Marketers must be careful not to ''spam'' customers

Marketers must be careful to send only relevant emails to their customers.

That is according to E-consultancy, which said that companies must ensure that they do not email people unless they have expressly given their permission to receive them.

Linus Gregoriadis, head of research for the website, said that unsolicited electronic communication sent to recipients "constitutes spam".

He pointed out: "It is foolhardy for a company to send out spam emails because it is illegal and also because it is damaging for a brand to be associated with this practice".

Mr Gregoriadis went on to say that, while some companies contact consumers who have opted in to receive electronic communication from third parties, "marketers typically have better returns when they are emailing people within their own organically grown database.

"These people are more likely to be interested."

He recommended that customer segmentation, which identifies contacts by their interests, profile and previous behaviour, was a good way to target customers.

"If people repeatedly receive unwanted and irrelevant emails then they will switch off mentally, unsubscribe and, at worst, report email as spam," he warned.

© Adfero Ltd