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It’s tough enough dealing with all the spam that still gets through all the filters, not to mention the spam from my own company. You know, those emails telling you your password has been successfully updated? More than a little disconcerting, huh?
However, a couple of weeks ago, I had to deal with something that I thought at this stage of the game was a thing of the past.
It all started out innocently enough in the form of an email invitation to the annual holiday gathering of a professional group, supposedly composed of professionals in computing-related positions in their companies.
The problem was that the sender chose to send from her Outlook email client and instead of BCC-ing the recipients, the same general “contacts@ xyz.org” email address used for the “To” list was also the one used for “Reply To.”
Are you getting the picture?
In the course of one afternoon, people hit Reply to request removal from the list and, of course, each message went to the entire list which precipitated subsequent flurries of complaints and unsubscribes,…all to the entire list.
Considering these are supposed to be people working in technology-related positions, you’d think they’d notice the address and do a little research to find the appropriate address. Considering this is an organization for technology professionals, you’d think they’d have used something other than a regular email client to send out a mass invitation. Then, finally, you’d think the sender would have just ‘fessed up and admitted the mistake, rather than making a lame excuse blaming the technology.
All in all, pretty aggravating, but in the end it WAS just a few hours and then, the emails petered out and people got back to what they were doing before their inboxes were assaulted with all these unnecessary, annoying emails.
On the other hand, it was probably a very long afternoon for the professional association that will have residual effects for a very long time. Countless people unsubscribed, never to return to the list or the organization. They lost months, if not years of building membership and good will.
Before you hit Send on that email invitation to the holiday parties, ask yourself how much your business relationships are worth to the success of your company.
However, a couple of weeks ago, I had to deal with something that I thought at this stage of the game was a thing of the past.
It all started out innocently enough in the form of an email invitation to the annual holiday gathering of a professional group, supposedly composed of professionals in computing-related positions in their companies.
The problem was that the sender chose to send from her Outlook email client and instead of BCC-ing the recipients, the same general “contacts@ xyz.org” email address used for the “To” list was also the one used for “Reply To.”
Are you getting the picture?
In the course of one afternoon, people hit Reply to request removal from the list and, of course, each message went to the entire list which precipitated subsequent flurries of complaints and unsubscribes,…all to the entire list.
Considering these are supposed to be people working in technology-related positions, you’d think they’d notice the address and do a little research to find the appropriate address. Considering this is an organization for technology professionals, you’d think they’d have used something other than a regular email client to send out a mass invitation. Then, finally, you’d think the sender would have just ‘fessed up and admitted the mistake, rather than making a lame excuse blaming the technology.
All in all, pretty aggravating, but in the end it WAS just a few hours and then, the emails petered out and people got back to what they were doing before their inboxes were assaulted with all these unnecessary, annoying emails.
On the other hand, it was probably a very long afternoon for the professional association that will have residual effects for a very long time. Countless people unsubscribed, never to return to the list or the organization. They lost months, if not years of building membership and good will.
Before you hit Send on that email invitation to the holiday parties, ask yourself how much your business relationships are worth to the success of your company.
posted by Lydia Sugarman at
Thursday, December 01, 2005
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