- A weblog by InetSolution
BACN isn't spam, but what exactly is it?
By Jason Sherrill
Posted on Aug 29, 2007
If you haven't already heard or seen the term BACN, you will soon. So, what is BACN and why should email marketers care?
BACN is email that isn't really spam, but also isn't necessarily something you want to pay attention to right away. Examples include:
- Newsletters that you signed up for, would like to read, but don't have the time right now
- "Your online bank statement is ready" messages
- Notification about the latest security alerts from Microsoft
About 20% of the email I receive every day is BACN. About 95% of that 20% goes to my Gmail account, so at least it's all consolidated in one spot, but I simply don't have enough time in a day to read all of my BACN. As a result, I devote as much attention to most of my BACN as I do my spam.
The growth of BACN in your customers' inboxes makes your job as an email marketer more challenging. Prior to the immense growth of BACN, you simply needed to make sure that customers recognized the sender (you) and that the message contained reasonably compelling offers and/or content. If the recipients recognized the sender, they'd likely open the message; if your offers and content were valuable, then you would retain your customer's permission to market to him again.
But now name recognition isn't enough to ensure your customer reads the message. Even if your customer wants to read your message, he may not even have the time to even open it. You need to improve your game. Your email campaigns need to make a lasting, positive impression, an impression that your customer will remember until your next campaign hits her inbox.
Now you know.
