Or, really, how to snafu-proof your email marketing campaign.
First, let's cover exactly what "snafu" means: an old wartime acronym that politely yet succinctly refers to a "Situation Normal: All %$#@'ed Up" (SNAFU). Now, this little term pops up in all "situations" where there is a real foul-up.
So, we've all been subject to email snafus., usually in the form of an inter-office email gone awry. Someone accidentally hit "Reply All" with some sort of snarky or inappropriate commentary that usually attacks someone or something in the office.
Though we all don't like to admit it, we've all done this. Even with a benign email that is unnecessarily sent to the entire list like confirming a meeting; that's not only a time waster but clogs up everyone's inbox with crap.
Here are the reasons to never, ever CC your entire email list.
1. Inadequate email software doesn't give you the option to send out personalized emails and only gives you the option to CC or BCC. Take a page out of marketing leaders and invest in a great email marketing software that allows for individualization.
2. CCing is entirely unprofessional. Simple as that.
3. And, it shows that you're lazy and don't really care about your content, customers or products.
4. Revealing who your customers are allows for your competitors to sweep in and snatch them away.
5. If you CC, you're violating the terms of your privacy agreement (you have one, right?). By CCing your list, you're opening up your customers to personal liability and invasion from other subscribers. People are incredibly protective over their email addresses, and broadcasting your list is akin to giving out your subscribers' home addresses. The bottom line is that by CCing you may not even know that you're violating your subscribers' privacy.
6. CCing your entire list distracts from your message. Think about it: say you have 10,000 subscribers and you CC everyone, it'll take a ridiculous amount of time to download and will take up more screen space than you can even imagine.
So how do you avoid having to CC your list? Well like mentioned above, invest in an email marketing service such as SimplyCast. Then you can upload your list, use merge tags to personalize each email and protect the privacy of everyone. Also, the peace of mind that your message will get to the inbox (at least have the greatest chance).
