• by Paul Gough , October 23, 2003

When pondering the anti-spam bill that's winding its way through Congress, a line from Walt Kelly's seminal comic strip Pogo comes to mind.

"We have met the enemy, and he is us."

E-mail marketers might want to take that lesson to heart when considering the future of their business, especially if the federal government's efforts to "can spam" are successful. The Senate took a big step forward Wednesday night when it voted 97-0 to step up enforcement against spam. There is still a ways to go before Congress passes a final bill but early indications are that the feds are getting serious about spam.

And that's great news, not only for consumers but also for the marketers who are finding their legitimate business channel under threat from what seems like millions of telemarketers. While it might have been the most important thing the Senate did Wednesday, no one ought to have any illusions that an anti-spam bill is going to solve all consumer complaints about e-mail.

'Cause it won't.

That's not going to happen until legitimate e-mail marketers hear what consumers are saying. According to a study by DoubleClick released at the Direct Marketing Association's annual conference a few weeks ago, consumers think spam's a big problem. They're using bulk folders, tuning filters and even using multiple e-mail accounts to avoid it. There's also a feeling among consumers that they don't mind getting the occasional e-mail from companies they do business with.

As long as you don't send too much.

DoubleClick warns that there's a danger in drowning consumers in e-mail that, even when it's permission-based, could annoy and eventually kill the online relationship. Or as a DoubleClick executive told MediaDailyNews:

"They're getting tons of offers and that's really bothering them," he said.

Don't think that can happen? Look at your own e-mail box. How many e-mail offers do you pay attention to? And you're in the business.

The most valuable thing a consumer has, even more than discretionary income, is time. There's never enough of it in the day. And if a consumer thinks a company is wasting it, you can be sure that it will damage the attention to the e-mail, damage your sales, and damage your brand.

Just because it's cheap, doesn't mean it's good. Just because a marketer can send a lot of e-mail doesn't mean he should.

Less is more.

Or else e-mail marketers will discover that, if the anti-spam registry becomes law that their problems have only just begun.

--Paul J. Gough