Your Reputation as a Spammer

You think you’ve properly built a subscriber list of folks who OPTED IN to receive your e-newsletter.  Turns out, that’s not good enough.  Your email might still wind up in the SPAM file.

Recipients determine who's a SPAMMER

Lyris, Inc.’s 2008 analysis showed one out of every four permission-based email messages sent to U.S.-based Internet Service Providers (ISPs) lands in the junk mail folder.

What’s up?  While results vary by the filter policy of each ISP (such as Yahoo, Hotmail, AIM, etc), the report says it’s the sender’s reputation driving 25% of messages to the SPAM folder.

How do you earn the right reputation?

• Craft a compelling message.
• Don’t bombard your list — send no more often than your recipients bargained for.
• Make it easy for people to find the “Unsubscribe” button.  If it’s easier to hit “SPAM” than “Unsubscribe” you’ll get a reputation as a spammer on ISPs’ scorecards.

Stefan Pollard, Lyris email marketing expert, points out that “The definition of spam has moved beyond the legal requirements of the CAN-SPAM Act to include any message that is unrecognized, unexpected or unwanted... This puts the onus on senders to make their messages recognized, expected and wanted.  Until they do, invited email will continue to be delivered to the bulk folder.”

Spam filter trigger words:

Act Now!                     Free!                               50% off!         While Supplies last

Click Here                  Call now!                       Earn $             Why pay more?

Discount!                   You’re a Winner!        Credit               Serious Cash

Weight                        Opportunity                 Compare         Double Your Income

Removes                   Collect                           Amazing           Work from Home

Offer                           As Seen On…                Click Here         “Stop” or “Stops”

Buy Direct                Loans                            Buy Direct         Satisfaction Guaranteed

Subscribe               All Natural                    Winner                Avoid Bankruptcy

Promise You         Cash                                Easy Terms       Special Promotion

Get Paid                 Great offer                     One time             Guarantee, Guaranteed

Join millions       No cost, No fees          Order Now         Online Marketing

Please Read        Don’t Delete                   Save up to          Time Limited

Problems with promotional email

In a study by Merkle, “View from the Inbox,” 2009, the main reasons subscribers choose to opt out of email programs, are perceived irrelevance (75%) and sending too frequently (73%).

Promotional emails were deemed the most  intrusive. Solution?  Make your newsletter informative, not promotional.

Merkle reported that 20% of those receiving e-newsletters thought they were worthy of reading, and received, on average,about eight newsletters each month.  That’s a heap of competition for YOUR customers’ attention.

Your reputation intact

If you can’t do the job in house, pay a good ghostwriter/copywriter.  You’ll offset by the fees with savings to your reputation with customers and ISPs.

When you decide to outsource, be sure you hire someone who not only can cut a phrase and punctuate, but also who knows your firm/industry.  That is, unless you really want to bring a writer up the learning curve(!)

Pardon my plug to consider my turnkey newsletter service. When you go to the trouble of communicating with customers, track results so you know what’s working and what’s not.  My service includes custom templates with analytics that can tell you details like who opened what link in what browser.

Speaking engagement

At the kind invitation of the Carolinas Professinal Saleswomen and Entrepreneurs, I’ll be speaking on CAN-SPAM and e-newsletters June 18.  Hope to see you there.

Clean Energy and National Security

Cleantech Interest Group Help Needed

I’m in a few LinkedIn groups, as I think all LinkedIn users are by now.  One of them is for Duke alumni and students interested in Solar Energy and Solar startups.  A fellow member posted an interesting request that I decided to help cast a wide net for answers to by posting here and tweeting several of my Twitter followers.   A novel approach for me — let’s see where it goes.

From Ian Thomson, Co-founder of CleanTechies.com

“I’m looking for existing data, contacts, leads or reference material that demonstrate a strong correlation between clean/domestic energy and global security. Any help during this data gathering would be greatly appreciated; probably on both sides – if they are looking for recognition for their perspective I’ll give them ample credit for any data they can provide that supports the thesis.

“I’ve taken on the task of integrating the positive national security implications surrounding energy policy that targets reducing CO2 for a project called “GigaTon Throwdown.” My portion of the project is presenting a compelling national security argument for reducing oil consumption, using distributed generation assets, and increasing the efficacy of our budget through energy efficiency. The bulk of the heavy lifting of the 250 page book is done, it has been written by some serious academics, energy analysts and professionals, but it neglects to address these core concerns that will give it that much more attention when it is launched with support from some congressional leaders from both sides of the political spectrum. Doing my task right will assure broader buy in. “

Any help for the Gigaton Throwdown?

The Gigaton Throwdown

The Gigaton Throwdown Study was launched as a Clinton Global Initiative in 2007. It is a project to educate and inspire entrepreneurs, investors, and policy makers to think big about solving the climate crisis. It began as an effort to answer the question, “What does it take to make a difference with clean energy technology?” A unique team of entrepreneurs, investors, and business leaders teamed up with leading academics to answer this question. Specifically, we asked how could any one of nine technologies groupings, “pathways,” scale up so each one could avoid one billion tons – a gigaton — of greenhouse gas emissions per year and do it by 2020. We call this “Gigaton Scale.”

How ’bout it, Readers?  Any help for Ian out there?  Feel free to post a comment below or reach out to me on my Contact page.  I’ll close the feedback loop with Ian.

Compassion Fatigue

As a ghostwriter with financial services clients, I stay abreast of developments in their professional publications. Ran across an article in Investment News on consumer-focused financial planners’ mental health challenges during this Great Recession.

Hard to be a Zen Master during the Great Recession

The article says mental health professionals coined the phrase “compassion fatigue” to describe a syndrome experienced by caregivers of  individuals facing a terminal illness. “Instead of empathizing or ‘feeling bad’ for someone, the caregiver essentially tunes out the patient in an effort to prevent himself or herself from being drawn into a pit of despair.”

The article goes on to say that “many advisers are experiencing a phenomenon known as ‘shared trauma,’ which develops when an adviser has been as victimized by the financial crisis as much as his or her clients” and says this causes some advisers to avoid client contact.”

Jeffrey Goldbert complained about that in an Atlantic Monthly article I blogged about — said he fired his broker because his broker had de facto fired him by not communicating. Perhaps his broker was suffering compassion fatigue or shared trauma, but the article gave me the impression that his broker had simply gone under a tidal wave of corporate compliance.

The Investment News article quoted Patricia Smith, the founder of the Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project in Mountain View, CA as saying advisers “need to start with the fact that [the bear market] isn’t their fault.”

Hmmm, I have mixed feelings on that point.  No, it wasn’t entirely the fault of financial advisers, but  most of them signed on to work in an environment where they’re expected to toe the company line, including pushing instruments at the direction of their firms.  If I called my Merrill Lynch broker to ask about X fund, he would be obliged to tell me what his research department’s position is on it.  Maybe his entire knowledge of fund X is limited to the firm’s position.  Firms go to great lengths to assure compliant client communications.

Because it’s difficult to set up shop as an adviser without the broker dealer infrastructure, is the best conclusion that system really is rigged?

Writing Prompts:  Financial Services

• With so many people trying to cast a wide net for blame, how much should be shouldered personally by advisers?  Are advisers equal victims?  Well-compensated pawns in the larger game?
• Should advisers pull on their big girl panties and consider this stress an occupational hazard for which they were pre-compensated during the boom?
• Do these findings give the investing public room to empathize with their advisers?
• What reforms do you anticipate between firms and their representatives?
• Will the ill will between client and adviser push investors to instruments like index funds?

Royal Whitepaper

When people take the time to read my b-card they’ll sometimes ask “What’s a whitepaper?”  I quote the verbiage on my site, which turns on the lights for about 2% of people.

With Google-driven marketing everyone should know what a white paper is and how they can use one.

Follow treebanker on Twitter

I had an “aha moment” this morning.  I decided to build a repository of white papers I like in different categories for general perusal.   First up, The Prince’s Rainforests Project Report, which I thank my Twitter follower, Dan Tefft for bringing to my attention.

Three-purpose post

This post suggests changes to the paper that would make it more engaging, discusses its core idea of Rainforest Bonds, and then offers writing prompts for professionals in environmental and financial services.

Reading like an editor

Professionally, I prefer minimizing passive voice and maximizing design to help the reader navigate a dense document such as this (52 pages).  Certain professions prefer passive voice (government and academia top the list) so I suppose a report on behalf of  a Cambridge-educated Royal conforms to expectations.

The summary as written: “Reducing tropical deforestation will be vital if the world is to avoid catastrophic climate change and preserve important ecosystem functions. An Emergency Package is needed to provide substantial funding to Rainforest Nations to help them address the drivers of deforestation and embark on alternative economic development paths. Rainforests cool the planet, regulate the water cycle and provide a home to countless species; it is right and essential that the world pays for these services.”

I’d rewrite: Rainforests cool the planet, regulate the water cycle and provide a home to countless species.  To preserve the world’s ecosystem functions and avoid catastrophic climate change, we must reduce tropical deforestation. The world should provide funding to Rainforest nations to help them address the drivers of deforestation and embark on alternative economic development paths.  Since the rainforests provide “services” essential to planetary life, justice dictates that those services be compensated.

Writing Prompts for Environmental, Financial Services

The Prince’s Report outlines a plan for “Rainforest Bonds,” a fixed-income security, issued in private capital markets.  Such bonds typically offer investors a fixed rate of return, normally an annual coupon, together with the repayment of the principal on maturity. Over US$400 billion of Sovereign, Supranational and Agency Bonds were issued in 2008. The Project has held discussions with pension funds and the insurance sector (through The Prince of Wales’ P8 and ClimateWise initiatives) which indicate that there would be significant demand for AAA-rated bonds with long-term maturities.

“Rainforest Bonds could be issued by the World Bank, or by an independent entity with support from the World Bank. The bonds would be guaranteed by developed country governments, which would be responsible for payment of the coupon and repayment of the principal.

“However, it may be possible to mitigate the financial calls on these governments, for example by channelling some of the money into green investments that would generate financial returns – this would have the added benefit of supporting broader clean development goals. Private sector bonds provide a way to raise large amounts of finance for tropical forests in the nearterm, while allowing underwriting governments the time to generate revenues for repayment from clean development investments, domestic carbon permit auctions or other schemes. The Prince’s Rainforests Project is working with the World Bank to develop this bond concept further.”

• Is the World Bank the right entity?  Or the only entity?
• In light of current global financial priorities, how would these bonds perform financially?
• Environmentally, are these bonds a powerful incentive to change economic development and human behavior?
• Any better options on the table?

The System is Rigged

Cover Story May 2009

“Jane”  is a Bank of America SVP and a friend of twenty years. I jumped at her invitation for a weekend on the North Carolina coast with her family.  She drove while I read from May’s Atlantic Monthly, featuring a couple of excellent articles on the economy.

Any time we go on a road trip there’s about thirty pounds of reading material in the car “just in case.” Over breakfast she’ll grab one section of the paper and I another, or we’ll take different magazines and debrief each other when something gets our back up.  We pass hours like this on the beach every summer. Everyone should have a Jane in their life — the mental stimulation will surely keep Alzheimer’s at bay.

In The Atlantic’s feature article, “Why I Fired My Broker” Jeffrey Goldberg got my attention right out of the gate with this statement  “…my crucial mistake was believing that the brokers and wealth managers and cable-television oracles who make up the financial-services industrial complex actually had my best interests at heart.”

Jane and I are an interesting duo.  I couldn’t be more committed to self-employment and she’s been committed to the same company her entire career.  I tell her I love that phrase “financial-services industrial complex” and Jane shudders, then reminds me of a tour of duty she did in BofA’s credit card division  after it acquired MBNA and how slimy it made her feel going to work everyday.  My skin crawls. Jane doesn’t appreciate the potshots being taken at bankers these days, but she’s clear eyed about the evils of credit card marketing.

She says, “Keep reading.”

The article routinely skewers Merrill Lynch and other so-called financial advisors who really can’t give financial advice anymore.  Jane, who had reason to believe until very recently that she could fund part of her childrens’ college educations through BofA stock options, couldn’t disagree with this observation by Larry Gellman:

“If the head of Merrill Lynch and every other investment firm had their way, no individual broker would ever recommend an individual stock or bond to a retail client again. They have essentially gotten out of the brokering-and-advising business and gone all in on the ‘wealth management’ business. The new model is to gather assets from wealthy people and then place those assets with a whole bunch of managers who will manage different pieces of it in diversified styles so you don’t lose it all at once. And by the way, people with less than $10 million need not apply. People like you are in a sort of purgatory because no one would ever come out and tell you that he doesn’t want your business anymore,” he said. “You had to figure that out by yourself.”

We chewed on that for a bit. Jane’s worked in just about every division of the bank, including wealth management.  She’s a sort of corporate MacGyver who moves from implementation to implementation, always delivering  on impossible deadlines and defying handwringers.  She’s familiar with the next fellow  interviewed,  Seth Klarman, whom Goldberg says turned $27m into $14b, and quotes as saying “The average person can’t really trust anybody. They can’t trust a broker, because the broker is interested in churning commissions. They can’t trust a mutual fund, because the mutual fund is interested in gathering a lot of assets and keeping them.  And now it’s even worse because even the most sophisticated people have no idea what’s going on.”

Jane snorts, “No shit.”

At a certain point in Goldberg’s article the expert who makes the most sense is a guy who runs a survivalist camp that teaches people to live off the grid.  Cody Lundin says  “ Wall Street has always been an illusion. Now it’s an illusion that’s crumbling. Wall Street is like someone who’s having heart trouble. It’s in constant need of resuscitation, but after a while, it just doesn’t work anymore. People think that Bernard Madoff was unique, that he was an illusion, but he’s just an extension of the same illusion, the same con game.”

Jane’s been quiet for awhile now, most unusual.  So when I’m done with the article  I don’t forge on to the next one as is our custom.  I have people skills.

She sighs and says, “I’m gonna turn on the radio for awhile.” Game Over.

Financial Services Writing Prompts (aside from the obvious)

• Are people better off putting their money in an index fund than relying on the “financial-services industrial complex”?
• Will the deflated 529 plans  lead to a different scheme for funding higher education?
• Where are all those financial advisors going to work now?  All those financial mathematicians?
• At what point did you realize the (financial) emperor wasn’t wearing clothes?  What steps did you take?  Are you taking?

Queen for a Day

Funny greeting cards at www.someecards.com

Happy Mother’s Day to me.

My older son works at a sub shop and will probably sleep until 2pm before starting work at 3pm, which means he probably won’t call.  That’s ok — he has a steady job and an apartment.  This means that I don’t have to avert my eyes when I walk past his old bedroom (which I’m turning into a home office).

My younger son just mowed the grass so that I’ll ferry him across town to his friends’ house.  That’s ok — the schlepping will make him more pleasant when I see him for the big cookout this evening.  He may even kiss my cheek in public.

My spouse is running a soccer tournament in another county and will swing in for the cookout just in time.  That’s ok — with all the men out of the house I can sit outside in the shade and listen to the birds sing.

I plan to read a book and take a nap. The day will fly.

I don’t go in much for Hallmark holidays — the ones that everyone feels obliged to celebrate.  I am tempted sometimes to play my “Mother’s Day cards” to get the men in my life to give me the princess treatment, but resist.  I put all my cards in on my birthday — the day that’s uniquely mine.  If you call me on January 31 I’ll probably answer the phone “Birthday Girl Speaking” since it makes me smile and takes everyone off guard.

I have friends and family members who wouldn’t tolerate the kind of day I have in store.  To my eyes, they just set themselves up for disappointment by expecting everyone to drop everything else for mom and be happy about it.  I’ll hear plenty of carping from them about the argument that broke out over dinner “On Mother’s Day” and the work that they had to do “On Mother’s Day.”

Blech.

I count my blessings just as they present themselves — son with a job and apartment, son with friends who are basically good influences, spouse with a worthwhile hobby, and a day in quiet followed by a cookout with our best friends.   I’m one fortunate woman.

Now, I’m going to call my mom.

“Cap and Cash Back”: The Power of Positive Language

We can thank ecoAmerica for the “Cap and Cash Back” headline, which I gleaned from this weekend’s NYT story about how environmental communications are being framed by both “sides” of each environmental debate, from “clean coal” to “safe nuclear power.”

It certainly is catchier than “Cap and Trade” and coming from a jargon-jammed business background, I’m grateful when people use words that both insiders and outsiders readily grasp.  Your politics will determine whether you agree with the substitution of “cap and cash back” for “cap and trade” but my point about the need for clear communications stands.

Environmental and Financial Services Writing Prompts:

• The NYT article quotedRobert J. Brulle of Drexel University, an expert on environmental communications,  as saying “ecoAmerica’s campaign was a mirror image of what industry and political conservatives were doing. “The form is the same; the message is just flipped,” he said. “You want to sell toothpaste, we’ll sell it. You want to sell global warming, we’ll sell that. It’s the use of advertising techniques to manipulate public opinion.” Do you have evidence that either side is entirely in command of the facts about global warming/climate change?   Or is this simply a war of words driven by savvy PR pros?
• Mr. Perkowitz, who started ecoAmerica, said the reason environmental issues consistently trail issues like addressing moral decline and reducing the influence of lobbyists, is “When someone thinks of global warming, they think of a politicized, polarized argument. When you say ‘global warming,’ a certain group of Americans think that’s a code word for progressive liberals, gay marriage and other such issues.” Do you have reason to agree or disagree with Mr. Perkowitz?  Support your view with an anecdote or case study.
• A summary of ecoAmerica’s latest findings and recommendations was accidentally e-mailed to a number of news organizations before the formal paper was published, which raises the question, Have you or your organization authorized talking points or key words for use in environmental communications? If so, can you speak to the immediate and longer-term effects of using prescribed language (or avoiding proscribed langugage) on your organization’s objectives?

Krugman v Samuelson on Green

Krugman: We Need Green Investments

In today’s NYT, Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman weighs in on climate change with the terse observation that “just as denials that climate change is happening are junk science, predictions of economic disaster if we try to do anything about climate change are junk economics.”

“Right now, the biggest problem facing our economy is plunging business investment. Businesses see no reason to invest, since they’re awash in excess capacity, thanks to the housing bust and weak consumer demand.”  Krugman outlines how a commitment to greenhouse gas reduction would give businesses a reason to invest in new equipment and facilities even in the face of excess capacity.

He concludes, “given the current state of the economy, that’s just what the doctor ordered.”

Samuelson: Re-run Your Scenarios

On the other side, reporter, author and Washington Post columnist Robert Samuelson says “The trouble is that these models embody wildly unrealistic assumptions: There are no business cycles; the economy is always at “full employment”; strong growth is assumed, based on past growth rates; the economy automatically accommodates major changes — if fossil fuel prices rise (as they would under anti-global-warming laws), consumers quickly use less and new supplies of “clean energy” magically materialize.”

Writing Prompts:  Financial Services, Environmental

• What’s more important, getting started on a global climate change or getting the right global environmental policy in place?
• Krugman admits “Yes, limiting emissions would have its costs. As a card-carrying economist, I cringe when “green economy” enthusiasts insist that protecting the environment would be all gain, no pain.”  Do green enthusiasts over-state their case?
• What about Krugman’s claims on overcapacity?

Visualizing the Mortgage Meltdown

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo

Whole-Brain Communications

This 10-minute video effectively encapsulates the mortgage bubble and subsequent financial meltdown.  Using site, sound and simple graphics, this whole-brain approach is a case study of effective presentation.

One thing struck me as funny, though, and that is how to depict “irresponsible homeowners” graphically.  Mr. Jarvis chose to do it in contrast to the “responsible homeowners” who had one child and a dog.  The irresponsible ones had a load of children, smoked cigarettes (or something) and no pets.  I’m still running that through my politically correct filter.

Where credit is due

I ran across this on the excellent FLOWING DATA site which “explores how designers, statisticians, and computer scientists are using data to understand ourselves better – mainly through data visualization. Money spent, reps at the gym, time you waste, and personal information you enter online are all forms of data. How can we understand these data flows? Data visualization lets non-experts make sense of it all.”

The site is run by Nathan Yau.  “In a previous life I was an electrical engineering and computer science student at Berkeley, but now I’m a UCLA PhD candidate in Statistics interested in data visualization. Data analysis is great and all, but for me visualization is just so appetizing, it’s irresistible, and if done right, provides results for everyone — not just the statisticians and/or scientists.”

I just became Nathan’s follower on Twitter.