| Twenty years ago, no one could have predicted how | | | | nothing worse than spotting a mistake AFTER you've |
| the internet and the use of Email have revolutionized | | | | just clicked that button to send an email to 300 |
| the way that recruiters recruit today. It's no longer a | | | | people! Be sure to away from lingo and acronyms |
| question of whether or not to use the technology; | | | | related to recruiting in your writing too. Keep a |
| it's a question of using the technology effectively to | | | | professional tenor in all email correspondence. |
| help your business. One of the biggest growth | | | | The Ugly |
| industries over the last ten year has been firms | | | | Let's face it. You're not the only one out there |
| specializing in mass email marketing. They make it | | | | sending emails to your customer base. On any given |
| simple. Send them your list, send them what you | | | | day between 81% and 88% of all emails world wide |
| want to email out and they do the rest. This may be | | | | are spam and the message you just sent out may |
| all well and good for large marketing campaigns but | | | | be considered to be part of that cesspool. If your |
| these firms are still a pricey and time consuming | | | | message doesn't get through to your recipient, all of |
| option for the every day recruiter that merely wants | | | | your efforts are for nothing. |
| to let applicants in his database know that he's got a | | | | Worse than having a bad email address, which you |
| new job to fill. | | | | find out right away, your email may be blocked and |
| Luckily, most recruiting software has jumped on the | | | | you may never know it. Email providers and mail |
| bandwagon of providing embedded or associated | | | | server managers are constantly trying to get ahead |
| software options for doing mass mailings straight | | | | of the curve by blocking unwanted, malicious or virus |
| from your database. So now instead of a long and | | | | laden emails. Because of the load it puts on email |
| expensive process to send out mass quantities of | | | | servers world-wide, when an email is blocked as |
| emails at a time, it's merely the click of a couple of | | | | potential spam, nothing gets back to the sender |
| buttons and you can reach thousands of people with | | | | telling you that you've been blocked. |
| your message. But now the question is - is this a | | | | If you do get blocked it's possible to have your |
| good idea? | | | | entire company's email blocked if you wind up on one |
| If you haven't already embarked on the email | | | | of the spam lists. It is no fun to try to get off of |
| marketing bandwagon and even if you do it all the | | | | those lists either! |
| time, here are some good, bad and ugly things to | | | | Here are some ways to help assure that your email |
| keep in mind. | | | | isn't blocked and that you don't get tagged as a |
| The Good | | | | spammer. |
| No question about it, mass email marketing has made | | | | 1. Know what spam filters look for. You would be |
| a recruiter's job easier. There are some very big | | | | surprised at what some junk email filters consider to |
| upsides to being able to reach large numbers of | | | | be spam. One of the most widely used Email Clients, |
| applicants quickly and effectively. | | | | Microsoft Outlook, uses specific words and |
| 1. You no longer have to call hundreds of candidates | | | | combinations of words. "More info" "visit" and "$" in |
| to determine their interest in a position and mass | | | | an email can get you canned as spam. So that "job |
| email marketing is also a great way to search for | | | | available with a salary of $50,000. For more info visit |
| perspective clients. | | | | our website or call....." line in your email could mean |
| 2. Most likely if you have a resume for a candidate, | | | | your message never gets to its intended recipient. |
| they WANT to hear from you and get your emails | | | | For more details about the Outlook spam filter, see |
| about available positions. | | | | this link: |
| 3. Most recruiting software products already | | | | 2. Know if you have limitations on your mail server |
| incorporate the ability to mass email marketing quickly | | | | for outbound emails. Most people don't realize that |
| and easily directly from your database. If yours does | | | | shared email hosting providers like GoDaddy limit the |
| not, maybe it's time to look for a new recruiting | | | | number of outbound emails that can be sent from an |
| software product that does. | | | | account within a 24 hour period. If you send out an |
| 4. Occasionally you may want to do a large scale | | | | emailing to 250 people that may be your limit for that |
| marketing email and mail houses that do mass | | | | day and you may have your outbound email stopped |
| mailings for you can collect metrics that can be | | | | for the rest of that 24 hour period. |
| invaluable in determining if your message is getting | | | | 3. Create your email so that it doesn't get caught for |
| through. Many of them can assemble data on how | | | | pictures and other content. A lot of mail servers |
| many of your emails get read, how many of the | | | | block emails with pictures embedded in the content. |
| read messages result in click-throughs to your | | | | An easy way around this is to store your email |
| website, and other helpful information. You'll pay for it | | | | images on your web server, preferably in a folder |
| so you have to do the cost-benefit analysis of using | | | | separate from website images (e.g. not in the root |
| a third party. | | | | images folder). You'll want to make sure that these |
| The Bad | | | | images remain on your website for a while too. |
| People don't like to get mass emails that look like | | | | Sometimes people refer back to emails weeks or |
| mass emails. Personalization is the key. | | | | months after you've sent them out. |
| 1. Look for email marketing tools that allow you to do | | | | 4. Add SPF (Sender Policy Framework) records to |
| merge fields like the old style mail merge letters you | | | | your DNS setup if you're sending mail from a mail |
| used to do out of MS Word. People are far more | | | | server that is not exclusively for your domain. Most |
| likely to read an email the looks like it only came to | | | | shared email hosts like Go Daddy and Network |
| them and contains their specific information. For | | | | solutions use shared outbound mail servers that don't |
| instance an email that starts out as "Dear Fred, Since | | | | show they are specifically coming from your domain |
| you have experience as a Press Engineer, this job | | | | name. SPF records are quickly becoming standard |
| looks like a good fit for you" is far more likely to | | | | entries that mail servers look for to verify the email |
| grab someone's attention than an email that starts | | | | server your email is coming from is a legitimate |
| out with "Check out this job". | | | | sender for your email domain. Contact your email |
| 2. Make sure that each email you send goes out as a | | | | provider to create these entries and to see if your |
| separate email to the recipient. There's nothing worse | | | | email setup is configured properly. |
| than getting a form letter that is generic and went to | | | | 5. Add opt out messages to all mass emails you send |
| "undisclosed recipients". You're also less likely to be | | | | out and be creative about it. Some spam filters are |
| tagged a spammer with individual emails. | | | | actually blocking emails based on the word |
| 3. For many recruiting professionals, writing is not | | | | "unsubscribe" in the content of the email. Use new |
| their primary skill. Make sure any emails you send are | | | | and different words or methods so that people can |
| proofed thoroughly (yes, this means spell checking!) | | | | opt out of your mailing list. |
| so that a typo doesn't make you look bad. There is | | | | |