing are perfectly valid and its really happened that sometimes an email(you had not subscribed)
has helped you a lot means the message in that mail was very useful.
Take an example of running a similar email campaign for the recruitment industry(Now this is a tricky one).
As an email campaigner you now that majority of the list(any list) would be looking for jobs but let me tell you my experience.
Few months back I was working with a recruitment firm and the head asked me to do something similar as is the case with this Dental firm and I made a brief message giving my contact details and mass mailed to a list I had and the success rate was quite high and lot of people infact mailed their resume to me but one day I recieved a call from an person saying "who gave you the permission to send me such message, I told him that this was a one time message just to inform the latest happenings in the job industry but he didn't listen" This person told me that although he knew that the services offered by us were very useful he didn't like the way we sent him the mail without taking permission"

Now what I am asking is I had made a brief text message for the job industry really useful for job seekers and also gave my contact details so that the people can contact me directly would all this be spam?
I know your answer would be yes but please think logically and try to give a answer from your Heart?


Maninder

[scottiecl]

Maninder, technically yes, it was spam. (Any unsolicited email)

But, I don't believe it was a bad thing to do with a highly targeted list like you had. But, anytime you send out unsolicited email, you run the risk of negative responses.

All the positive responses should balance out the 1 negative!

You can't please everyone all the time and someone will always complain. I wouldn't worry about it.

If you had gotten a bunch of complaints, I think your answer would be different- obviously the e-mail was useful to many!

[maninderwalia]

Thanks Scotti
Anyways What final structure of an email to be sent to prospective customers but who have not opted for the same before, do you suggest?
How should the whole email go so that the complaints are at a minimum?


Maninder

[Advisor]

To me, it all depends on where you get the names/email addresses to begin with.

If they're all addresses you collected yourself, then 99.9% of the people wouldn't find it to be spam. But if you're purchasing the list, you just never know.

Jill

[scottiecl]

1) Know who you are sending to (origin of list- your own records or a trusted source)
2) Keep it short and to the point
3) Make sure it is useful/relevant
4)Only send it once. Let them TRULY opt in if they want to receive more mail from you.

If you don't get much response, you blew your chance. Don't be tempted to send it again with a restuctured message- if they didn't want it the first time they will get angry if they see it again.

Take time to REALLY think through your message and your intended audience and what you want to accomplish.

Send it more than once and you have become an abuser!

[maninderwalia]

Hi! Again
Thanks Scotti and Jill