Feb 12, 2008
Allowing the Audience to Opt Out? Be Still My Beating Heart!
Telemarketers call it the Do Not Call List and email marketers coined the term Opt Out. Both are flags to indicate the individual does not want to be called or contacted again about a specific offering or promotion.
Well this just in …. the idea of allowing the recipient to choose what they receive has extended to print! Just last week I received a printed offer to consolidate my credit cards with an option to opt out of future printed mailings. As a marketer my hat is off to this company for offering the recipient the choice to receive future mailings. But as you know, once the recipient hoists their “do not disturb” flag the marketer has entered into an agreement to honor that request.
With that said there are ways to increase your chances of staying in front of the audience with their permission --- called opting in. Audience members are more likely to opt in to receive your message if it includes something valuable to them personally – and this does not have to be a discounted product or rate – it could be valuable information on a related topic. This technique is often referred to as Permission Marketing where the recipient consents to receive information. First I’ll start with the risks of not providing valuable information which directly results in opting out.
The company that sent me the mailing with the Opt Out option didn’t provide much if any reason for me to continue receiving their offers. The promotion listed several interest rates which would be subject to my credit rating and loan amount. The closest thing I could find to personalization (aside from my address of course) was a statement that I “… met certain criteria ...” which I have interpreted to mean I have a pulse.
Here’s the mistake this company made.
My offer was in no way specific to me as an individual or even within a specific demographic. The result was a completely generic offer so why would I choose to continue receiving them? They risk people opting out in droves because the mailing is so generic.
Remember, opting out means no more mailing to the customer!
There are a couple of alternatives that I’d recommend.
If the company has data regarding the individual (and believe me --- they did) then go the extra mile and craft an offer that resonates with the recipient. As a customer of the company that issued the offer, I know they could have created a unique promotion. For other prospects that are not customers, craft something as personal as possible, perhaps based on their demographic.
My favorite advice when it comes to permission marketing is to go the extra two miles and provide valuable information that goes beyond the scope of the 
sales and marketing campaign. Using my experience again as an example, providing some tactics on bill consolidation (plus and minus points even) would be useful to me. I am much less likely to say “no” to information that is educational in some way. The net? At least I would not have opted out.
Successful marketing campaigns have several key components, including building brand awareness, which can only happen over time to a willing audience. The key is customizing their experience. The software tools are available to allow the personalization needed as well as the data transformation applications that allow the software to access virtually any data type a company might have. Use them and provide as many reasons as possible for your audience to opt in and stay in.
Permission marketing. I heartily recommend it!