Newton's third law says that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Direct marketing practitioners have been using this for years to generate sales. They send out catalogs, brochures, postcards, and emails. Customers send back money. I admit that it is a very loose translation, but you get the idea. There is a darker side when you combine this law with marketing. While some recipients react by buying, other revolt. And, the harder you try, the more they resist. There is a very thin line between
Newton's second law is the most powerful of the three. His formula, F = ma (where F is applied force, m is mass, and a is acceleration), says that the more force, the more acceleration. The way it works is obvious when you think about objects, but how does it apply to business?
Emailing a list with dirty data is quickest way to let customers or prospects know that they are a few bytes of data in a file. In addition to minimizing your response rates, it risks alienating your target market.
When email marketing was in its infancy, it provided instant gratification to marketers. Shortly after you pushed the send button, orders started appearing in shopping carts. It was too cool. The cost was significantly less than mailing a catalog or postcard and the response was much higher. Things have changed.
We have the technical ability to personalize every email and direct mail piece that we send. Using it to send targeted promotions is smart marketing, but it isn't personal.
Sometimes I call the sending of email campaigns "blasts". One such comment I made annoyed a fellow blogger. He said that email campaigns should be targeted and not "blasts". I responded by chuckling.
