The power and ease of using email can also be abused. Emails are used for un-ethical marketing purposes, promotion of illegal schemes and for spreading false rumours. Some examples:
1. Nigerian scam
2. Get rich quick scams - work from home - stock market tips
3. Health and weightloss scams
4. Pharmacy items
5. Politically or racially motivated hoaxes
6. Chain letters to help child cancer victim
Hoaxes can be recognised by a number of characteristics:
1. It appeals to a common fear (heart attack/cancer)
2. It presents an explanation that is simple, seems intuitive and easily understood (but wrong)
3. It looks and sounds scientific or authoritative, and may contain some 'facts'
4. It does not cite or refer to any authority or provide any links to other sources
5. It asks you for forward it on to all your friends etc.
6. All it does is increase your internet download, wastes your time and creates anxiety
7. Hoax chain emails are often associated with viruses and spammers collecting email addresses.
Basic rule is that most chain emails are hoaxes. Check the chain email with one of the hoax web sites and other authorities and do not pass it on!
Check these web sites:
Q1. What is the impact on internet marketing of these email scams and hoaxes?
Q2. How can consumers be protected in these cases?
Q3. What can ethical internet marketers do?
13 comments:
Q1. These cases will decrease the level of public trust about the news or advertising on the internet. In the future people will feel hesitate to make transactions or purchases of goods and services on the internet.
Q2. This becomes a complex problem because the Internet is not any private property and also each person can make all kinds of desire on the Internet. for this cases, consumers should be more careful and not easy to believe the emails. Consumers also have to managing and organizing email, especially encrypt email messages for privacy. Another way is to use antivirus or software to protect your email and your computer system
Q3. Concerned about what will be published. in addition, trying to always maintain the privacy of consumers and comply with applicable law. The most important is always honest, keeping the level of consumer confidence and responsible with what you published.
Dino,
Good answers. From a marketing point of view you are quite correct in identifying the importance of trust and credibility.
Q1. These cases destroy confidence of people who often have a transaction via the internet and make people confused what information they should believe on the internet.
Q2. Everyone should protect yourself first. We should double check the information that get from others that we are not sure about them before receiving. We should always keep updating our anti-virus program.
Q3. They should give the true information to people and concern about the benefits of consumers more than profits of their company.
Q1.It is making people can not think it is important or not for them. Although people opend email first time, people will not open email next time because people think it just waste time.
Q2.If consemers want to be protected to these case, they should be careful their signature which when they make their interesting account. Also they should orgnise their email messages.
Q3.They should think their consumer as their family. Also they shold not give consumer's information other company for thier profit.
Q1. Internet spam reduces the impact and efficiency of internet marketing because it makes the target audience, who receive all the spam, to pay less interest in marketing mails.
Q2. Must of the spam is detected by the emails service and goes directly to span file. Moreover internet users should be more educated regarding email and internet security issues and able to indentify spam mail, not open it or forward it and report the spam to the authorities.
Q3.First, ethical marketers should first of all reach their existing mail-list and then ask their loyal subscribers to then forward the email. Second, marketers can use known and popular internet platforms to send their message, like: YouTube, twitter etc.
Q1. Hoaxes have existed everywhere, and some of them gave us good impressions, some of them didn't though. As for problem in marketing, people are fed up with facing exaggerations and became difficult to trust advertisments on TV or on internet. on the other hand, good hoaxes are effective.
Q2. Consumers should think of them whether trustworthy imformation or not.
Q3. They should consider about affect of their promotions and advertisments. Because as I mentioned above, some of them give exaggeration to consumers.
Q1. Actually, internet marketing is really unreliable so, quality of people who accept internet marketing could be decrease rapidly although it is much easier and more convenient than other marketing solutions. People may choose any solutions instead that make them feel more satisfied.
Q2. Consumers should consider any information which happens on internet carefully. Moreover, you can notice references for correct information and also it should not give any detail over reality.
Q3. The important thing, they must realize satisfaction both consumers and them, not only their benefit. They should offer correct information to consumers. However, every business needs a long period of time to be successful and consumers are one part which help their business to be successful.
Q1. Internet spams have destroyed people's trust of the internet advertisements. If advertisers keep sending those spams, they will lost this easy access to get to people, so they would have to find another solution. because people may block every advertising e-mail.
Q2. Not only consumers themselves, but also the shops or the receivers. consumers should not give their information easily, and receivers can not spread consumers private information to anyone else. for protect yourself, check the information and detail properly before you give them.
Q3. It is difficult, but we have to rebuild the trust between consumers and advertisers. provide correct information and positive purposes. because they could not be successful or better without trust of consumers.
Q1. Internet spams have destroyed people's trust of the internet advertisements. If advertisers keep sending those spams, they will lost this easy access to get to people, so they would have to find another solution. because people may block every advertising e-mail.
Q2. Not only consumers themselves, but also the shops or the receivers. consumers should not give their information easily, and receivers can not spread consumers private information to anyone else. for protect yourself, check the information and detail properly before you give them.
Q3. It is difficult, but we have to rebuild the trust between consumers and advertisers. provide correct information and positive purposes. because they could not be successful or better without trust of consumers.
Q1. surely decreased the trust and confident from public as they frustrated to the negative impacts of it.
Q2. install spam filtering software, do not respond to suspicious email, and do not post email address on website.
Q3. only sent where there is an existing business relationship, provide users to decline and unsubcribe and be clear and accurate in all the detail in the email.
Q1. It's clutter. So, receiver attention on internet marketing is diminished.
Moreover, It can effect directly to the new faces in internet business. It becomes more difficult to be well-known as much as the pioneer or big companies in terms of reliability.
Q2. So demanding!
Consumers have to protect themselves with their smart first. Then they might expect to have more cyber police : )
Q3. They just do as the normal ethical marketers do. Its methods or ways may be different but the attitude and perspective are same.
Q1. What is the impact on internet marketing of these email scams and hoaxes?
This makes a bad impact on the people mind, because they are going to be with certain insecurity at the moment to open an e-mail or a web page. Hence, people will no longer trust in transactions online that were mean to be a easy way of pay the bills, purchase or other financing transactions.
Q2. How can consumers be protected in these cases?
The best way is avoiding pop ups, junk or unknown e-mails and having a good anti-spam and anti-virus. It would be good to try to create awareness of these problems on people.
Q3. What can ethical internet marketers do?
They should sent proper messages with the proper security measures and try to aware people of possible unethical advertisements they could receive.
Q1. What is the impact on internet marketing of these email scams and hoaxes?
Initially - Audience becomes familiar with email, learns how to forward emails to friends/family.
Eventually - Gradual skepticism and resistance to email-based information, particularly forwarded non-addressed email.
Q2. How can consumers be protected in these cases?
Education and awareness training.
(Mind you, if education worked, it would have worked by now.)
Q3. What can ethical internet marketers do?
Strive to differentiate legitimate marketing material from chain mail / spam:
1) Do so as a way to build an existing relationship with the audience, rather than use the medium to initiate a new relationship.
2) Make it clear that the marketing material is being recieved voluntarily (i.e. "You previously told us you wished to recieve information about offers etc. Click here to opt out."), and that the material is no unsolicited.
3) Present the marketing material as trustworthy - clear branding, consistent visual design, professional copy writing, etc.
4) Don't abuse the relationship - Don't send too many emails, and be mindful of the ratio between emails asking for stuff (money, action, attention, etc) and emails offering stuff (free downloads, coupons, information, etc).
-Kim.
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