We don't get permission, we borrow it

Most marketers understand the need to get permission from someone before adding their address to an email list.

But our choice of words does us a disservice. We don't get permission. We borrow it. Subscribers don't give permission. They lend it.

When someone submits their email address and ticks the "send me email" box, they're not saying "you have my permission to send me emails."

What they're saying is "you have my permission to send me emails as long as you keep sending me the kind of emails I want...with relevant content...at acceptable intervals."

As soon as you break the terms of this permission loan, they withdraw that permission. With permission withdrawn, your emails become "legal spam." And nobody wants to be thought of as spam.

More on permission | Tags: email marketing, permission marketing

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