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briesmith
Posts: 67
Joined: 2/6/2003
Status: offline
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Google, Lycos, Yahoo, MSN Hotmail etc - 6/8/2004 11:36:52
The recent Outfront magazine draws attention to what might happen to a company's marketing and other emails in the future if they use the under development Google service, Gmail.
I am sure that all the warnings about Gmail are worthwhile and that whatever Google does today is either immediately copied by its competitors or is already being used by them.
All the fuss about Gmail and other similar services just goes to reinforce the old adage "there's no such thing as a free lunch, email service, web host etc."
Recognising the impact HTML incorporating graphics can have in supporting and reinforcing your sales and marketing efforts, some things occur to me as being sensible in this environment.
If you can, don't use a "free" email service. Instead, make sure your host supports web email and set-up your own email function (in accordance with whatever rules and limits the host lays down). Use some scripting to generate your email stream from your customer details tables and (a) page(s) holding the content.
Send your emails in both HTML and Text formats with links on both saying "If you are happy with receiving just the HTML version of this email click here" and "If you are happy with receiving just the Text version of this email click here" and put a little bit of script on your response page turning an HTML/Text flag on your customer table on or off as appropriate.
Finally, put a page on your website explaining your email policy so that customers don't get annoyed with receiving duplicate emails or are confused because they are not receiving the (filtered out) HTML format messages. Put a link to this page on your emails in both formats
This will prevent Google or anybody else subverting and undermining the marketing impact of your outgoing emails and help to make sure that your customers see your emails the way you want them to.
What your customers use to email you is, of course, up to them. Keeping Google out of your Inbox is a lot more difficult than keeping it away from your outbound material.
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Mojo
Posts: 2431
From: Chicago
Status: offline
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RE: Google, Lycos, Yahoo, MSN Hotmail etc - 6/8/2004 11:59:39
quote:
Keeping Google out of your Inbox is a lot more difficult than keeping it away from your outbound material.
GMail has nothing to do with your inbox unless your using GMail as your email client. It does not attach ads to outgoing email like Hotmail or Yahoo have done. It does not attach ads to incoming email either, but it does have adwords style ads listed on the right side of the screen. IMO - the GMail ads are much less intrusive that Yahoo/Hotmail ads.
quote:
If you can, don't use a "free" email service.
Absolutely.
Although, I have found that GMail works very well in keeping my many email accounts organized.
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