Amazon walks thin line between helpful email and spam

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I included this article simply because it brings up the point of Amazon.com and that company's opt-in, yet unsolicited email. Amazon's use of highly relevant email marketing blurs the line between spam and permission email for many people. Here's why:

Amazon might send you an email recommending a book that's entirely in line with the books you've already purchased. Most people receive these emails and think, 'Hey, Amazon is doing a good job. This book might actually be interesting to me.'

A few people, however, immediately drop into an anti-spam war cry, blaming Amazon for filling their inbox with email they didn't ask for.

Now let's get technical for a moment. You didn't actually ask for this email from Amazon, and it certainly qualified as UCE (unsolicited commercial email). Yet, at the same time, you do have a prior customer relationship with them, and the email is highly relevant to your interests. So, is this email spam or not?

I say this isn't spam at all. It's permission email, and Amazon.com does permission email marketing the right way: with relevancy. People who call this spam are plainly overreacting to the real spam on the 'net: the Viagra-hawking spam that has no relevancy whatsoever.

In fact, if all email marketers took the same care that Amazon takes to send only relevant email, spam wouldn't be the problem it is today.

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About the author: Mike Adams is a consumer health advocate with a mission to teach personal and planetary health to the public He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews, reports and consumer guides, reaching millions of readers with information that is saving lives and improving personal health around the world. Adams is a trusted, independent journalist who receives no money or promotional fees whatsoever to write about other companies' products. In 2007, Adams launched EcoLEDs, a manufacturer of mercury-free, energy-efficient LED lighting products that save electricity and help prevent global warming. He also founded an environmentally-friendly online retailer called BetterLifeGoods.com that uses retail profits to help support consumer advocacy programs. He's also a noted technology pioneer and founded a software company in 1993 that developed the HTML email newsletter software currently powering the NaturalNews subscriptions. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and practices nature photography, Capoeira, Pilates and organic gardening. Known by his callsign, the 'Health Ranger,' Adams posts his missions statements, health statistics and health photos at www.HealthRanger.org


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