Email marketing services provider AWeber recently sent out a group email promoting their services to a number of their customers. Unsurprisingly, many of those customers were outraged that AWeber would spam them like this, and a massive amount of backlash followed. Let’s take a look at exactly what happened, and what you can do about receiving spam in future.
The Email
The email itself had a subject line of “Important Info” with the body containing the following:
“This is an important email from AWeber. Why? You’ll soon find out…”
As you might imagine, many of AWeber’s customers were less than pleased to receive such an email from the company. Here is a sampling of the negative feedback:
- “Disgusting. Unprofessional and completely inappropriate.”
- “This is such a spam email…I’m notifying my contacts so they don’t get on your bad side.”
- “This is such a scary email…I’m blocking this number.”
- “I’ve received so many spam emails from AWeber in the past, and I always had a bad experience with them. I’m sure this is a ploy to get me to sign up again, so they can spam me even more.”
- “This is the last straw. I’ve had enough. I’m deleting you and your company from my contact list.”
- “This is the last straw. I’ve had enough. I’m blocking you and your company from my contact list.”
The Aftermath
Within 24 hours of the email going out, AWeber had apologized for the email and assured their customers that it would never happen again. Since then, they have taken steps to ensure this doesn’t happen again by implementing more sophisticated spam policies and increasing the amount of spam reporting from within their system.
In the coming weeks, they are also planning on providing a more detailed email response to the many customers who are complaining about receiving the spam. This might seem minor, but it’s actually quite significant. Remember, not everyone will take the time to write a lengthy email back discussing their complaints. For those who do, it could mean they’re more likely to be convinced to stay using the service.
What Can You Do?
If you ever received a spam email from AWeber, you are in luck because we’ve got you covered. Here is a list of things you can do:
- Do Nothing
- Report Spam
- Unsubscribe
- Contact AWeber
- Block The Number
It’s a case of what could’ve gone differently. Had AWeber sent out a genuine email promoting their service with a subject line of “Good News!”, then many of the complaints would likely not be warranted. After all, who wouldn’t like to hear that they’ve won a lucrative deal or been offered a chance to participate in a lucrative venture? Maybe we should all be grateful that this is the case, but until then, we need to be careful around these parts.
Email marketing is a tricky thing. Too many companies try to go above and beyond what is acceptable to gain new subscribers, but end up doing more harm than good. Remember that the people you’re contacting most likely already use your service or have heard of it, so they’re more likely to be receptive to your message.
In some cases, the customer is more important than the product. In other words, what is important to you may not be as important to them, and vice versa. Take the time to find out what your customer’s needs are and how you can best meet those needs. This will help you develop a more personalized approach to your marketing efforts and better connect with your audience.