Claiming it can help you run a professional e-mail marketing campaign in ways that are both cost-effective and spam-free, Big Hip, Inc. unwrapped a new hosted mail marketing solution July 21.
The solution is priced according to the size and range of the customer's planned marketing campaign, such as $249 for a campaign of three million e-mail pieces. But, more critically, the solution includes a double opt-in method Big Hip says is aimed to let people join an e-mail list while "virtually eliminat(ing) any spam complaints." The company says, in fact, that spam has become one of the biggest, if not the biggest, barriers to Internet e-mail marketing for large and small business interests alike.
“E-mail over the internet has long been recognized as one of the most cost-effective and powerful ways to market," said president and chief executive officer Bill Nicholson. "The corporate world has not been able to completely take advantage of this channel, due to the lack of an enterprise-scale e-mail marketing tool built on a spam free architecture.
Big Hip also said they're working with Internet service providers of all sizes to guarantee e-mail marketing campaigns' deliveries which use their network e-mail marketing program. In fact, according to Nicholson, America Online was impressed enough with the Big Hip program that they whitelisted Big Hip almost at once – meaning anyone using the Big Hip program for e-mail marketing will get through and, likely, draw no complaints.
"What happens at Big Hip is, nobody will be in the (e-mailing) list if they don't want to be there," Nicholson said of the program, which took two years to develop. "If someone puts an e-mail in, the client can create any kind of invitation he likes…and say please do nothing if you did not subscribe, but if you did subscribe, click here. And if (the recipient) clicks it, then the client knows that's the right customer and the customer goes on the list. And at any time during the e-mail campaign, those customers can (still) opt out, at any time they like. But they have to opt in first."
Spam fighters have long enough argued that without opt-in allowances any and most existing or prospective anti-spam legislation is bound to make the suffocating spam problems worse before they make them better.
For more information, visit Big Hip on the Web.
