legal limitations to e-mail marketing?

[CIulian]

I am trying to promote a product for letting and estate agents. these are my target market. it isn't being used in UK yet ( as far as I know ) but it's very popular in US. so I purchased some ( not many, as I am testing it ) and I'm now trying to push it forward and present it to local realtors.

I want to put together an e-mail ( I wouldn't call it campaign, as it will probably be just a one off ), and introduce local estate agents to the benefits of using this product. Short, to the point.
I can easily make up a list of e-mail addresses off rightmove, zoopla, websites, etc. they're easy to find, but since I haven't been granted permission, would I find myself in a sticky situation legal wise?
these e-mail addresses are public, I would think a one-off 'campaign' would probably go overlooked.

I'd like to know your thoughts, I know I haven't said what the product is, but at this point it isn't relevant. At the moment I'm only looking to get some feedback.
any suggestions appreciated. thanks!

 

[NickGrogan]

If you are contacting relevant people, offering them a product useful for their businesses, who is going to complain?

But if you are emailing individual agents, with something that is not for them, but that the company might be interested, you're probably not going to get very far.

Find the right contacts, not the easiest contacts.

 

[Annoying Donkey]

My understanding of UK law is that you are free to send relevant emails to company email addresses that are publicly available. You must have permission to send to private addresses and sole traders.

Note however, that cold emails are about the poorest way to prospect - most will be deleted without reading. Send a letter or get on the phone.

 

[CIulian]

thank you both for your input. really helpful. and you're right about finding the right contacts. so far I've been drawing up a list of estate agents off zoopla, easy enough, to which I sent about 50 letters ( which were mostly for presentation purposes, I didn't try to persuade anybody to buy at this point ) to be honest, I had hoped at least one of them would get in touch, but nothing so far, which leads me to believe:

a) they're not the right people to speak to ( I mean, they are estate agents, but their properties are already selling fast and don't see the need in investing further into advertising )
b) a bulk of my letters haven't been delivered ( always a possibility )
c) I'd have to send more than 50 letters to get a single person to show interest ( even though the product I sell isn't available here in UK and from an advertising point of view, I believe it would benefit any property company )
d) I got it all wrong from the start, and just because something works well overseas, doesn't mean it would do well here.
e) my 'presentation' letter isn't good enough, and it should be more 'pushy' and persuasive.

what if I went into their branches and present this product, so they can see it in the flesh, what do you think? I hate persuading people into buying things, but I could put a 5 minute presentation together and just visit them in their offices ( perhaps on a friday, where they're quieter ).

thanks again. please do suggest anything you believe would help, I'm very much open to anything now as I'm starting to believe at the moment I'm way off (marketing wise).

 

[Annoying Donkey]

I didn't try to persuade anybody to buy at this point ) to be honest, I had hoped at least one of them would get in touch, but nothing so far, which leads me to believe:

Stupid question, but did you ask them to get in touch? Did your text raise enough motivation for them to get in touch? Generally a cold contact will need lots of motivation to interrupt their day to call you. And really, you need a series of contacts, rather than one letter. You could try following up with a phone call, to ensure they did receive it and get some feedback. Then you'll know more...

what if I went into their branches and present this product, so they can see it in the flesh, what do you think?

IMHO this would be better. You'll at least get instant feedback. I'd start with people you know. Your local estate agents. Aim to get just one client first.

You could try a "can you help me" approach. Go to one of your local estate agents and ask if you can "try out" your sales pitch. Tell him/her that you don't actually want to sell them anything, but you respect their opinion as prominent members of the local business community and you'd like their feedback. People tend to respond positively to such an approach.

Ideally pick someone influential within the community. If your pitch is good they might be interested in buying, otherwise you'll at least get some feedback. And, with this approach, it's pretty easy to ask why they wouldn't buy, so you can adjust your pitch appropriately.

Once you have a client and you've acheived a positive result, you can then start sending out letters saying "I've done [positive benefit] for xyz agency, would you like me to do this for you too?".

I hate persuading people into buying things

Just as your prospect will hate being sold to. Make it educational. Ask questions that will raise, in their mind, whatever problems your product solves. Then you can explain, in their terms, why your product is the solution... The other advantage of this approach is you might uncover other hot buttons that you hadn't thought of...

 

[locomotion]

The problem that i see from harvesting emails from the web is that the email will be info@ or something similar, so the same as a generic letter to "the manager" instead of the name of the decision maker. This means you running the gauntlet of who is actually going to receive your email or generic letter. My previous role as a manager included vetting anything that came in for the directors and deleting/ binning anything that was not directly important.
Suggest phoning and either getting an appointment to see the decision maker or at the very least getting the name and direct contact email so you can send more information either by letter or email.

 

[Adwords_Guru]

Make sure you comply with the can spam act.

Nothing wrong in principle with scraping emails from the Web. If it's online someone has made it publically available.

 

[CIulian]

thank you all for your contribution! it really helps, and I think I'll go ahead and try a more practical approach, as someone suggested here, e-mails and letters are likely to get binned if they fail to reach the decision makers at the company.

popping in "uninvited" though wouldn't be a smart move, they may be busy at the time and unable to see me, plus the image of me "being there to sell them things" , won't get me off to a right start, so should I e-mail all the agents that I already sent letters to ( roughly 50 ) asking them if they received my letters and if they would be interested in booking a short presentation on a day that suits them when we can discuss the various ways in which their business would benefit from using my product? and if I still don't hear back from at least one, then maybe take into consideration using a professional marketing service ( or at least hire a copy writer to help me with the sales/presentation letter )

thank you all again!

 

[NickGrogan]

Depends how much more time/money you want to waste.

You have to get over the "being there to sell them things" issue first. You are there to sell them something, the letter is to sell them something, so is the email.

If you don't want to "sell them things", leave them alone.

50 letters is a tiny sample, and so it 50 emails. If the letter/email had not clear benefits or call to action, no-one will respond to either.

I suggest you go back to the beginning, call some agencies, explain what you are offering and see if they are interested in buying. Simple and you'll know if you have a good idea within an hour.

 

[CIulian]

I suppose my approach to marketing is a reflection on how I'd prefer to be marketed to.
I am one of those people who does not respond to cold calls, sales people, I never have, never will because they are inconvenient. Even when the product/service would be of interest to me, as I've just been interrupted by an inconvenient phone call, I won't buy it. I called Three yesterday to cancel my internet agreement and the guy was trying to sell me a laptop. If I had seen the offer advertised in their store, and I had time to assimilate the information, weigh the pros and cons, I could have reacted differently.
The ultimate scope for me is for agencies to buy my product, so I can make money. but I think that when you market a product, you should stir curiosity, and allows clients to make their own decision.
I'm just trying to figure out the optimum way for me to start a "dialogue" and stir interest, if I manage to do that without looking like I'm trying to make a sale, the buying decision will follow as well. I could add an incentive to my sales letter, such as "free postage if the purchase in made before..."

 

[NickGrogan]

That's fine, but doesn't really tie in with your current write a letter, email them and then visit them plan.

Perhaps you should be focusing your attention on advertising and PR if that is how you want to sell.

 

[positivesparks]

Hi Clulian
Maybe another idea to try would be to join a couple of Uk Estate Agent groups on Linkedin.com, eg https://www.linkedin.com/groups/Est...rId:1413913791563,tas:estate agents,idx:2-1-4

Once you are a member of a group you can email people via LinkedIn who are also members of that group. Stating you are both group members and that you want to show them a new product, would value their feedback etc might prove a warmer intro?

Good luck!

 

[tombuckland]

My understanding of UK law is that you are free to send relevant emails to company email addresses that are publicly available. You must have permission to send to private addresses and sole traders.

Note however, that cold emails are about the poorest way to prospect - most will be deleted without reading. Send a letter or get on the phone.

Agree direct mailings work about 1000% times better.
But if you follow your email up with a call then you might be okay.
Best scenario: Direct mail - followed up by a call, you might get some good conversions then.

 

[Aaron - Targets Located]

Rather than gathering the generic contact details online i would suggest purchasing details from a list owner. this way you can get the details of a senior decision maker and contact them directly. you can also specify several different variables about the companies you are targeting such as turnover etc. this way you can target companies who are more likely to purchase your product.

Most importantly this method would allow you to contact companies who have opted in to this type of contact.

 

[garyk]

Make sure you comply with the can spam act.

That is US legislation, not UK.

 

[Annoying Donkey]

That is US legislation, not UK.

There is a UK equivalent and most western countries have equivalent legislation.

 

[capitalvirtual]

Is there a service which is fully managed? From obtaining suitable lists to sending and monitoring emails? If anyone knows please do let us all know.

 

[Mike W]

Is there a service which is fully managed? From obtaining suitable lists to sending and monitoring emails? If anyone knows please do let us all know.

That's precisely the kind of service I provide. The 'suitability' of the list depends on your target market. Corporate is straightforward, domestic isn't. If I can be of any help, feel free to contact me.

 

[Databroker]

Wow - there are some really alarming answers to this question amongst some really good advice. It must be tricky to filter the noise. I cannot go through this without referencing what Adwords guru said:

"Nothing wrong in principle with scraping emails from the Web. If it's online someone has made it publically available"

Wow - please do not believe this. Scraping emails is about the lowest of the low when it comes to marketing data and should be avoided like the plague. Expect brand damage and honey pot situations that will get your mail server justifiably blacklisted. When someone puts their business email online, they are doing it to receive inbound enquiries, not sales emails so that fact that its publicly available is irrelevant. It would still be illegal to email to it without permission if it was not for a Ltd company. ( e.g. - a sole trader or a consumer email ).

The laws are that you must put an unsubscribe on your b2b email communications and that permission is required unless ltd company - then an opt-out applies. The law though is not ethics and good practice, where you should have permission to email anyone. Above that is the reality of your situation and one that people should be careful about offering carte blanche advice such as "do this - it works better".

Your target market will have preferences for their marketing - ask them and not us. Any contact channel is not "better" than another as the "correct" mix depends on your target market. Yes, we can all advise on similar cases and success stories but remember that the best thing to do is test and learn with your message. 50 letters will not get a large response. The average cold DM response is 1% so you have to think and do more to raise your mailing above the rest. Of course, if the data is not correct, then it will fail, period. Optimise your conversion through testing.

It's also worth noting balance. Some people on these forums hate emails, calls, letters and will offer negativity - e.g. they don't work on me so they don't work full stop. This is not true and there are thousands of successful direct marketing campaigns happening today generating fantastic return. Market for the positive responders and not for the ones that refuse to engage whatever the situation. Many times, I have purchased from cold letters, emails and calls had I needed the service. Right message at the right time to the right people.

If you need any help with marketing data or direct marketing then our team can help, please give us a shout.

John

 

[MBPH]

Databroker, that's great advise! I do b2c cold calls, well I say cold calls more warm calls. We'll do a big flyer or postcard drop in a area(s). The flyer will have a direct message on it i.e service plans, however I offer say for example a prize draw to win a years worth of cover and a free boiler service on the premium package worth £360. All the person has to do then is text a code, Once the code is received we ask for email and name. This way we have the persons email address name and phone number that goes in to the database for future marketing. This is effective because the person has raised there hands and by entering the competition have shown to be a potential customer. Once the prize is drawn we get a picture of the winner to put on future marketing material. We then call all the entrants to explain they were unlucky, but they have still receive a prize (say a bar of chocolate. We then send the prize out with more direct marketing material to get a sale. The people who don't sign up then get a call and then the hard sell begins, they are going to engage with you because after all they have received a gift from you. Back to the original point cold calling works but you need to form a relationship. How many women do you know who put out on the first night. A few but not the majority lol. A crude example but cold calling is exactly the same. Maybe 1% will buy from a phone call but form a relationship and that % will go up dramatically. With cold calls you need to have some training. You need to get the "they think I'm trying to sell then something" crap out of ya head because you are there to sell them something. Your trying to be a salesperson who doesn't sell anything. Your destined to fail, until you change your mindset