as a marketing strategy, does SPAM work?

[vash]

seriously. i was (very) briefly a business marketing major..not once did i ever hear a lecture to piss off your customer base.

Spam..i dont get it. i dont care if you are selling penis enlargement tools, or chevy trucks..that damn mystery, cryptic feeling email, or thread bomb on your favorite forum just makes no sense to me.

as i am sending things to the spam folder, or ignoring the latest high heels, strappy sandal thread on the redneck shotgun forum..nothing makes me say.."hey, lemme look at this!"

in fact, it makes me think the opposite..i'll go out of the way NOT to buy the damn thing.

has SPAM every gotten you to crack open the wallet? i bet no..anyone have a theory?

[vash]

is SPAM an acronym for something?

[GH85Carrera]

It must work or it would go away.

There are enough morons on the planet to figure you can really get a great deal from some random email.

The day that spam is no longer profitable it will stop. That will happen right after they find Bigfoot and get solid hard evidence that UFOs are actually exterrestrials from other star systems.

[stomachmonkey]

Yeah it actually does work.

As a mass marketing tool it's insanely cheap.

If you use a legitimate paid service you can send millions for the price of a Starbucks coffee.

If you get as little as a 1% conversion rate it was profitable.

Not much different than an infomercial.

You are targeting low hanging fruit and there is a lot of that.

[sand_man]

I don't get it either.

And while on the subject, cute Babe-like talking pigs, dancing/talking geckos with accents, Michael Jordan, and bearded dancing swarthy men on a cruise ship, also don't persuade me!!!!!!!! What a waste of dollars! Been wanting to post a marketing thread for some time now, but I fear I'll be perceived the out of touch curmudgeon!

[Nickshu]

I have done marketing campaigns using Constant Contact for my business twice in the past. One was just an advert and I received very little response. In the other I gave away $5 Starbucks gift cards to anyone who came in and mentioned the ad. This one got pretty good response, but did not produce loyal customers.

My experience is that this type of marketing generates people who look for a good deal, then after they get the deal, they move on to the next good deal and do not become loyal customers. I think this is true for Living Social, Groupon, etc. If your business is one where you are trying to develop long-term relationships/customers this type of marketing (in my experience) is not effective unless you constantly are giving away deals for free...which in the long term does not make for a profitable business.

[sand_man]

I'd love to sit in a board room while these marketing execs make their pitch!!! How silly it must sound!

[Aragorn]

Originally Posted by vash

is SPAM an acronym for something?

Some people say it stands for Stupid Pointless Annoying Message.

Like any type of advertising, spam has its place in getting a message out there. It is annoying but some people respond which is why it hasn't disappeared. That Nigerian prince must need someone to split his wealth with, why not me.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

....The day that spam is no longer profitable it will stop....

Pretty much.

I was once a partner in an infomercial company. (I got out because I have morals)

People used to ask "I see that ______ infomercial all the time, does anyone really buy that stuff"

My answer was "yes they do. The more you see the commercial the more people that are buying it"

Meaning an infomercial campaign is self funded. We use a metric called MER, media efficiency ratio. An MER of 1.5 is considered successful. For every $1 you spend on media it generates $1.50 in revenue. You get a 2.0 MER and you are one happy mofo.

The unsuccessful products you rarely or never see. We toss as little as $10k at it for a two week test run and if they don't generate a 1.5 MER we pull the plug.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Nickshu

I have done marketing campaigns using Constant Contact for my business twice in the past. One was just an advert and I received very little response. In the other I gave away $5 Starbucks gift cards to anyone who came in and mentioned the ad. This one got pretty good response, but did not produce loyal customers.

My experience is that this type of marketing generates people who look for a good deal, then after they get the deal, they move on to the next good deal and do not become loyal customers. I think this is true for Living Social, Groupon, etc. If your business is one where you are trying to develop long-term relationships/customers this type of marketing (in my experience) is not effective unless you constantly are giving away deals for free...which in the long term does not make for a profitable business.

Well yes and no.

You are using it as lead generation.

If you have the type of business that relies on repeat customers it's up to you to convert them when they show up.

I would never advocate giving away something like a $5 Starbucks gift card unless I owned a Starbucks franchise.

Meaning you are not generating qualified leads. A qualified lead is one where the potential customer is already using a service like the one you offer.

That is a consumer who represents high purchase intent vs someone looking for a free $5.00

Your message and offer need to be relevant to your business and attract a qualified lead who you can convert.

[Amail]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Pretty much.

I was once a partner in an infomercial company. (I got out because I have morals)

People used to ask "I see that ______ infomercial all the time, does anyone really buy that stuff"

My answer was "yes they do. The more you see the commercial the more people that are buying it"

Meaning an infomercial campaign is self funded. We use a metric called MER, media efficiency ratio. An MER of 1.5 is considered successful. For every $1 you spend on media it generates $1.50 in revenue. You get a 2.0 MER and you are one happy mofo.

The unsuccessful products you rarely or never see. We toss as little as $10k at it for a two week test run and if they don't generate a 1.5 MER we pull the plug.

Please elaborate on your morality comment. Your description seems like a pretty basic business decision, nothing moral about it. Is it a question of making false claims to boost the MER? Is the industry just perceived as smarmy? Not trying to be smart-ass, just want to understand.

[vash]

The knowledge at PPOT runs deep ! Damn.


Sent via Jedi mind trick.

[Ayles]

I think email is best suited for reengagement of an existing relationship. I have never seen it be super successful as a pure acquisition play.

Just spamming people doesn't do any good. And the notion that you can send millions of emails for the price of a coffee is simply not true. Email marketing done correctly and legally isn't that cheap. I have literally sent billions of emails in my advertising career and am quite familiar with what it costs.

Additionally, an email is not spam if you at some point opted in to receive them. If you have opted out and your are still getting them, then the sender is in violation of CAN-SPAM laws.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

What the above said. If you get one idiot in 10,000 to respond (not hard) you're making money.

[T77911S]

here is my outlook on "forced advertising" or SPAM. i WILL NOTdo business with ANYONE that puts ads on my computer. i WILL NOT do business with the ads at the top of this site. i dont get it. people get pissed if the govt spies on them but its OK for advertisers to see what you look at on the internet (so they can advertise on this site) or so they can advertise on your computer.
my wifes computer was so full of this crap it barely runs. and to make it worse, you cant get it off. after several evenings i finally got it so she could use it without ads diverting her internet to their site or pop ups covering her screen. too bad i cant send the cumputer out to get fixed then charge the advertisers for getting it fixed.
to me, it should be illegal for ANY web site or program to put anything on your computer without your permission.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Amail

Please elaborate on your morality comment. Your description seems like a pretty basic business decision, nothing moral about it. Is it a question of making false claims to boost the MER? Is the industry just perceived as smarmy? Not trying to be smart-ass, just want to understand.

Because the products are generally crap and not worth what the consumer pays for them and I have a problem with taking peoples hard earned money and not returning something of equal value.

Sure caveat emptor and all that but when you say a product can do this _____ and then you need 100 takes for what you claim happens to actually happen rather than the opposite that's deceptive, legal, but still deceptive.

Over the years I've had several occasions reinforce that when I do things motivated purely by money it is generally something I should avoid.

My integrity is not for sale.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

My integrity is not for sale.

[Amail]

Gotcha - I'd feel the same way too.

[nota]

does the 1 .5 return inc the shipping and handling profits ?

or is that purely what the whole scam runs on

if they charge 7.95 to ship
what do they really pay for mass shipping a buck and change ?

[Paul_Heery]