A while back, I wrote about IBM’s transparent campaign using a purchased list, and the ethics debate of using B2B contact databases like Jigsaw.com. Sites like Jigsaw, Hoover’s, ZoomInfo, etc. are extremely popular in the B2B world, as a means of obtaining corporate information, from financial numbers to regional locations to key executive names and everything in between. Many, many businesses rely on these sites for cold-calling, direct mail campaigns, prospecting, and due diligence.
There is a lot of controversy around B2B marketing and what many in the industry deem as “cold-calling by email.” If a company buys a list of executives and mass emails them, it’s easier to identify that as not permission based marketing. But if a lone sales person emails one executive about a potential business opportunity, is this spam? Sure, if you’re a named executive of a company, your name is out there, and vendors will contact you by whatever means possible – phone, mail, in-person visits, etc. But is email sacrosanct? Most B2B salespeople would say no, some would say “if it’s relevant, it’s not spam,” but I’m willing to bet the recipients would disagree.
As I mentioned in my previous post, Jigsaw has taken a lot of heat about their practices –- even getting blacklisted by Spamhaus –- and in turn helped escalate the debate within the blogosphere and Twitter. It now looks like Dun & Bradstreet (who own Hoover’s) are taking the high road and offering executives listed in their directory the opportunity to remove their email address from the database. Take a look at this email that was forwarded to me recently (click to enlarge):
Interesting, eh? I’m not sure why they felt the need to push their service offerings ahead of the main point of the message, but this is a great step towards allowing people to protect their workplace email inbox, just like they can with their personal addresses. Of course the recipient’s name and contact info (including email) is probably on other similar sites, but D&B/Hoovers is one of the biggest names in the industry, so it should help the unsolicited email onslaught they likely receive on a daily basis. The executive who received this removed herself from the directory, and I will be interested to see if she finds it makes a difference in her inbox.
The bottom line is that sending unsolicited email is a bad practice no matter if you’re working in the B2B or B2C spheres, and whether you’re sending one email or 100,000. If you’re a B2B email marketer and want those hot execs to opt-in to your list, then create a strong campaign to target them by direct mail, telemarketing, conference event or SEM/PPC to drive them to your signup page, convince or incent them to join…and once they’ve joined, deliver good content and information as promised. Want more advice? Check out this article, 7 Steps to FTC CAN-SPAM Compliance for B2B Email Marketing.
Julie Waite
Email Marketing Strategist at Bronto
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
This ongoing zealotry is bordering on the whimsical.
Permission is not required for Can Spam compliance. The practice you mention above via D&B is a long standing one. D&B does it. Jigsaw does it. InfoUSA does it. The $1 billion list broker industry does it. Harte Hanks does it. Very highly reputable, public companies who are the gold standard at what they do, are doing the right thing by notifying recipients they are on the list and proactively giving them the opportunity to opt out. Why do they do it? BECAUSE IT’S AN INDUSTRY STANDARD BEST PRACTICE THAT ALL THE LEGITIMATE DATA PROVIDERS FOLLOWK, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF LEGITIMATE, RESPONSIBLE, DIRECT MARKETERS WATCH FOR AND MAKE SURE THEY ONLY BUY OR RENT LISTS FROM LIST PROVIDERS WHO HAVE TAKEN STEPS LIKE THIS ONE.
Jigsaw, for instance, not only does this email, they allow you to come to their site and no-questions-asked remove yourself from the database – that simple. And unlike data providers, the only data on Jigsaw is what’s put on the business card. No personal or residential address, phone, or email data is ever compiled or offered.
The leading data providers are going above and beyond what the direct mailers or the telemarketers have EVER done on the Prospecting / Lead Gen / Acquisition front.
And the zealots would rather witch hunt and castigate them for being open, transparent, and proactive about notifying people they’re on lists and giving them the opportunity to remove themselves rather than applaud this level of effort.
If it wasn’t so ridiculous, it would be whimsical
I think you misunderstand my intent of this post, Brass Ring. I am commending D&B for their transparency and offering this opt-out option proactively, as opposed to my criticism of Jigsaw. To my knowledge (and correct me if I’m wrong), Jigsaw does not send email campaigns asking people if they’d like to remove themselves… but they do allow you to go to their site and opt out if you wish.
As a former marketer, I’m well aware of these data providers and have purchased or rented lists from them in the past, mostly with mediocre to borderline disastrous results when used for email (like I said in my post, they can be great however, for direct mail and telemarketing). This is because permission IS a best practice for email, while it may not literally be part of the definition of CAN-SPAM compliance. We just heard this straight from the ISPs’ mouths at the recent MAAWG (Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group) meeting… that appends, list purchases, bad co-reg are bad news. If the ISPs don’t respect this practice, and they are the gatekeepers to your recipients’ inboxes, then it’s time to pay attention to that and go above and beyond the basics of CAN-SPAM… both as a sign of respect for your subscribers, and for the integrity of your brand, company, and sender reputation.
Thanks for the post Julie.
Actually, yes, Jigsaw has been sending emailing campaigns proactively and asking if people want to remove themselves for well over a year. D&B emulated this best practice FROM Jigsaw after D&B started re-selling Jigsaw’s data this summer.
And, my point is that there is Acquisition/Prospecting marketing and then there is Retention marketing. By definition, you can’t have permission when Prospecting to a new prospect – in ANY channel. And I was just highlighting that by comparison to all the other channels – ads, phone, tv, direct mail, ….. the respectable email providers like Jigsaw (and D&B re-selling Jigsaw) and the others mentioned in my initial post are the best in class across all channel and all vehicles – yet they are the most maligned for being so.
Further, it would be wonderful if everyone got to interpret the LAW differently to suit our own personal preferences around issues we feel strongly about – but I’d hope we all agree that is just not the case nor should it be. The laws are set, and following them – as well as DMA Article 39, the notice-to-opt-out emails being discussed here, etc, are also well established, and the Jigsaw’s, D&B’s, InfoUSA’s, Harte Hanks, etc. of the world follow them and follow them well, ethically, and responsibly.
I understand that my email addresses get picked up into databases, I just want an easy way to get opt out. It took forever to figure out how to opt out of Jigsaw, I was reccomended http://www.jigsawoptout.com now I get less SPAM from their advertisers.