I understand that I shocked someone the other week by purchasing a service that I had seen advertised in a spam email that was going the rounds. I feel justified ... I didn't purchase off the spammer, but rather the spam reminded me of a service that was available and I took the reminder to research the options and buy elsewhere. Even if the spammer's offer had been competitive, I don't think for a moment I would have wanted to encourage him, so I would have been prepared to spend a little more to go to a company who's marketing I was comfortable with. Good news - in this case, our new "lo call" alternative phone numbers cost us a fraction of what the spam ad site offered.

I understand that 1 in 10 people has responded to Spam at one time or another. I'm not sure where that statistic came from, but I heard it quoted yesterday on the BBC's technology update show; I suspect it's not far from the mark. And it's why spammers keep on doing it.

Many years ago, before spam was common place, I did an experiment; I sent out 33 unsolicited emails, to carefully targeted recipients who's email addresses I had found on line, telling them about our services. In those days, bulk unsolicited email was frowned upon but not illegal in any way, and I wanted to get a feel for how people would react. I got 2 or 3 "snottygrams" - people who didn't appreciate being contacted in this way and let me know it. And I got 4 or 5 good contacts ... and that 15% positive response rate is truely astonishing for a marketing campaign. I'm NOT advocating that you spam these days; I have never done it again (and I would not), but I present it to you as a piece of evidence that helps show why it's done.
(written 2005-03-27 06:55:55)

 A213 - Web Application Deployment - Commercial and Legal Aspects
G902 - Well House Consultants - Web site techniques, utility and visibility

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This is a page archived from The Horse's Mouth at http://www.wellho.net/horse/ - the diary and writings of Graham Ellis. Every attempt was made to provide current information at the time the page was written, but things do move forward in our business - new software releases, price changes, new techniques. Please check back via our main site for current courses, prices, versions, etc - any mention of a price in "The Horse's Mouth" cannot be taken as an offer to supply at that price.

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