Internet Marketing Blog » Email Marketing

Marks & Spencer the Latest to Get Hacked

John — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 09:02:56 +0000

Is there something going round at the moment? Midway through February it was revealed that Lush had been subjected to a series of hack-attacks since October 2010. Then, toward the end of March, names and email addresses of people who used Play.com were stolen after the external company they used for their marketing was hacked. Today, we woke to news that hackers have gone for one of the UK’s real big guns.

An email sent out by Marks & Spencer reads: ‘We have been informed by Epsilon, a company we use to send emails to our customers, that some M&S customer email addresses have been accessed without authorisation.

‘We wanted to bring this to your attention as it is possible that you may receive spam email messages as a result.

‘We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you. We take your privacy very seriously, and we will continue to work diligently to protect your personal information.’

One of the largest companies in the world that specialises in email and internet marketing, Epsilon has over 2,500 and sends over 40billion emails annually on their behalf. Play.com uses a company called Silverpop, again US-based.

Dr. Stefan Fafinski of the University of Leeds, an expert in internet security, warned users to be vigilant and scrutinise each email they receive. ‘Spammers will have a list of good, known and verifiable email addresses that comes straight out of M&S. Once they have names as well as email addresses, the spammers can personalise the emails they send out to look much more like a genuine company communication.

‘People who open these emails may then follow a link to what looks like an official website.

‘They may be asked to update their billing information, credit card details, the three-digit security code, maybe their mother’s maiden name or the answer to a personal security question.

‘That gives them all the information they would need to steal the identity of the customer and access their accounts.’

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Beat Spam with Unique Email Marketing Techniques

John — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 12:16:18 +0000

Did you notice less emails over the Christmas period in your inbox offering to sell you this or enlarge that? Emails related to pharmaceutical products account for approximately 64 per cent of all spam emails worldwide – that’s an astonishing 60 billion emails per day.

However, that figure fell to as little as 0.1 per cent in contrast over the Christmas holidays, equating to a paltry 70 million emails globally. As of Monday 10 January though the figures were back with a vengeance – 70 billion recorded spam messages throughout the day. And Paul Wood, Symantec senior analyst, thinks these volumes will only get worse:

“This is a marked increase. It’s still not the same as spam levels before Christmas but it’s a sign that, for whatever reason, Rustock [the botnet responsible for just under half of all web spam] had simply gone quiet. It is very unusual that they would go quiet of their own accord – which is why this stands out much more than previous occasions – but there must be a reason for it, which I suspect we’ll get a sense of it in due course.”

It’s a shame because, from a search marketing point of view, email marketing can be very profitable, especially if you craft a unique campaign that captures your target customers’ imagination. Email marketing is as much a part of search marketing as PPC and affiliate marketing. But how do you do that without them turning their nose up at you and banishing your emails to the spam folder forevermore?

A large dash of creativity is key when it comes to email marketing, such as the kind you can find from a good web design company. The typical spam email is comprised with terrible grammar, a made-up sob story or just blocks of text. Show your email isn’t spam with bold images that show off your brand and entice them with high quality pictures of the current deals you are offering.

Entice them with well-thought out content that encourages them to visit your site, but make it personal too, so it doesn’t look like a mass sales pitch. The beauty of email marketing is that if people like what they see, they’ll forward it on to their friends, broadening your overall reach!

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Using Email Marketing Wisely

Click Consult — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 08:03:41 +0000

For many people, email marketing is seen as the internet equivalent of direct mail and this is not necessarily a helpful comparison. Everyone knows the irritation of arriving home and finding the doormat covered in invitations to buy fast food or have improvements done to your home, which bear no relation to anything you might choose for yourself. Early email marketing did have some similarities to direct mail, but it has become much more sophisticated, partly it must be said, because of legal obligations to do so.

The advantage for both businesses and customers is that email marketing can now really help potential and current buyers to find out the information they need about the product and the company before they make the decision to purchase. Email marketing that is correctly and ethically targeted will arrive at only those inboxes where the recipient is happy to receive it. The relationship between customer and business can be enhanced by the quality of the email and the information conveyed. Here at internet marketing company Click Consult, we help many companies to create ethical and useful email marketing strategies that promote businesses and increase sales, while building a loyal customer base that is happy to receive communications by email.

If you are thinking of using email marketing, then it is important to consider the legal requirements and the impact your email marketing will have on potential and existing customers. The last thing you want is to create annoyance or suspicion, so ensure your email marketing is ethical and responsible to avoid these problems.

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Directing Email To The Right People

Nick — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 08:05:50 +0000

More people than ever are choosing to research online before purchasing. With this lack of personal communication, customers are thrown back on other ways of assessing the reputation of a company online, so will look for trustworthiness and responsibility in anything they receive, such as email marketing. It is unfortunate for companies of good standing that the internet has been used by some other, less reputable businesses to send out acres of spam email marketing, which has influenced some customers to be wary of email marketing in general.

This means that your email marketing must be directed only to those potential customers who do want to receive it. An opt in list is the best option, so you know you will not be upsetting anyone with unwanted messages. Email marketing can give information about the history and aims of the company and can create a dialogue between you and your customer base. It is important to monitor incoming replies from any email marketing that is sent out, as a non-response to enquiries will negate all the good work you have put in on your email marketing strategy. Customers need to know that they are valued and wanted, or they will take their business elsewhere.

At internet marketing company Click Consult, we have experience and expertise in creating innovative email marketing and making sure that your system will be efficient in communicating with your customers.

Once you have a solid procedure for emailing out and monitoring replies and enquiries, you have the basis for an ongoing channel of communication that will stand you in good stead with your customers.

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Use Email Marketing To Enhance Your Reputation

Click Consult — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 09:21:56 +0000

Email marketing is still viewed with some suspicion by a part of the population. Admittedly, this group is becoming smaller as people increasingly learn to accept internet technology as a part of their life, but for any company using email marketing for advertising and publicity, it pays to remember that not all email marketing will appeal to potential customers.

The company that makes life easy for newcomers to the internet will reap the benefits of confidence in them as a company that helps customers to find what they want. Being an internet site that recognises and maintains customers will be rewarded with sales and repeat custom as people understand and trust your business. One easy way to create this ease of use and trust is to build up a relationship with potential customers, using an email marketing campaign. This should be a campaign delivered at a frequency your target market can accept and should offer value rather than purely be a selling tool.

Once your customer has found their way to your website they need to know that yours is a professional and trustworthy company. Spending money via the internet is still a concern for many, so the more reliable and dependable your business is, the better a new customer will feel about committing their details to the website. Your email marketing strategy can enhance your reputation for reliability. At web marketing agency Click Consult, we have many years experience in creating email marketing strategies that are easy to use and are ethical and responsible.

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Making Websites Work With Email Marketing

Click Consult — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 08:56:41 +0000

Email marketing is becoming increasingly sophisticated as businesses realise that customers dislike brash advertising just as much on the internet as they do in the rest of their lives, and that opening a laptop or switching on a PC does not mean people will believe everything they read. Company websites need to reflect this high level of understanding and target their email marketing at the groups who will be interested in their products – a scattergun approach is unlikely to result in an increased sales graph.

The optimal website will focus user attention on the areas that lead to knowledge about your company, trust in your reputation and easy to use ordering and contact facilities. Not all businesses however are expert in planning email marketing campaigns and may wonder how to ensure that their email strategy is giving the best impression of the company. Here at web advertising agency Click Consult, we can provide a variety of packages to ensure that your email approach produces the results you need.

It is becoming increasingly the case these days that potential customers will research various companies on the internet before making contact. The impression of a company’s reputation and reliability that they receive from the email marketing they come across, will influence their choice of company to get in touch with. Those companies who have invested in quality email marketing, targeted at the appropriate groups and using keywords that aid search engine optimisation will get the best results for their business.

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Growing Your Business Via The Internet

Richard — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 09:01:37 +0000

Everyone who uses the internet knows the annoyance of receiving spam emails. It is one of the hurdles to overcome for any company starting to use email marketing. From the outset, ensure that you employ only email addresses for which you have permission from the owner. It may be tempting to make use of email addresses from a bought list, but if you do not know how the addresses were obtained, or are not sure of the credibility of the organisation providing them, then do not touch it. To gain a reputation as a company who uses spam is to severely damage the standing of your business, and it is simply not worth it. Apart from this damage to your name and character, it is likely that the emails will be quickly deleted by the recipients, so no business would result from that quarter anyway.

Here at Click Consult, we have experience and know-how in using email marketing and internet marketing and we can guide you away from the mistakes that internet marketing newcomers may make. Our expertise covers not only the technological side but the wider area of marketing as well and as we are researching and developing our services all the time, you will benefit from the most up to date knowledge.

Once you have a good email marketing campaign up and running, with email access to customers who are happy to hear from you, the benefits to your business will be clear evidence of the correctness of your decision to use internet marketing.

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No Spam Here

Nick — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 08:06:12 +0000

One of the earliest and most enduring experiences many people have had of the internet and email use is that of spam. Named after the song in a famous Monty Python sketch, spam is definitely something you do not want to have associated with your firm.

At odds with this is the fact that email marketing is a successful and growing form of advertising, which leads to the question of how can this be? One reason is that reputable companies do not just send out unsolicited email to all and sundry. A good and ethical email marketing campaign will use only addresses that have been confirmed as happy to receive email communications. This is achieved by a two part process that asks subscribers to confirm or activate their subscription to your email marketing service before any emails are sent.

Knowing that your audience has agreed to receive your message means that you have already reached the stage of having a willing recipient. Your email marketing message is likely to be read and, more importantly, absorbed.

This is an advantage of email marketing over traditional publicity in that your target audience is in part self- selected, and so ready to think seriously of purchasing your product rather than just vaguely being aware of seeing a poster on their way into the station.

Here at internet advertising agency Click Consult, we are a fast growing and successful e-marketing business who can add real value to your company with our expertise in the area of targeted and profitable email marketing.

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Use Email Marketing To Target Your Marketing

Nick — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 08:44:14 +0000

Advertising and publicity is an essential component of any business. There is no value in producing the most wanted and faultless product in the world if the world does not know that you are doing it.

Publicity and marketing continually move on, just as all other areas of life do, and email marketing and other forms of internet marketing now comprise a large and growing proportion of all marketing and advertising.

Email marketing has the advantage that it can be aimed at specific, relatively small groups, so that your advertising cost and effort is not wasted on those who would have no interest in your product.

You can outsource your email marketing to us here at web marketing agency Click Consult, so giving you the benefit of our experience in this area and freeing up your time to deal with the issues that are the core of your business. We will work with you to create an internet marketing strategy that will promote your company to the people you want and in the way that you want. We will also analyse the outcomes of the internet campaign and provide updating to ensure that your message continues to be seen and heard loud and clear.

Many businesses find that email marketing allows them to create a more personal and direct relationship with their potential customers, thus providing the trust and confidence in your company that translates into sales. Traditional marketing, with its more scatter-gun approach, rarely achieves this kind of result, so you will see your investment in email marketing reap a serious profit.

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Targeting Email Marketing

Nick — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 08:07:28 +0000

Email marketing has one obvious advantage over mail shots, and this is you can ensure that the customer actually wants to receive your emails, whereas using ordinary mail this becomes more difficult.

Most people do not like receiving emails from people they don’t know, so making sure your email marketing campaign is selective and trustworthy has benefits for your company as well as being the right thing to do. Simply by thinking about what attracts or repels a customer, it is possible to work out an email marketing campaign that includes features that people feel drawn to and leave out the aspects that will put potential customers off.

Emails that are appropriate to your audience and show your company in a professional light, as well as including information on how to unsubscribe from the distribution list, will always enhance the standing of your company. Here at web advertising company Click Consult we have expertise in creating email marketing that ticks all the right boxes. Our experience in internet marketing and in creative use of the technology means that you can give us the information you need to be out there and then leave it to us to create a strategy that will bring in new customers and maintain a good relationship with your current customer base.

Showing your company to be responsible and responsive through your email marketing, will engender confidence in your products which will lead to increased customer satisfaction and increased word of mouth publicity – which is considered by many to be the most effective kind.

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