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ralphlayton · 4 years

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Don’t Do That: Email Marketing Lessons From My 26 Year Spam Archive

What makes for strong long-term email marketing, and what can email marketers learn from a 26 year archive of spam? In 1994 I started archiving the funniest and most outlandish spam emails I received, and throughout the rest of the ‘90s I sent out an annual holiday compendium of the year’s top unsolicited messages. Over the years friends and associates began sending me their own wild spam finds, and although I ceased my annual updates long ago, I’ve kept up my spam archive — a trove of email marketing horrors, hi-jinks, and oftentimes hilarity that I still hope to turn into a book someday. For now, I’ll crack open the archive and share five email marketing lessons taken from analyzing 26 years of spam, to help illustrate how we can adapt, grow, and innovate — and how not to follow in the footsteps of atrocious spammers. Spam usually serves as a spot-on case study for email marketers on what not to do when it comes to building genuine and meaningful email communications. Oftentimes spam is chock full of truly bizarre content, whack-a-doodle predicaments, and convoluted stories, yet from this we can still gain surprising email take-away gems for today’s marketers.

1 — Empathize With Your Email Audience

Empathizing with your audience is an important part of successful email marketing, as understanding the concerns and hopes of the people you’re connecting with is vital for providing the information your email audience is seeking. Some things to ask yourself as you seek to empathize with your email audience include:

Why have they signed up for our email messaging?

What are the traits common to our readers?

If I were the recipient and not the sender, what would I change?

Empathizing with and learning more about your email marketing audience go hand-in-hand, and both open up a wide realm of possibilities to make your campaigns better. “Get to know your customers,” Val Geisler, CEO of Fix My Churn recently observed. “Do interviews, learn more about them. What keeps them up at night? What matters most to them? Ask them questions with long-form answers and record those answers. Then use that voice-of-customer copy in your emails. Put it in subject lines and body copy and CTA buttons. Fill your emails with a blend of their voice and your brand voice and your customers will instantly feel connected to your brand,” Geisler suggested. An example from my spam archive on how not to empathize includes this 2004 doozy from one Gaza F. Fussbudgets:

Subject: Hello! Date: Thu, 06 May 2004 23:31:24 -0700 From: Gaza F. Fussbudgets To: Thinking of driving in that condition, sir? New jobs: Stay-at-home manager Honest people for hire! Do you have only a part-time job? Do you have much free time? Are you a student? Does your class schedule impair working hours? Your luck has just happened! Are you outgoing and honest? We need someone just like you! This is a business that requires a only limited amounts of your time. All job applicants from Australia welcome. Vacancies are ending, don't waste time and use this super offer. YOUR ONLY CHANCE! CONSIDER THIS GREAT OFFER! Remaining questions? Check out our website. Questions? We've got answers.

Despite its reassurance that "Your luck has just happened!" and a feeble attempt to empathize by asking a few questions, this spam email fails on all accounts. Don't be like Mr. or Ms. Fussbudgets, and instead always take the extra time to learn more about your email marketing audience. [bctt tweet="“Empathizing with your audience is an important part of successful email marketing. Understanding the concerns and hopes of the people you’re connecting with are vital for providing the information they are seeking.” @lanerellis" username="toprank"]

2 — Fill Each Email With Unique Value

Savvy email marketing brings your audience something they can’t find anywhere else, whether it’s a first glimpse at a new product or service, a behind-the-scenes look at one of your team members, or even a unique report made exclusively for your email audience. One of the many reasons spam email universally misses the mark — along with tone-deaf legitimate campaigns — is that it doesn’t offer anything unique, instead relying on cookie-cutter copy or only minimally customized content, and the long-shot promise of one response from millions of emails sent out. Consider the following spam message sent to me in 2014:

Subject: Claims Prize Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 03:19:40 -0430 (VET) From: Fedex Delivery Company Reply-To: *We have a Fedex package containing $850,000.00 USD to be delivered to your home address as a Christmas Presentation. Send Fullname, Home address, telephone. Note: Delivery fee is $75 only.*

A scam with a promise to send a box of riches to you "as a Christmas presentation" in exchange for a small fee is the antithesis of how email marketers should go about providing value to their audiences — an effort that today is delivered in the form of digital content providing relevant information. B2B content marketing and its penchant for creating a variety of relevant re-purposed content lends itself well to email marketing efforts, and we’ve got you covered with the following looks at the types of information that can add unique value to your email marketing:

5 Examples of Effective B2B Content Marketing in Times of Crisis

Where’s the Marketing in Content Marketing? 10 Essential Promotion Tactics That Drive Results

5 Ways to Humanize B2B Content Marketing

A Tasty, Strategic Addition to the Content Marketing Table: ‘Repurposed Content Cobbler’

3 — Respect Your Email Recipients

Treat your email audience with respect and they’ll be more open to your messaging, and more likely to continue as long-term recipients of your email campaigns. Respect in email marketing is shown — and earned — in several ways, including:

Practicing genuine interest by providing only the most relevant information

Applying mindfulness when it comes to the frequency of contacting your audience

Honoring all inquiries with a thorough and thoughtful response from your appropriate team

Don't go overboard with insincere respect, however, as the sender of the following 2005 message unfortunately did:

Subject: Palmer Berryhill I hope you like this wrist clock Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 18:09:07 +0400 From: Madiha To: My Dear Palmer Berryhill, Honestly, you have earned it. Take the moment and get it. Make sure while you are at the web-site, that you also get the little box to keep it in. You get a little reward today. Last night I saw you looking at these replica watches and I could tell you wanted one. Go ahead and get it. There are just so many things to handle each day, we just don't often get a little surprise. This is a good internet-site for you to find it from because they have gift trailing. I am totally aware of how many times you have looked at these quality replica watches at this internet-site. Please go and get one. I know they are duplicates and we can afford it. My love to you, Madiha

Although I never did treat myself to Madiha's replica "wrist clock" surprise or the little box to keep it in, this classic spam message does serve as a fine example of forced and ingenuine caring, despite all the love this writer claims to have sent my way 15 years ago. It's also important to respect the fact that whether you have a smallish mailing list or one numbering in the millions, maintaining your email audience’s trust is key for long-term success, as our senior content strategist Nick Nelson explored in “Return to Sender: Email Marketing Is NOT Dead, But It Needs Rejuvenation.” [bctt tweet="It’s better to write for 10 people who truly want to receive your messages than 100 who are ambivalent or worse. @NickNelsonMN #EmailMarketing" username="toprank"]

4 — Use A Healthy Dose of Character & Passion

Knowing your audience is only one important part of your email marketing efforts, however it allows you to understand the voice and tone that will best suit your brand, and will play a big part of imbibing character and passion into your email marketing campaigns. Your email marketing communications should incorporate the universal truths of your brand messaging, however that doesn’t mean it can’t use its own email-campaign-specific voice with its own energy and unique flavor. Not too unique or too full of seasoning, however, or you could end up with something like the following spam message I got in 2002, which ranks up there as one of the nuttiest emails I've received since I went online in 1984:

Subject: Chichi Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2002 13:50:01 -0500 (EST) From: Ray To: Hello, If you are a Time Traveler I am going to need the following: 1. A modified mind warping Dimensional Warp Generator # 52 4350a series wrist watch with memory adapter. 2. Reliable carbon based, or silicon based time transducing capacitor. I need a reliable source!! Please only reply if you are reliable. Send a (SEPARATE) email to me at: [redacted]

I never did send in that dimensional warp generator — with or without the wrist-watch memory adapter — however this message did certainly deliver on the unique content front, and was presented with its own wacky sort of memorable messaging. Some of the top email and newsletter marketers look at the channel as a special way to make a person-to-person rather than simply a B2B connection, such as MarketingProfs chief content officer Ann Handley, who over the years has shared a great deal of valuable email marketing insight. “Write to one person. Not a segment or customer base or persona. One. Person. At. One. Time,” Handley recently offered up in “2020 Small Business Email Marketing Statistics from AWeber.” [bctt tweet="“Write to one person. Not a segment or customer base or persona. One. Person. At. One. Time.” — Ann Handley @MarketingProfs" username="toprank"]

5 — Seek Further Connection Opportunities, Test & Refine

Email still offers a powerful way to keep in touch with the people who care most about your brand, however another part of good email communications is letting your audience know the other ways they can get your latest updates and other information. Sharing links to your various social media properties, blog, website, and any virtual events where customers can learn more from your brand is a helpful way to add value to your marketing emails. Don't, however, follow in the footsteps of the author of the following spam message I received in 2014, with a hook of "Outsource your pain to us!"

Subject: Partnership proposal : Outsource your pain to us! Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 02:16:43 -0400 (EDT) From: Christina Zalpa To: Hi There, I got your reference from google search. Through this mail, I would like to seek your opinion of doing some business together. We are company West Midland, UK based company.We are in business of Web Development, SEO, PPC and Chat support. We have experience of web design and SEO too. What we can do: We can reduce your expenses and increase your revenue. To discuss further, I will be available at your suitable time. Looking forward to do some mutually rewarding business together. Warm Regards Christina Zalpa Skype:

Spam such as this — although purely an unadorned scam — does serve to show us that even the lowest form of email marketing sometimes has a call-to-action (CTA), an aspect also featured in the best email campaigns. Don’t miss email marketing’s many excellent opportunities for testing, either, as send frequency, subject lines and all aspects of content can be part of A/B testing as your brand looks to find an optimal balance. [bctt tweet="“Rather than sending more, test what you already do. Then test frequency. There’s no sense sending more of that doesn’t work, nor less of what does work. Test, test, test!” — Mark Asquith @MrAsquith" username="toprank"]

Don’t Do That — Turn Your Spam Lessons Upside Down

via GIPHY By empathizing, providing unique value, respecting your email audience, using character and passion, and seeking out new connection and test opportunities, your email marketing efforts will have a leg up on much of today’s competition. Whether you're looking for professional help with your email marketing or B2B influencer marketing efforts, contact us to learn why brands from Adobe and LinkedIn to Dell and 3M have chosen TopRank Marketing.

The post Don’t Do That: Email Marketing Lessons From My 26 Year Spam Archive appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Don’t Do That: Email Marketing Lessons From My 26 Year Spam Archive published first on yhttps://improfitninja.blogspot.com/

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samuelpboswell · 4 years

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Don’t Do That: Email Marketing Lessons From My 26 Year Spam Archive

1 — Empathize With Your Email Audience

Why have they signed up for our email messaging?

What are the traits common to our readers?

If I were the recipient and not the sender, what would I change?

2 — Fill Each Email With Unique Value

5 Examples of Effective B2B Content Marketing in Times of Crisis

Where’s the Marketing in Content Marketing? 10 Essential Promotion Tactics That Drive Results

5 Ways to Humanize B2B Content Marketing

A Tasty, Strategic Addition to the Content Marketing Table: ‘Repurposed Content Cobbler’

3 — Respect Your Email Recipients

Practicing genuine interest by providing only the most relevant information

Applying mindfulness when it comes to the frequency of contacting your audience

Honoring all inquiries with a thorough and thoughtful response from your appropriate team

Don't go overboard with insincere respect, however, as the sender of the following 2005 message unfortunately did:

4 — Use A Healthy Dose of Character & Passion

5 — Seek Further Connection Opportunities, Test & Refine

Don’t Do That — Turn Your Spam Lessons Upside Down

The post Don’t Do That: Email Marketing Lessons From My 26 Year Spam Archive appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

from The SEO Advantages http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OnlineMarketingSEOBlog/~3/3aor_IXSZiY/

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davidchanus · 6 years

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Bitcoin scammers are sending bomb threat emails to millions around the world, but authorities are confirming 'NO DEVICES have been found'

On Thursday, numerous reports emerged of people receiving extortion emails demanding recipients send $20,000 in Bitcoin to a particular Bitcoin address.

The emails stated that failure to send the payment would result in that person's workplace being blown up by an explosive device.

Police forces from cities in multiple countries have responded to the threats and have confirmed that no devices have been found in connection to the extortion emails.

This story is developing, but for now, authorities say no actual threats have been discovered.

If you've received an email saying that your office will explode if you don't forward on $20,000 in Bitcoin, stay calm.

Law enforcement officials across the country responded on Thursday to a recent string of threats, sent to numerous people via a spam-like email campaign, and stated that no explosive devices have found in connection to the messages.

"Please be advised - there is an email being circulated containing a bomb threat asking for bitcoin payment," the NYPD tweeted around 3pm ET on Thursday. "While this email has been sent to numerous locations, searches have been conducted and NO DEVICES have been found."

Please be advised - there is an email being circulated containing a bomb threat asking for bitcoin payment. While this email has been sent to numerous locations, searches have been conducted and NO DEVICES have been found. pic.twitter.com/7omOs13Z7Q

— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) December 13, 2018

Other police departments from across the country have provided similar updates.

We're working a number of bomb threat calls in OKC. There have been similar threats called into several locations around the country. No credible threat found at this point. We encourage the public to continue to be vigilant and call with anything suspicious.

— Oklahoma City Police (@OKCPD) December 13, 2018

MSP and partner agencies on federal and local levels are conducting risk assessment procedures regarding the threats and will determine appropriate responses. NO indications of any explosives located or detonated to this point. We will continue to communicate info when available. https://t.co/fPXhNy2vPF

— Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) December 13, 2018

The extortion emails demand that recipients send $20,000 in Bitcoin to particular a Bitcoin address. Failure to do so by the end of the working day, the emails stated, would result in that person's workplace being blown up by an explosive device.

Here's an example of one of the emails:

So I actually just got a bomb threat in my work email today ordering me to send the person $20,000 via bitcoin or they will blow up my place of work.... 2018 is wild pic.twitter.com/sn0vVLwe6v

— Ryan William Grant (@TheeRyanGrant) December 13, 2018

Universities, schools, media outlets, courthouses, and private businesses across the US reported receiving the extortion emails. Some were evacuated as a result.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement on Thursday: "We are aware of recent bomb threats made in cities around the country, and we remain in touch with our law enforcement partners to provide assistance. As always, we encourage the public to remain vigilant and to promptly report suspicious activities which could represent a threat to public safety.”

Threats have also been reported outside the US in Canada and New Zealand.

Read more: Bitcoin slumps after bomb threats that were emailed across the US demanded it for ransom

More information about the scam should emerge in the coming days, but if there's any good news to come out of Thursday's scare, it's that no actual devices have been reported.

And, as ZDNet reports, no Bitcoin payments have been made in relation to the emails.

SEE ALSO: The 25 worst passwords of 2018 based on 5 million leaked passwords on the internet

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Amazon wants to open 3,000 cashier-less grocery stores — and they'll have a major advantage over their competitors

from Legal News https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-scammers-are-sending-bomb-threat-emails-to-millions-worldwide-2018-12

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weeklybreakdown-blog · 6 years

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This Week: Tax Grabs, Creepwatch 2017, Flynn, Egypt, and Jerusalem (phew)

Happy Wednesday, Homies!

The News: A Haiku

Apparently we

are okay with pedophiles

and tax scams and lies.

This week, the news got so crazy that I wrote a haiku poem about it in our Weekly Breakdown group chat. We decided it should be the lead. After a post-Thanksgiving hiatus, the rate of bombshell news stories breaking only seems to have increased. Do these people not know that it is supposed to be the holiday season? From taxes, to the Alabama Senate race, to a massive terrorist attack in Egypt, and everything in between (Russia, as usual), we’ve got you covered in this edition of the Weekly Breakdown. Strap into your seatbelts, because this one’s a doozy.

Please share this newsletter if you like our breakdowns, and let us know what we could do better!

Tax Bill Passes Senate

This week, in a frenzied process that took place in the middle of the night and included hand-scrawled notes in the margins, the Senate passed its version of tax reform. The vote came when the viability of the bill – one of the least popular pieces of legislation since attempts at ACA repeal – had been in question in previous weeks. Holdout Republicans ended up almost all voting for the bill, with the exception of Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) who voted against the bill over its effects on the deficit. The Senate bill differs from the House bill in important but not insurmountable ways: the Senate imposes a time limit on individual provisions (but not corporate ones); eliminates the ACA insurance mandate; and preserves or extends some popular deductions like the mortgage interest deduction, among other differences.

Because of the slapdash process by which the Senate bill was passed, Senators had not read the full bill at the time it was voted on. Initial analysis of the Senate bill projects that it will balloon the deficit by approximately $500 billion, half of the House bill’s projected $1 trillion deficit increase but still enough to put paid to any notion that Senate and House Republicans are deficit hawks. The passage of conflicting versions of the bill in the House and Senate mean that the bill will proceed to a conference to create a single bill, which then needs to be passed by both chambers again and signed by the President. With their first major legislative accomplishment in view, it is looking increasingly likely that Congressional Republicans will vote on a compromise bill by the end of the month, if the government doesn’t shut down that is. This is far from a done deal, and you should get on the phone to let your representatives know your thoughts on the tax bills and how it will affect you.

Creepwatch: Conyers, Franken, Lauer, and Moore In the awful men segment of our breakdown, the list of accused predators and fallen power brokers grows daily. Matt Lauer, NBC news host of 20 years, was fired for sexual harassing a coworker, who reported the complaint to HR recently. The “Today” host has since been accused of sexual harassment and assault by other colleagues, and in an extremely creepy move reportedly had a button installed under his desk that allowed him to lock his office door. Congressman John Conyers (D-Michigan) resigned on Tuesday following multiple allegations of sexual harassment and (eventual) calls from House Democratic leadership to step down. Senator Al Franken (D-Minnesota) has remained in his post pending an ethics investigation into mounting claims of harassment and assault against him, despite calls from many corners on him to step down as well. Meanwhile, in the media world, Matt Lauer was fired as a cohost on NBC’s most lucrative show, “Today,” less than 24 hours after a colleague contacted HR with a complaint of sexual harassment stemming from 2014. Since then, five more women have come forward with complaints, including one of sexual assault: “He allegedly gifted them sex toys with explicit notes, sent them lecherous text messages, scrutinized their looks, and compared their presumed performance in bed to their performance at work. He summoned one woman to his office and whipped his dick out, then berated her when she refused him. He allegedly locked the door behind another, bent her over a chair and had sex with her until she passed out.” – Lizzie Crocker, Daily Beast Lauer’s ouster comes on the tails of that of Charlie Rose, who also was fired from his television hosting positions following allegations of harassment and assault. Finally, in Alabama’s closely watched Senate race (and after this one you can go scream into a pillow), President Trump became the first sitting US President to endorse an accused pedophile for Congress, officially throwing his weight behind Roy Moore, the Republican candidate. Nine women thus far have accused Moore of sexual misconduct, including harassment, attempted assault, and sexual assault of a minor. Despite these serious allegations and mounting evidence against Moore, as well as earlier withdrawal of RNC support and a call from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to step aside in the race, yesterday Moore received not only the White House’s endorsement, but also the re-engagement of the RNC in the Moore campaign. This is not entirely surprising from a party that eventually embraced and now is led by an admitted sexual predator who has been accused of harassment and assault by twenty (that would be 20) women. Trump’s endorsement certainly isn’t surprising, but it does make the race to elect Doug Jones over Roy Moore even more urgent for anyone who thinks a sexual predator who assaulted children has no place in the US Senate, regardless of party. As such, Weekly Breakdown co-founder and lead contributor Colin Wolfgang is matching any donations made to Doug Jones through the election next week (12/12). Email your donation receipts to him at [email protected].

What to Watch: Because of the Thanksgiving break and the usual flood of news that continues to pour in even when we tune out, there’s plenty of recent developments to keep an eye on this week. First off, a main story in its own right…

…Michael Flynn: Last Friday, former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn pled guilty to lying to the FBI. It was a much lesser charge than he might have faced, but Flynn is now fully cooperating with Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel investigation. Cue “lock him up” jokes and a healthy dose of schadenfreude. Many analysts have speculated that if Flynn – who was under investigation for much more serious crimes like an international kidnapping plot – received such a cushy deal, it must be in return for some real dark dirt on the Trump family and administration. Stay tuned, folks.

Egypt: More than 305 people were killed and 128 injured in Egypt on November 24 when militants attacked a Sufi mosque in the Sinai in the largest terrorist attack in Egypt’s modern history. While Coptic Christian churches are frequent targets of extremist attacks, the attack on a Sufi mosque is a departure for extremist groups, despite the fact that many designate the Sufi branch of Islam as heretical. ISIS has yet to claim responsibility, but eyewitnesses report that the attackers carried the group’s signature black flag during the attack.

Jerusalem and a Muslim Ban: Trump’s White House continued to wreak havoc on Middle Eastern politics, in a region where there are plenty of other tectonic shifts underway without US-led controversies. Tuesday Trump called Middle Eastern leaders to give them a friendly heads up that he plans to move the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognizing it as the capital of Israel. Their response: Um, could you not? The move is guaranteed to create unrest and stoke anti-American feelings in much of the Middle East, and would break with every other country on earth (and the International Court of Justice), all of which do not recognize the Israeli occupation of Jerusalem as legal. At the same time, the infamous “Muslim Ban” (3.0?) has been reinstated by the US Supreme Court, allowing the order to take full effect even while the rule is being appealed in the justice system.

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