Is spamming thousands of people really the best way to raise campaign funds? Is it a little creepy getting an email from a candidate you’ve never heard from before, asking you to click a link and donate? Just because political spam is legal doesn’t make it right—or even welcome—to the recipient.
This is the second or third political campaign email I’ve received this week. The messages come to an email address that I rarely use or check. At some point in the past, I must have used that address to register for a candidate’s or organization’s email list. Either way, that email address is now being circulated to a number of political campaigns, which send me campaign donation requests.
While I’m personally not bothered by the messages, most people really don’t like spam, political or otherwise. Here are some thoughts on these unsolicited messages:
1) The campaigns either bought or borrowed my address from another campaign or organization. Unfortunately, I can’t tell where. Usually, when I sign up for a newsletter, I use the domain of the list’s website as my name. That way, if I get spam from another site using the other website as my name, I can tell who ‘sold me out’.
2) The candidates don’t care enough to actually keep me in the loop about the campaign. Of the recent messages I’ve received, they’ve all been one-time requests for money, and none of them followed up with further news. It’s nice to feel a connection there.
3) All the campaigns that have sent me this political spam are from out-of-state. Does this really work, asking out-of-state people for political donations? I guess with the cost of sending bulk email, it doesn’t hurt to ask everyone, everywhere, for a few dollars. Still, I think it annoys more people than inspires anyone to open their wallets.
4) All the messages have unsubscribe links. I don’t bother because opting out of specific lists won’t help me avoid receiving new messages if a larger organization has harvested my email address and distributed it.
5) If enough people mark these messages as ‘spam’ in their inbox, many email services will shut down the list (and possibly the sender’s account). It seems risky to send bulk emails to thousands of people who do not have a connection with the campaign.
What about CAN-SPAM?
The CAN-SPAM Act covers only e-mails promoting commercial products or services. Political campaigns are exempt. However, our advice to campaigns is to send email messages only to people who have specifically requested to be contacted. Period.
As political campaigning online continues to grow, so will the problem of political spam. For now, I’m just glad they don’t have my primary address.
This is the second or third political campaign email I’ve received this month. The messages come to an email address that I rarely use or check. At some point in the past, I must have used that address to register for a candidate’s or organization’s email list. Either way, that email address is now being circulated to a number of political campaigns, which send me campaign donation requests.
While I’m personally not bothered by the messages, most people really don’t like spam, political or otherwise. Here are some thoughts on these unsolicited messages:
1) The campaigns either bought or borrowed my address from another campaign or organization. Unfortunately, I can’t tell where. Usually, when I sign up for a newsletter, I use the domain of the list’s website as my name. That way, if I get spam from another site using the other website as my name, I can tell who ‘sold me out’.
2) The candidates don’t care enough to actually keep me in the loop about the campaign. Of the recent messages I’ve received, they’ve all been one-time requests for money, and none of them followed up with further news. It’s nice to feel a connection there.
3) All the campaigns that have sent me this political spam are from out-of-state. Does this really work, asking out-of-state people for political donations? I guess with the cost of sending bulk email, it doesn’t hurt to ask everyone, everywhere, for a few dollars. Still, I think it annoys more people than inspires anyone to open their wallets.
4) All the messages have unsubscribe links. I don’t bother because opting out of specific lists won’t help me avoid receiving new messages if a larger organization has harvested my email address and distributed it.
5) If enough people mark these messages as ‘spam’ in their inbox, many email services will shut down the list (and possibly the sender’s account). It seems risky to send bulk emails to thousands of people who do not have a connection with the campaign.
What about CAN-SPAM?
The CAN-SPAM Act covers only e-mails promoting commercial products or services. Political campaigns are exempt. However, our advice to campaigns is to send email messages only to people who have specifically requested to be contacted. Period.
As political campaigning online continues to grow, so will the problem of political spam. For now, I’m just glad they don’t have my primary address.
For fundraising and campaign correspondence ideas, check out our Political Letter Templates. (Just don’t use them for political spam!)
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Who, What and Where of Your Campaign Site Visitors »
Tags: political campaign letters
