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Unsolicited Emails: Do You Send or Read Them?
 Almost
every business with an email address
receives unsolicited email from other
businesses; but despite most business owners
saying they ignore it, research shows they
do read some of it.
A survey by MarketingFile found that 43% of
business people surveyed said they read no
unsolicited mail at all; however, this is
not true as the survey itself was sent out
by unsolicited email! This shows that
spending time to make a well constructed and
targeted email will pay off, as some people
will read it, even if they say they don’t!
An unsolicited mail from another business is
one you have not asked to receive, but you
may get because you signed up for a mailing
list elsewhere, or if your business name is
commonly known or found online.
Unsolicited
emails are not usually the same as spam; the
former is a specific request or promotion
aimed at your business, whereas spam is bulk
sending irrelevant emails to any email
address the spammer can pick up.
28% of those surveyed said they have visited
a useful website, and 13% have made a
purchase as a result of an unsolicited
email. Yet despite these figures and the
growth of email marketing, 39% of businesses
that use email marketing say they do not
know what effect it has, and 27% feel it may
even be counter-productive.
If you send unsolicited emails, then this
research proves that with the right content
and enticement people will read them.
Instead of ignoring them, it appears that
people simply scan through them and delete
those they are not interested in. Therefore,
if you can interest the recipient, then they
may read your email after all.
Remember that unsolicited emails to
businesses must have an opt-out clause;
otherwise you could face fines of £5000 or
more.
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