Email Distribution
Snail mail is 6 times faster than networking.
- Will email work too?
- Email is cheaper, easier and faster than snail mail.
Service providers are standing by, ready and anxious to help - they have email addresses by the millions and solutions for delivery.
So, how exactly does this work? Is this the best thing since sliced bread ... or email jail?
Executive summary
In case you don't want to read this entire article, here's a summary:
- Only 10% of the top decision-makers can be reached through email.
- It takes 2 to 3 times as many emails to be as effective as snail mail.
- Email is more expensive than snail mail to achieve the same results.
So why would you spend more and miss 90% of your target audience?
Sources of email addresses
Hoovers,
as shown on the right, is powered by Jigsaw, and offers
ConnectMail for $1.20 per lead. You don't get the email address
however, you send it through Hoovers, one by one.
Jigsaw is one of the largest suppliers of business email addresses. Their home page says: "The easiest way to instantly reach business professionals. No obstacles. No hurdles. Kiss bad data goodbye." They partner with and supply email addresses to Dunn and Bradstreet and SalesForce, adding to their credibility.
Jigsaw has "tens of millions" of contacts. In fact, you can get contact email addresses free on a one-for-one basis when you give them a contact. Here's a YouTube video that shows how it works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRSVVpQ47UA. Or, you can buy email addresses from them for about $1.00 each, and higher volumes are about 80¢.
However, Jigsaw's "reach" is limited. JobBait clients (all $100k+ salaries) are looking for only the top executives (President, CEO, Chairman or Owner). Here's a quick comparison:
- Dunn and Bradstreet (JobBait's source for mailing lists) has 14 million snail mail records in the United States with the title of President, CEO, Chairman or Owner.
- Jigsaw has 679,537 email records with the title President, CEO, Chairman or Owner.
- Hoovers has 1.9 million email records with the title President, CEO, Chairman or Owner.
In other words, only 5% to 15% of the top decision-makers can be reached through email. By contrast, 100% can be reached through snail mail.
Plus, Jigsaw's email addresses are NOT "permission-based." Here's a quote from an interview with Jigsaw's CEO: "We both agree that if you go and send to 50,000 records then you’re an idiot and you’re going to get blocked." In other words, you cannot send out to their emails in bulk like you can with snail mail. More about this later.
In case you're wondering, all email systems are privately-owned; they have the right to block emails and decide who can and cannot write to them. They can also blacklist you at their discretion. That's not the case with snail mail - the USPS is a public system and no one has the right to block snail mail. You cannot ask the post office to stop delivering certain mail pieces.
Sending emails one by one
You can however send emails to decision-makers one by one if you're careful. You can even use Microsoft Word to do an email merge and send the same email, individually addressed with custom content, one by one through your own ISP. That's how we did it years ago, and it worked for a while ... until we got up to about 300 ... and then we got blacklisted. Go figure - the people on our mailing list had specifically requested being on our mailing list - they were permission-based. Getting off the blacklist was very difficult and we had to 1) figure out how to do it and 2) prove that our list was permission-based. And while we were waiting to get off the blacklist, we could not email many of the people on our list, including replying to emails they sent us.
However, it takes more emails than snail mails to get the same results when looking for a job. We've tested this and the email requirements are at least double the snail mail requirements (in one case triple). Plus, The bounce rate from emails is on the order of 20% to 35%, whereas snail mail is 5% to 10%.
You'll find that email is more expensive than snail mail for a $100k+ job search.
Sending bulk email
This is where email distribution gets messy and dangerous.
Some call it "email hell" or "email jail."
You can send your
own emails one by one as discussed above, but that takes time -
lots of time. To send out thousands, you'll need a service
provider like Constant Contact or Datran Media. Here's a quick
comparison:
- Constant Contact allows only permission-based email addresses. If you purchase an email list, Jigsaw for example, you cannot use Constant Contact unless you lie and tell them it's permission based. If you lie and use a purchased list anyhow, they will eventually catch you (primarily because of high bounce rates and spam reports) and cancel your account. Then you cannot use them again, ever.
- DatranMedia will help you set up a system for sending emails - they do not send the emails for you. You alone are responsible for the IP address, and you pay the penalty if you get caught spamming.
Service providers who send emails for you (like Constant Contact) do not want to get on the blacklists. That's why they are so careful about requiring permission-based lists and not allowing purchased lists. That's why they monitor your account so carefully.
Workaround - disposable email addresses
Here's a way around the system: Get a disposable email address so that if you get caught, you can simply get another disposable email address and continue on your merry way.
Here's the problem: Almost all email service providers (gmail, msn, aol, yahoo, etc.) have specific terms and conditions about spamming, and their IP addresses are at risk. Remember, they are all privately-owned systems. Now you have a different problem, because when they catch you, your email account will be cancelled. Now you cannot get a reply from the decision-makers you've already emailed.
Here's another problem: In our conversations with people on the leading edge of spam rules, there are additional roadblocks already in place or being implemented. For example, blacklist providers are now capturing the phone numbers and referenced websites in spam emails, and associating those with the email address of the sender. Then, when that sender changes to another disposable email addresses and uses the same phone number or website, the blacklist provider can make the connection and block them again - this time earlier in the process.
The CAN-SPAM Act
Notice that we have not referred to the CAN-SPAM Act. Here's an excerpt:
- "Do you use email in your business? The CAN-SPAM Act, a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have you stop emailing them, and spells out tough penalties for violations.
- Despite its name, the CAN-SPAM Act doesn’t apply just to bulk email. It covers all commercial messages, which the law defines as “any electronic mail message the primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service,” including email that promotes content on commercial websites. The law makes no exception for business-to-business email. That means all email – for example, a message to former customers announcing a new product line – must comply with the law."
Read the CAN-SPAM Act at your leisure, and you make the call as to whether or not it regulates sending thousands of emails (bulk) to the decision-makers most likely to hire you (with purchased email lists that are not permission-based). Are you exempt? And if you are, does it matter given all the other information on this page?
Blacklists ... aka "block lists"
Here's an excerpt from Spamhaus, one of the largest international providers of blacklists and one of the most used and most feared:
- A message is Spam only if it is both Unsolicited and Bulk.
- Unsolicited Email is normal email. (examples: first contact
enquiries, job enquiries, sales enquiries)
Bulk Email is normal email. (examples: subscriber newsletters, customer communications, discussion lists) - Spam is an issue about consent, not content. Whether the Unsolicited Bulk Email ("UBE") message is an advert, a scam, porn, a begging letter or an offer of a free lunch, the content is irrelevant - if the message was sent unsolicited and in bulk then the message is spam.
Spamhaus's anti-spam blocklist, the SBL, used by more than 1 Billion Internet users, is based on the internationally-accepted definition of Spam as "Unsolicited Bulk Email". Therefore anyone sending UBE on the Internet, regardless of whether the content is commercial or not, illegal or not, is a sender of spam - and thus a spammer. All senders of UBE need to be fully aware that:
- they are breaking their ISP's Terms of Business contracts and they will lose their Internet accounts and access if they send UBE and
- they will be placed on the Spamhaus Block List (SBL) if they send UBE.
The difference between senders of legitimate bulk email and spammers couldn't be clearer, the legitimate bulk email sender has verifiable permission from the recipients before sending, the spammer does not.
MX Toolbox
Are you on the blacklist? Check yourself out at http://www.mxtoolbox.com/
You make the call
If you think sending Unsolicited Bulk Email is getting easier and making its way into normal business marketing, think again. If it was easy, cheap and legal, you'd be getting regular offers by email every day from millions of retail stores. They would all jump in as fast as possible. Have you noticed that these offers are STILL coming by snail mail? (or TV, radio, billboards and other marketing channels ... but NOT email)
Now you know why.
Want to send emails by the thousands anyway?
You might get lucky! In fact, you might hear stories from others who got lucky, and believe that it can happen to you. And it can - that's not the issue. The fact is that on the average it will take 8,000 emails per $100k in salary to get 85% odds in 90 days.
For example, let's say you take the bulk email distribution approach, regardless of the risks. Let's also say that you send out thousands of purchased email addresses from a bulk provider and use a distribution service provider like Constant Contact. And further, let's say that you successfully land a job that way.
Here's what you've proved:
- You are a liar. You have to be to make this work.
- You are a spammer. That's easy - you fit the definition.
- You are willing to take the risk of being blacklisted and/or violating the law.
Now, imagine how your new employer feels, knowing you're a liar and spammer. You are also a known, future risk to their company – ethically and perhaps legally.
Want to do it right?
Send your emails one by one, each with a different message after some research on your targeted company, and without using a bulk distribution provider like Constant Contact ... and without using Microsoft Word to merge your emails. Keep your emails individual and unique and space them out over time so you don't raise any flags.
Check your email sending limits and your terms and conditions from your email provider.
- Hotmail for example has a limit of 100 per day ... and at that rate, it would take you 80 days to send out eight thousand emails - the average requirement if you make $100k.
- Be prepared for a 20% to 35% bounce rate - it increases the requirement and raises the flag.
- Be prepared to have your email account cancelled - remember, your email service provider does not want to get blacklisted and you can easily pop up on their radar for what they call "unusual activity."
If you do it right, you'll keep yourself out of email jail. It does however take a long time! And as the final insult, it costs more than snail mail.
Hallmark
Have you noticed that the Hallmark stores near you (and the
aisles in other stores) are still very robust. You STILL have
plenty of choices. Emailed greetings have not made this go away.
For what it's worth, our clients call email and fax
unbecoming, inappropriate and cheap.
How do you feel on your birthday when you get a bunch of electronic greetings by email, and then get one sent by snail mail? Which do you think is more sincere? Which one stays with you for a while, maybe parked on your desk?
Certified Email by Goodmail
Ever consider "certified email"?
http://www.goodmailsystems.com/products/certified-email/.
It sounds promising up front, but only permission-based messages to existing members or
customers are allowed; no prospecting, member acquisition
campaigns, or any form of unsolicited email will be permitted.
source
Searching for other solutions
Here's what you might be thinking: "Rats, there has GOT to be a way to do this legitimately, or even illegitimately, just long enough to find a job. Surely someone has got this figured out."
If this is what you're thinking, knock yourself out. Find a site that might do what you need. Then, go to http://www.google.com/sitesearch/ (shown below) to see if they require "permission based" list somewhere in the fine print.
If you do find a solution, please let us know. This would be a game-changer, and decision-makers around the world could look forward to having their email inbox jammed with job-seekers.
