is email marketing to realtors legitimate?. webinars topics the legality of unsolicited, targeted...

Is Email Marketing To Realtors Legitimate?

Webinar’s Topics

• The Legality Of Unsolicited, Targeted Commercial Email In The US And Canada

• How Effective Are Targeted Commercial Email Campaigns?

• Return On Investment (ROI) For Targeted Email Campaigns

Legality Of Unsolicited, Targeted Commercial Email

• Canada– Electronic Commerce Protection Act

(ECPA)– PIPEDA

• USA– CAN-SPAM act


• Electronic Commerce Protection Act (ECPA) – introduced April 2009– Law’s purpose as stated by Canadian Federal Government: “deter the

most dangerous forms of spam, such as identity theft, phishing and spyware”

– Requires advance permission to send commercial email – must have “Implied Consent” of recipient – ambiguous – in practice implied consent is identical to targeted email because a targeted message is at best welcomed and at worst a minor nuisance cured by opting out

– Opt-Out (IE Take Me Off The List) requests processed within 10 days

– Opt-out links must be “live” for minimum 60 days

– SMS (IE Cell Phone Texting) messages need to be permission-only

– Only ISPs (not individuals) can sue those they consider to be spammers


• PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act)– Requires businesses to obtain consent of individuals when they

collect, use or disclose their personal information

– "Personal Information" for PIPEDA is as follows: information about an identifiable individual, but does not include the name, title or business address or telephone number of an employee of an organization

– Business Information Is Exempt From PIPEDA


• USA’s CAN-SPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing) ActRequirements To Send Commercial Email:– Accurate Email Sender Identification (IE From: Email Address)– Relevant Subject Lines (IE not deceptive about email’s offer so as to entice

recipient to view email)– Physical Mailing Address Of Advertiser Given– If Offering A Commercial Solicitation, Indicate This Within Email – Indicate If Email’s Content Is Adult Oriented– Honour Unsubscribes (IE Take Me Off The List) Requests Within 10

Calendar Days


- Legal Precedents - Who Has Been Persecuted For Email Marketing And Why

- CAN SPAM infractions- Hard Core Spammers (100 billion spam emails sent per

day as of April 2008 –200 big league spammers in the world send 80% of spam)

- Don’t Follow CAN-SPAM with their emails- Use Others’ Resources For Sending Emails,

Causing Them Significant Financial Loss- Cause Other Businesses Significant Financial

Loss By Sending Excessive Email To Their Client’s Email Accounts (eg. AOL)


• Hard Core Spammers – Case Studies

• Shane Atkinson – sent 100 million messages on a "good day" advertising penis-enlargement pills – circa 2003

• Howard Carmack – sent 825 million spam e-mails via the Internet service provider Earthlink – May 2003

• Richard Colbert – sent to a million general AOL email addresses advertising on behalf of other companies – circa 2003

• Eddie Davidson - promoted watches, perfume, penny stocks (junk bonds) and other items on behalf of other companies. Such e-mail messages contained false header information, which concealed the actual sender from the recipient of the e-mail, a violation of CAN-SPAM - circa 2005

• Gevalia - a wholly owned subsidiary of Kraft Foods, is the largest coffee roastery in Scandinavia. Sued by Hypertouch, an Internet Service Provider, for spamming its Gevalia coffee brand – circa 2005

• Davis Wolfgang Hawke - the "Spam Nazi" - started two neo-Nazi groups to make the "final solution a reality”. Spammed penis enlargement pills. AOL accused Hawke of violating anti-spam laws by sending unwanted emails to its subscribers – circa 2004


• Common Denominators Of Hard Core Spammers– Advertise Generic B2C Products/Services– Send Millions/Billions Of Commercial Emails– Violate CAN-SPAM Consistently If Not Thoroughly– Spammers Prosecuted, Not The Clients They

Send Emails For– Used Other Companies Resources Unjustly Causing

Them Significant Financial Loss– Most Prosecutions Occurred Prior To 2005 – Few

Since Then– Larger List Of Hard Core Spammers + Their

Stories Here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:E-mail_spammers


• The Tiny Liability You Face When Doing Targeted, Unsolicited Commercial Email

• Liability: Using Others’ Resources For Sending Emails, Causing Them Significant Financial Loss

- Using A Major Mail Provider (eg. AOL) To Send Enough Emails That They Suffer Significant Financial Loss Due To The Number Of Emails Sent Through Them (Bandwidth and Storage)

- Zombie PCs – spammers deliberately creating and propagating computer viruses to infect individual users’ PCs, turning them into mail servers that send mass emails without the users knowledge or consent – THEFT/FRAUD OF COMPUTING RESOURCES – HOW 80% OF SPAM IS SENT NOWADAYS


• Liability: Causing Other Businesses Significant Financial Loss By Sending Huge Amounts Of Unsolicited Email To Their Client’s Email Accounts (eg. AOL)

- Occurs When A Major Email Provider (eg. AOL, Hotmail) gets millions (or billions) of emails to their customers’ accounts from a specific, identifiable mass emailer

- Retail Price For Storage As Of August 2009: $130 For 1000 GB (can store 1000 customer’s email with 1GB storage each)

How Effective Are Targeted Commercial Email Campaigns?

• What Spam Is ... And Isn't

– Spam is – any generic solicitation intended for a mass B2C audience emailed very frequently and ignoring all email laws

– Spam isn’t – any specific solicitation intended for a highly focused, targeted B2B audience emailed occasionally and abiding by all email laws

• Why Opt-In, Permission Based Lists Are Unnecessary


• Permission Based Email Is Merely The Opposite Of (And A Reaction To) Spam

• Spam Email = Complete Power On The Sender’s Part To Send Email

– Complete freedom for everyone to email anyone with any message for as long as and as often as they want

• Opt-in Email = Complete Power On The Recipient’s Part To Receive Email

– No freedom for anyone to email anyone with any message without their permission first. Recipient can revoke permission for anyone to send emails whenever they want and for an indefinite length of time.

• The Opposite Of Spam Email Is Permission Based Email. Permission Based Email Merely Transfers The Spam Email Sender’s Supreme Power To Market Freely To The Recipient.

The Notion Of Opt-In Is A Stupid Reaction To Spam That Has Been Squandering Email Marketing’s Amazing Potential For Years


– Targeted Email Is Seldom Seen By Targeted Recipients As Spam

– You Can Use Any Email List If You Don’t Get Spam Complaints From Your Recipients

• Email Service Provider Tolerance – 1-3 spam complaints per thousand emails sent

• Internet Service Provider Tolerance – ZERO tolerance – any spam complaints violates your Terms of Service agreement and usually results in fines and/or termination of service


• Why Targeted Lists Are Far More Effective Than Opt-In, Permission Based Lists– Opt-In Email Lists Are Far More Expensive To Build Than

Targeted Lists• Opt-In Lists Can Only Get Built Via Other Forms Of Marketing• Targeted Lists Can Sometimes Be Rented Through A Third Party Email

Service Provider For Much Less Expense

– Opt-In Email Lists Take Far Too Much Time To Build• You Must Wait For Prospects To Find You First Through Other Forms Of

Marketing You Use (Pull Marketing)• Campaigns To Targeted Lists Of Huge Numbers Can Be Done Far Quicker

(Can Be Done Immediately Through An Email Service Provider) (Push Marketing)


– Opt-In Email Lists Are Virtually Identical To Targeted Lists• A targeted B2B list is only sent pre-qualified solicitations (IE

sent ads for products/services they’d likely be interested in because of who they are professionally - their job title, industry, etc.)

• The only difference from Opt-In is brand recognition which is built over time with targeted lists.

– Your company may already have achieved widespread brand recognition with your target markets

• Opt-In List = Prospects Found Through Passive (Pull) Marketing

• Targeted List – Prospects Found Through Active (Push) Marketing


• What You Can Expect From Targeted Email Campaigns To Realtors

– ????% - Seeing Your Company Name In Their Inbox (High Percentage – Probably 80% Or More)

– Email Open Rate = 5% - 20%

• 20000 emails sent – 1000–4000 recipients will view email

– 0.5% - 2% Click Rate• 20000 emails sent – 100–400 recipients will click the link in your email and

visit your website• 200,000 emails sent - 100–400 recipients will click the link in your email and

visit your website

• Personal Record: approx. 1000 (0.5%) Website Visitors To Real Estate Website In ONE DAY From 200,000 Targeted Emails Sent To Ontario Residents

– 1.4 Million Realtor Emails @ 0.5% Clicks = 7000 Website Visitors– 1.4 Million Realtor Emails @ 2.0% Clicks = 28000 Website Visitors


What You Can Expect From Targeted Email Campaigns To Realtors

– Lead Generation• Tracking For Each Recipient On Who Opens And Who

Clicks Each Email – Easy To Find Recipient’s Phone Number/Address On Web - Great For Follow Up

– Tracking Effectiveness Of Online Marketing• Track Effectiveness Of Emails And Website With Google

Analytics Data

Return On Investment (ROI) For Targeted Email Campaigns

The Cost Of Doing In-House Targeted Email

– Building/Maintaining Email List• Hiring data entry people to build your list one address at a time• Legal requirement for maintaining list by processing unsubscribes and bad email

addresses

– Creating Emails• Using graphic designer for email’s graphics• Using writer/editor for email’s written content

– Sending Emails• Using Email Service Provider – charges on per email or per contact basis• Using Your Own Email Server

– Reaching Inboxes• Ensuring Your Emails Are Not Delivered Into Junk Folders Or Blocked• Bypassing A Wide Variety Of Anti-Spam Technologies


Search Engine Optimization (SEO)• Getting your website high ranking in major search engines

like Google or Yahoo for the keywords matching your business.

• SEO For Organic (IE normal) search results or paid search results (IE Pay Per Click – eg. Google AdWords)

• Hundreds - Thousands of dollars to get top ranking in organic results, depending on popularity of keyword searches you want to be found under

• Can Be Very Effective In Attracting Qualified Prospects Ready To Buy Now Or Soon (Pull Marketing)

• Search Engines = Today’s Yellow Pages, Especially For People 40 And Under


– Print Advertising• Any print publication read in large numbers by realtors?

• Limited Ability To Track Ad Response & ROI

– Trade Shows• Toronto Real Estate Boards’s Realtor Quest Trade Show in May 2009

(reportedly 3000-4000 attendees of 56571 realtors in Ontario) (RECO Stat As Of August 2009)

– Sponsorship - $3000 - $15000– Exhibitor Booth - $950 - $1300– Conference Show Guide (given to attendees)

» $750 – Full Page, $400 – Half Page– Flyer Distribution - $350

» Given To TREB Member Offices– Coupon Book - $300


– Email Campaigns To Realtors

• Heresy: 1-3 cents per email successfully delivered– Only real, existing email addresses billed

• Regular Campaigns To Large Numbers: reach 30,000 realtors for $300 per email blast

• We Get Your Email Past Anti-Spam Technology With Exhaustive Testing Before Any Campaign Is Sent

– Inbox Deliverability Tests For 10+ Email Clients– Email Rendering Provided For 31 Email Clients

• Click-Through Data Provided (IE Email Addresses) For Lead Generation If Requested

End Of Webinar

Randy Macdonald

President

Heresy Email Services

(416) 536-2381

[email protected]

Heresyemail.com

Thanks For Attending!

mailto:[email protected]

http://heresyemailservices.com/

is email marketing to realtors legitimate?. webinars topics the legality of unsolicited, targeted...

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