I saw Mickey Alam Khan’s article on 21st Century’s new StickEmail product (“21st Century Backs Futuristic E-Mail,” Jan. 17). Unfortunately, there are a lot of e-mail products in the low price point market (less than $1,000/month cost) that all do the same thing. I’m concerned that these products are part of the spam problem. Not because the companies that use them are spammers, but rather because they lack sophisticated functionality to help corporate marketers avoid acting like spammers.
I believe that if e-mail marketers and direct marketers in general are going to improve their image with consumers, they have to stop using cheap bulk e-mail blasters and start using next generation e-mail marketing platforms that offer visibility to customer data using “CRM-like” data modeling, e-mail frequency control features, global suppression and user preference management features.
I think it is important that DM News and its readers start to understand the different levels of e-mail marketing products. It is important to understand why StickEmail costs $75 a month and why our average customer spends more than $50,000 a year. If direct marketers are going to improve their image, they need to understand this.
Jason McNamara, CEO, Dynamics Direct Inc.
