Over the past several months a disturbing spam trend has emerged--spammers exploiting "tell-a-friend" forms.
In most cases, spammers use robots to fill out tell-a-friend forms with email addresses and canned spam messages and send them. Spam sent from a tell-a-friend on your website not only annoys the recipients, but can be a source of spam complaints against your domain.
If your domain registrar (especially GoDaddy.com) receives enough complaints, they can seize your domain and shut down your website. Complaints filed with your web host can result in the suspension of your hosting account.
Protection against these spammers is easy:
- Remove your form, especially if it isn't driving more traffic or customers to your website or email list.
- Add a Captcha spam protection field to your form. Captcha fields require you to enter a series of numbers, letters, or words to prove you are a real person and not a spambot.
- Remove the comment area of your form so users can't add a custom message to the tell-a-friend. Instead, compose a blanket message like "(sender's name) recommends this website to you." then describe briefly what your website does. Let senders know what the message says, so they know what they will be sending.
Apply just one of these suggestions and you'll cut spammers off at the knees.
Here's a quick tip to improve your email open rates and reduce SPAM complaints:
Study what's in your SPAM folder.
If the emails you send to your lists resemble what's in your SPAM folder, then you're sabotaging yourself.
The hallmarks of SPAM are deceptive subject lines and phony senders (From lines).
Take a peek at a recent screen shot from my Gmail SPAM folder.
Recent screenshot from my Gmail SPAM folder
Notice any patterns?
- Subject lines that don't hide the ads for "enhancement" products, designer watches, or debt relief. (Hey, at least the scumbags are being honest with their subjects.)
- Fake invoices, credit card charge notices, payment bounce notices, and other subject lines meant to alarm the recipient into opening the mail.
- Fake news headlines. ("Obama is ill!")
- "Personalization" of the subject line where your email address is used instead of your first name
- Emails where your own email address is the sender or From line (shown in Gmail as "me")
- "Hello" as the subject line. This is a very common subject line often used in personal email and by clueless marketers -- not just spammers.
- Vague subject lines that could mean anything and offer no specific clues as to the message content. ("You've had a real close look, right?")
- Jibberish subject lines from random word generators. (What idiots think this will work?)
Now take a look at the emails you've been sending. If your subject lines have anything in common with what's in your spam folder, odds are good that you have a problem.
- Do you go too far in trying to arouse curiousity opens that your subject lines in no way resemble your message content?
- Likewise, are your subject lines simply deceptive?
- Do you use a display name and email address (eg., "Karl Barndt" karl@mydomainname.com) in your From line that your subscribers will recognize?
Bottom line: Do your emails build trust and strengthen the relationship between you and your subscribers, or are you trying to trick them?
Tricking a subscriber into opening your email may improve your open rates, but it won't do a thing to improve your bottom line.
So, if your email campaign resembles your SPAM folder, take a step back and try a little honesty. It goes a long way in email marketing.
Every so often, I'll open an email from an online marketer that gets my blood boiling.
It's not the contents of the message that rile me, but the deception of the subject line:
- "A personal message from Joe Marketer"
Similar subject lines would be
- "Personal Email From Joe Marketer"
- "Karl, personal from Joe"
- "Karl: A personal invitation..."
- "(PERSONAL) from Joe Marketer"
- "(Personal & Urgent) From Joe Marketer"
- "A Personal Message From Joe. Please Open Karl"
- "Karl, Personal From Joe... About XX"
- "Joe Marketer Is Sending You A Personal Invitation"
I'd open the message and immediately find that it is a not a unique and personal message written by Joe solely to me. Rather, it's a mass mailing to a large part of Joe's list.
And that pisses me off!
Sure, Joe might tell a "personal" story in the message before he launches into his sales pitch, but that doesn't justify his deceptive subject line.
My response to a message like this?
Unsubscribe! Usually with no small amount of swearing and a nasty "personal" note to Joe, too, for wasting my time.
Am I overreacting?
Well, let's ask the truly important question: What did Joe gain?
OK, he probably had a higher-than-normal open rate, which many marketers will applaud. But at what cost?
In my opinion, he burned his list -- lied to them. And that hurts the relationship established between list owner and subscriber.
What's one little harmless lie, you might ask?
For some subscribers, it's a breach of trust. And people like me will unsubscribe immediately.
Others may stay subscribed, but they'll be less likely to open your messages in the future or to trust what you say if they do open them (Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice...).
If you want more examples of email deception, take a peek at your spam folder. There you'll find plenty of examples of messages engineered to fool you into opening them. Do you really want to operate at the same level as a spammer peddling enhancement pills?
Keep that in mind next time you craft your subject line.
Remember, your message contents should always deliver on the promise you make in the subject line. Otherwise, you risk confusing, alienating, or even angering your reader.
And, while open rates are important, you need to consider the long-term benefits of having a list that trusts and responds to you.
Sure, crafting compelling, yet honest, subject lines takes some effort and creativity, but the results are worth it.
