Being in internet marketing for several years I’ve built a mailing list. In fact, I’ve built several. And like many I’ve included Tell-A-Friend scripts on some of my pages so those who wanted to share the page could do it easily. However, while both of these are acceptable and widely used internet marketing techniques there is 1 thing about them that really upsets me. Want to know what it is?
It’s marketers who force you to use their Tell-A-Friend script in order to get the information or product they’ve been offering. You see, this last week I went to a page offering information from very well know internet marketer and gladly entered my name and email address to access the information since I’ve been a follower of this man for several years and have learned a lot from him. However, my information was not enough! After I freely gave my information he sent me to a page that offered only part of what was promised and then required I enter the names and email address of at least 3 friends before I could access to the rest. “Sorry Charlie,” but I don’t give out personal information for my friends without permission and since I didn’t have their permission and he made no promise that it would be a 1 time mailing – I was stopped from getting the information I wanted. (BTW, Charlie is not the marketer’s name.)
Now I am not going to mention the name of the internet marketer who employed this method of getting the names and email address of unsuspecting people. I’ll just say that he’s 1 of the first successful internet marketers who has shared his information on internet marketing through ebooks and membership sites for many years. And although he’s a respected legend in the internet marketing world, he is not the 1 who thought up this method of forcing people to divulge the private information of others in order to gain the information promised. Another well known and successful person came up with the idea and was able to share it with enough people to make it gain in popularity which in turn made it seem acceptable.
But enough is enough!
Forcing people to give out information for friends is NOT acceptable. It’s a “Black Hat” method of getting the names and email address to send offers. When I give out my information I’ve made the choice to accept their mailings. If I want to tell my friends about the information, I can either email them myself or I may opt to use a Tell-A-Friend script if there’s a promise that it’s a 1 time mailing and my friends information will not be added to any list. I do not have the right to add my friend’s email address to anyone’s list! Don’t you agree?
Will I continue to get mailings from marketers who use this tactic? It depends on what their mailings have to offer. If they provide some good information then I will stay on their lists at least for awhile. If however, all they do is send me back to the page where I must give out my friends’ information then, no, I’ll be unsubscribing very quickly. I plan to use my name on their list as a way of voting. I’ll vote yes if they provide good information and I’ll vote no if all they’re doing is using me to get a larger list.
To Your Success,
Susan
FriendsWhoCare
