The following is part one of a multi-part series on “The Naughty Words of Email Marketing.” Feel free to chime in through comments or through Twitter.
Courtesy of http://simfonik.com/2008/11/oscar-da-grouch-live-at-blast
Blast is the naughtiest word in email marketing.
I don’t think I’ll have many in the email marketing space who would disagree with me on this point. In fact, “blast” has been the subject of many a blog post about its general evilness and lack of thought about the recipients. I’m not really treading new ground except maybe to finally come out and say that first sentence.
The discussion around the naughtiness of the word “Blast” (as prefaced in last night’s entry) began on Twitter. I’m putting it down now.
Here are my reasons why “Blast” is naughty:
Blast is naughty because as I said, email marketing is about communication. It’s also about creating and nurturing a relationship with your customer. Ideally, it’s one-to-one communication. Therefore, language is everything. What does blast connote to me?
- Removing the human elements of an email message
- Not caring about what you send a customer (NO relevance)
- Not caring about the time and intellect of your customers (NO respect for your subscriber)
Let’s face it. There’s nothing in my mind that’s positive about saying you’re going to send an email blast. There’s nothing personal about it, either. So why does the word still have relevance? Why do some of the so-called “experts” in email marketing still use the word–heck, even promote it?
Here are what some of the other “Email Snobs” in the world think of the word “Blast”:
DJ Waldow, in his “Petition to Ban the Phrase ‘Email Blast,’” wrote:
It pains me every time I hear, read, or even think about the word “blast” following email. Who cares, it’s just a phrase, right? Wrong.
“Email Blast” sends the wrong message about email marketing. It is impersonal and cold. I envision a robot sitting at a laptop counting down – 3….2…1… (Email) Blast! It implies a message that is sent to the entire house file — no segmentation, no targeting, with no thought if subscribers actually want to read your message.
Loren McDonald, in his “Attack of the Killer Bs,” had this to say:
Blast: I frequently hear otherwise intelligent marketers refer to “sending out an email blast” — as if email marketing required no strategy or thinking. Just “get the blast out.” A blast has a lot of power behind it, and the message goes far and wide, but the target is vague and undefined.
Mathew Patterson, in “Email as conversation, not invasion,” wrote:
Have you heard your clients talk about “email blasts” and “mail shots”? Sounds less like we are emailing our subscribers, and more like we are declaring war on them! The more we see our audience as passive receivers of a mass message, the less likely we are to think about what works best for them instead of us. Email is such a personal medium, at least on the receiving end, and it’s a dreadful waste of that intimacy to just throw out the same message to everyone.
Justin Premick, with “Email Marketing: Not Such a Blast,” gave his opinion as well:
Terms like “blast” are dangerous, not only because they make you sound like a spammer, but also because their repeated use can influence how you view your subscribers and campaigns. Words like “email blast” to describe campaigns suggest the sender doesn’t see subscribers as people, but rather as targets to shoot offers at unit they score a hit.
What are your opinions on the matter?
Chime in. Join the discussion. Nothing gets changed unless we all acknowledge that “Blast” is an evil, sadistic, awful in the email marketing dictionary.
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
← Previous Comments
“I’m havin’ a blast!” is used by people having a good time, right? Don’t get too hung up on the word, really. They tend to get so overused that people don’t really *mean* whatever sort of implied ‘subscribers are targets’ subtext you think is being communicated. Basically you’re taking offense on behalf of people who don’t really know they should be offended.
So what’s a better word? Needs to be a short, one syllable word to replace ‘blast’ and ‘shot’ without the negative connotations you seem to read in to it. “send”? People “send” individual mails, not thousands at a time. The word “blast” is ingrained in to generations of marketers, and you can’t “eliminate” it – it has a real and useful meaning to them. Replace it with something better and they’ll probably pick up on it.
Personally, I’ve hated the term “surf” since I first heard it in 1995. And I hate “www” as well too. “web” would have been better.
Michael–thanks for the comment. Your arguments are valid in terms of the subscriber. You’re right, the subscriber doesn’t know that email marketers are calling the messages they receive “blasts.” But I can pretty well guess that these “blasts” are not personalized.
I think the point you’re missing is that as long as we–the email marketer–allows a word like “blast” to still have relevance (not to the subscriber, of course), a direct mail spam-esque approach to email will continue to be pervasive across the space.
Email is not direct mail. “Blast” therefore should not be in the email marketing vocabulary. It’s about creating a nurturing relationship, something that is not created when you send everyone the same message.
I’m certainly not saying that I’m perfect, or that the mass email “blast” won’t continue to be used. But best practices and better email marketing demand that the word be abolished at least from the practitioner point of view.
How about just saying, “I’m sending out an email CAMPAIGN?”
Simple, no?
dj
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DJ Waldow
Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory
@djwaldow
DJ–Simple works for me. Campaign in my mind also means there’s some intent and forethought put into the messaging as well.
Campaign works for me, I might also suggest “communication” to replace “blast.” Because, really, that’s what you should be trying to accomplish—an actual communication that holds some value as opposed to an “eyes-closed-cross-your-fingers” approach.
People seem to sometimes forget that their singular “mailing list” is actually comprised of 1000s of subscribers. Sending the same exact message to all of those individuals as if they were the same person is a waste of email marketing’s potential…it’s like buying a brand new Mac because you want to play solitaire…
Dave–Excellent point! Love the Mac for solitaire analogy.
Great stuff guys! Better terms? Depends on who you are and type of email program, but can include:
- campaign
- newsletter
- communication
- alert
- message
Dave, I respectfully disagree with you on the language and use aspect. I think it makes a huge difference. The use of pejorative terms actually embodies a lack of knowledge and respect for the issue at hand.
A great example is when referring to someone’s race. There are terms that are not acceptable today, that may have been used in the 50′s for example. When someone uses those terms today it reflects an underlying lack of respect for that race, lack of understanding or caring about racial differences and sensitivities – and often (not always) embodies a level of racism in the person.
Now I don’t mean to convey that the use of “blast” anyway compares to racial terms, but my point simply is that I believe the issue is the same. If you can get someone to understand why their use of language is inappropriate, it then opens up dialog to get at the underlying issue.
Keep up the dialog.
Loren
Loren,
I said that?
Pretty sure Loren met to reference Michael (not Dave) in his “mini-rant.”
DJ Waldow
Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory
@djwaldow
DJ – since we are talking language here: What constitutes “mini” and when do blog comments become a “rant”?
Personally, I find the use of the term “rant” offensive.
Loren
Loren –
Sorry to offend. I hope you know me well enough to know that I would never intentionally do anything be offensive, especially towards you! Not at all. Sorry!
Been a long day, longer week. It was just a term – one that I will do my best to avoid now that I know it is offensive to you.
Hugs, not drugs.
DJ Waldow
Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory
@djwaldow
Dave – apologies – yes as DJ pointed out, I meant Michael.
I don’t find the term “rant” offensive, but I do think it has a connotation of a negative tone in the message being put out. You rave when you’re positive; you rant when you’re upset or negative about something.
What about in the middle?
- Explanation?
- Pontification? (though could adopt a negative connotation)
- Breakdown?
- Rendition?
Haha, some much about semantics here. But that’s the point. Email is about how you communicate one-to-one, so it’s important to know what the words denote and connote.
My wife just read the post and said:
“As someone not involved at all in email marketing, a ‘blast’ is something to me that I can ignore.”
What is it that Ogilvy says? “The customer is not a moron, she’s your wife.”
Yep, there’s your answer right there.
Scott – You (er, your wife) nailed it. Something you can ignore is the best characterization yet.
Don’t ignore your wife this weekend.
Loren
Scott/DJ,
Well I was mostly joking about being “offended” – but that was my point really. Words and context DO matter. While I wasn’t offended, I did perceive DJ’s comment as implying something negative about my comments – they were too strong, off target, took too long to get the point across, etc.
Back to blast – “having a blast” is quite positive; “sending a blast” or “blasting someone” – by most standards is a negative.
I think I would categorize these comments as:
- elaboration
- clarification
- nonsense
Cheers folks.
Loren
I agree. Use of the word “blast” is a giveaway for a general lack of understanding of effective email marketing. Blasts greatly increase your chances of being non-relevant, filtered, blocked, ignored, instantly deleted, or blacklisted. Blasts kill your reputation as a trusted email sender. Many well intentioned marketers take a “blast” larger-funnel-cross-our-fingers email marketing approach to their own detriment. http://www.twitter.com/GregBogdan
There are a lot of words I see used in the context of sales and marketing that just make me cringe. Primarily because they continue the metaphor of sales and marketing as take no prisoners war on your competition and customers as “spoils of war.” Biggest offenders in addition to “blast”
- Explode
- Massive
- Shock
- Skyrocket
- Dominate
- Segment
- Elite
I think of marketing as building a trust-based relationship. This vocabulary sounds more like a military campaign. Ugh.
Judy,
Agreed. Dylan Boyd from eROI wrote a great post about why we use war words in email. A great summation there.
http://theemailwars.com/2009/09/10/why-we-use-war-words-to-describe-email/
Thanks for the comment!
Who wants to get blasted anyway? To me, the word “blast” implies destruction and random distribution of the elements. On the contrary, effective communication should be constructive, delivered with targeted intention and with congruity.
The use of such terms shows the general reluctance of organizations (or more specifically marketing teams) to spend time on thinking-through email campaigns. Very often, people use Email Marketing in a cavalier manner as if it were a ‘fad’ or ‘flavour of the season’ kinda thing. For some clients i know, it is something that Headquarters has mandated or budgeted for. The fact remains, at least in a evolving market like India where i come from, marketing hasn’t REALLY understood the power of email marketing when done well.
Organisations that understand permission marketing or have a very high level of customer-service orientation do not tend to use such dehumanised words.
Good point. I feel the same way about the word “spin.” To many outside of marketing “spin” is synonymous with “lie.”
I also dislike the word “campaign” when referring to marketing efforts. It sounds like a short-lived or one-time event. In reality all of your marketing should be synergistic and although we might actually run “campaigns” within a broader effort, they need to be seen as part of the bigger picture.
Melissa
Melissa,
Couldn’t agree more with you on seeing campaigns as part of the bigger picture. I’ve been giving a lot of thought to how email needs to be seen outside of the vacuum and how it’s viewed in the larger picture of the relationship with your customer (prospective, current, former, etc.).
Thanks for the comment!
It strikes me that if you look at your marketing within the context of the core values of your company, a lot of the language we’re discussing would go away.
Even if it’s unintentional, our language, is interpreted by the public as reflecting what we really value.
You can be have the warmest, fuzziest mission statement in the world but marketing that targets, gets, blasts, your customers and competitors tells me you’re a wolf in cuddly ducky suite.
Judy,
Absolutely agree with you. Language matters. Not just in the board room, or on your website, but through every outlet and in every mind in your organization. The abolition of the word “Blast” starts with the email marketers and goes on from there.
It’s time to be an advocate for proper language and respect for all your stakeholders.
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