Unsolicited e-mail, Junk, and Spamming

Unsolicited e-mail - or junk e-mail - is the electronic equivalent of junk postal mail and direct mail selling. Just as junk postal mail is considered by many to be annoying and wasteful, junk e-mail is more so. But, at least with postal mail, you can throw the envelope away unread. With junk e-mail, you have to take time to read it to find that you didn't want to. It is therefore time-wasting, inconsiderate, and very bad netiquette.

But business acknowledges that direct mail works! How can you satisfy the need to get new customers, which by definition must be strangers to your business, and at the same time be polite. Remember our first rule: “... show consideration for the other person...”

We hold that any business solicitation can be condensed to one line. It is unnecessary, counter-productive and quite rude to send 10 pages of details before confirming that the recipient is interested. See the next section for a practical example of this.

Spamming is sending the same message to hundreds or thousands of e-mail addresses in the hope of hitting a few interested people. It displays extreme selfishness and total disregard for the 99%+ that are annoyed and inconvenienced by it.

So, if you must send unsolicited e-mail in your search for new customers...

1. Only send one-line solicitations, followed by “e-Mail for details.” People who want details will reply, those that don't, won't;

2. Use proper bulk e-mail software that supresses the list of names; or

3. Put the list of e-mail addresses in “Bcc” (stands for blind copies) to protect the privacy of your audience. “Cc” lets all recipients see the full list of addresses. Apart from the privacy angle, it's frustrating to receive a one line message preceded by 5 pages of e-mail addresses!

4. Put your own e-mail address at the top of the list, as a quality check, so you can see what everyone else is receiving;

5. End with your full name and a short, one-line signature.