Morning!
Today I received a fascinating email from a rather big name Internet marketer, who wrote about his nifty neat coaching program that, and I quote:
"…I want you to get to where you want to be in
online business.
If you get approved, in 12 months you’ll have
taken your online business to such heights most
people never get to.
And our team of experts will hold your hand and
guide you at every step…
… However, MOST PEOPLE HAVE BEEN TURNED DOWN. If
you get accepted into the program, here’s what
you’ll get:…"
Love the copy! But anyways, the problem was….the email included an invalid link.
So, figuring the individual would want to know about it, I responded to the message with a "Headsup, your link was incorrect!".
And received back:
"Hello – IMPORTANT – Your email was not seen.
The email you sent to ………
will not be seen by a human. It is a "no reply"
address we use when sending out our newsletters.Unfortunately this email receives in excess
of 20,000 spam messages a day.However we are here to support you."
My immediate reaction was, okay, ummmm, NO. I am NOT going to write out a support ticket to let you know you goofed on your email blast.
Now, on second examination, a followup email was generated with more information…but I chose to ignore that until I decided I’d write this post. That’s the only reason why that email got opened.
Which brings me back to the main point!
Whenever you send email to your lists, ALWAYS check your outgoing links…and ALWAYS make it EASY for people to drop you a line. That might mean including a direct link to your contact form if you get too much spam, but hey….at least it will help YOU in the future with your customer relationships.
And that, of course, is a Very Good Thing indeed. 
Enjoy,
Barbara Ling
"Hey there, thanks so much for stopping by! If you
enjoyed this article, please do feel free to tell your
friends about it or use those nifty neato social icons
above to spread the word. I love sharing great info,
and would really appreciate it...thanks!"
-- Barbara Ling
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post, Barbara! While we can all make mistakes in links and sometimes forget to double check them, the problem can also occur when tracking or cloaking services go down after the e-mail is sent. But sending from an unreachable address is both unethical and costly – it says one wants to sell to you without being willing to help you out…
And like you, I won’t use a contact desk – busy marketers don’t have the time to jump through all the hoops, nor the time to track logins at 50 different contact desks. Worst of all are those within paid membership sites that don’t use the same login as the site itself. Marketers have lost out on sales to me for both reasons, and I’m quicker to quit a membership site that uses a separate contact desk login for questions.
.-= Doug Champigny´s last blog ..4 Free Internet Marketing E-Books From Lee McIntyre =-.
That’s a pet peeve of mine too! One should do everything possible to ensure the customers can reach you.