slamboard

I am not an expert in the field of email marketing. In fact, I don’t think I have ever done anything that could even be loosely defined as email marketing. I guess I should have assumed that its continued prevalence was an accurate indication of its continued importance. Effective email marketing has nothing to do with spam. If you think about how you interact with spam, you can pretty much conclude that it is ineffective.

Don’t be fooled by the unassuming name,software projects is in the business of taking startup companies and getting them to #1 on Google. Well, that’s a bit of an oversimplification but I got it straight from one of their testimonials.

Something that they are really proud of is their Email Marketing API. I think that many of us have lost sight of the fact that email is still on of the most effective marketing tools on the Internet. That is understandable given the fact that our inboxes are overflowing with junk from people that are doing it WRONG. One great thing about email marketing is the very MEASURABLE return on investment. You have to also consider the fact that you don’t have to invest much capital into an email campaign compared to some other sales generating efforts.

Software Projects has an API that allows you to effectively manage bounces and unsubscribes. It also helps you to manage groups and the e-mail addresses that are contained within them. You can easily trigger mass e-mails and retrieve reporting data. Generating leads and retaining customers are typical business goals that can be achieved with effective email marketing.

The best way to avoid ending up in the spam box is to not be spam. Welcome to oversimplification number two

Actually, simplification seems to be one of the main goals of Software Projects. They have integrated 81 different services into one management tool for internet marketers. They have a free trial for their services.

I am spreading the word about an incident involving some very egregious customer service on the part of Primus. My friend’s father was on vacation in the Dominican Republic when he had a medical emergency that required surgery. His departure from that country was delayed and his son flew in from Canada to assist him. This unexpected adverse event required an unusual amount of telephone usage and a exorbitant amount of roaming charges. Shortly after this 75 year old man finally returned to Canada, his telecommunications provider contacted him about the abnormal charges and demanded IMMEDIATE payment.

His bill was not due and he insisted that he wanted to see the bill before he made any payment. Almost immediately after this exchange, they cut off his mobile service, his land line telephone service and his internet service. That’s mean. He made no indication that he was unable or unwilling to pay his bill, he simply wanted to see it in black and white first.

I am not going to make the argument that they can’t do this. They say in careful language on their TOS that they can. Here is the specific statement that seem to cover this situation:

I have to wonder if they have a policy of pulling this crap on customers that incur large bills because they are a group that is most likely to leave for another carrier. They may want to get that suspension fee before the customers cancel on their own. Cutting off a 75 year old man’s phone service without notice is not something that most of us would do simply because we can.

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I doubt that there is anyone reading this post who can’t point to a moment when they experienced really bad customer service. I am pretty sure that we all told someone about it, too.

The last word in customer service is a slogan being used by a site called MeasuredUp.com where users can leave reviews of customer service experiences. I am glad to see sites like this. They are a great incentive for companies to try harder to provide good customer service. I think I recall a customer service instructor telling me that when you make a customer angry, they will typically badmouth you to 8-12 people in person. A site like MeasuredUp.com gives these PO’d people a lot more reach. I am going to come to the defense of the slagged companies just a little bit and advise people to moderate their opinions a little bit. Some of the criticism might be exaggerated a little bit. I would also be leery of any extremely positive reviews as well. If you are like me, you are able to reconize the kind of stuff that you just can’t make up.