Permission is dead! Long live permission!
Latest posts | Feed | By Mark Brownlow on March 25, 2008
Email marketers used to talk a lot about different levels of permission. This refers to the means by which an email address was obtained.The lowest level of permission is where the subscriber has no idea their address is being added to a list...
"Unless they tell us otherwise, we'll assume they're happy to be on the list"
The highest level of permission is where the address owner actively confirms their explicit request to be added to a list...
"We'll only start sending you email if you sign-up twice"
For a proper overview of the different permission levels, read this post by Dennis Malaspina.
In recent months, much has been made (rightly) about the role of reputation, recognition, relevance and other things beginning with R in determining deliverability and general email success.
As a result, permission has been pushed and shoved out the way a little and is looking a little sad and neglected in the corner.
Time perhaps for a quick reminder on the value of permission, because it's the foundation on which many of the key elements of a successful email program are based.
Advantages of high levels of permission:
Higher permission standards require more commitment from the subscriber to activate the sign-up, in turn meaning...
1. Fewer spam complaints after the initial emails (they're more likely to remember they signed up)
2. Better recognition for your emails (subscribers are more likely to be looking for and recognising your email)
3. A better match between what you send and what they want (which means better responses and fewer spam complaints)
In addition, the highest levels of permission mean less typos, dead addresses, spam traps etc. get into your email database, all of which can impact negatively on your deliverability.
And if you do attract the unwelcome attention of blacklists and anti-spam technology, you will get a more sympathetic ear to your plight if you can demonstrate that you adhere to high permission standards.
Disadvantages of high levels of permission:
1. You get a smaller list. All things being equal, the more commitment you require for the sign-up, the less people complete the process. Despite the advantages outlined above, this issue alone leads to permission compromises. Especially if performance reviews depend on list sizes.
(Kevin Hillstrom is always very good at pointing out the realities of email marketing life in a less-than-perfect organisational world. See this post, for example.)
So permission may not get the press it once did, but as the above makes clear, its role is undiminished.
Previous generations of email marketers looked at permission as the main factor determining the success of their efforts.
Today, permission should be seen as an important factor that gets you a good place on the starting grid. It's the first link in the chain of email success. But what you do with that permission is at least as critical.
A high level of permission is useless if you wait six months to send the first email. Or if you fail to send relevant content, etc. etc. As we said before, permission is a loan and no longer a gift.
Further reading:
Permission, relevancy and the relevancy of permission
More on permission | Tags: permission email, opt-in email marketing, double opt-in, confirmed opt-in
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2 Comments:
Hi Mark,
While I completely agree with your column, and I am a strong believer in permission based marketing, I think the time has come to move beyond permission to "meaningful choice".
Readers want control, and will exercise it with tools provided either by the marketers or by the email client they use to read with.
Programs that set expectations up front, still have to allow for readers to change their minds and manage their subscriptions well after the opt-in.
By 
stefan, on
25 March, 2008
Yep, valid point Stefan, thanks. This gels well with the idea that permission alone is no longer enough in the modern email marketing world.
By Mark Brownlow - Email Marketing Reports, on
26 March, 2008
