News

Increase customer communication

Effective e-mail list-management delivers the message.

February 27, 2007

For nearly four years the staff at Bridget Foy's in Philadelphia managed and maintained the restaurant's e-mail list. The process, although time-consuming, was convenient and easy-to-manage, until the list grew to more than 4,000 names.

"Basically, it was taking the managers off the floor," said restaurant owner Bridget Foy. "We'd rather be on the floor with our guests than using a couple of hours per week taking care of the e-mails."

The restaurant was sending an e-mail blast every time a customer had a birthday or was eligible to receive coupons as part of the frequent-diner program, but e-mails were being classified as spam, a consequence of no formal e-mail maintenance.

Nancy Harris, a deliverability specialist with Fishbowl Marketing, said two things are crucial when it comes to an e-mail database: managing unsubscribe requests and removing invalid names.

"We have processes in place to keep a list as clean as possible," she said. "We maintain lists and adhere to any unsubscribe requests within canned spam guidelines. In addition to being blacklisted companies can be fined, and there have been companies that have had that cited against them."

Fishbowl works with restaurant's such as Bridget Foy's to help build and maintain an e-mail database. If an e-mail has been deemed invalid, Fishbowl works to remove the name from an e-mail list. They also monitor unsubscribe requests and handle change-of-e-mail addresses when requested by a Web site's registered user.

In addition, Bridget Foy can monitor a campaign's success and review e-mail reports tells her how many people opened the e-mail blast, how many unsubscribed and how many reported the item as spam.

"Prior to using Fishbowl we couldn't tell who was using and who wasn't," Foy said. "It has basically simplified the process for us because now it takes 10 minutes, and we can quickly blast it out to our list. We send maybe one to two per month. We don't bombard people with our e-mails."

Fishbowl can also track the data to ensure e-mails go to a person's inbox instead of the junk folder. "Deliverability is important because if you're e-mails are not going to anyone then why do an e-mail campaign," Harris said.

E-mail deliverability depends on a company's reputation, their ability to stay white listed within the e-mail campaign community and their willingness to follow legislative mandates.

Companies also have to follow certain guidelines: everyone has to opt-in for the program and names and e-mail addresses can not be sent, sold or rented to third parties.

"Even if you have a huge database and you've done something to ding canned spam, you're blacklisted," Harris said. "Talk to someone before a campaign. It's become big business to ensure you're following legislation."