Do email marketing pundits have a responsibility to provide accurate information to their readers? And what happens if they don’t@f0 Should they be held to account@f1 And what happens when they are held to account@f2 Should they take offense at someone challenging their incorrect information@f3 Should they set the record straight or should they get a pass for being a pundit@f4
Let me tell you a little story about an exchange I had with a pundit giving incorrect information; and a publisher that thinks it’s better to control the conversation by editing comments when dismissing the commenter doesn’t work….
Before I get too far along, I want to share another story; I had a new neighbor move in below me. One weeknight around 1:30AM this guy is blaring break-up music with loud drunk singing (almost spoiled Little Lion Man for me), so I go down and knock on his door.
Nothing.
I knock again a little harder.
Nothing.
Third time brings out the cop-knock. The music turns down and a second later Mr. drunk-and-feeling-sorry-for-himself peeks his head out the door.
I ask if he knows what time it is.
His response? “I don’t like the way you knocked on my door.”
Right….
Now that you know a little where my head is at on that sort of thing – like if you’ve ever read anything I’ve ever written you couldn’t tell – this should be fun. Well, at least for me….
So yesterday I re-tweeted a link to a post, “17 Email Marketing Terms Every Business Should Know” with the comment, “got a cpl wrong“. When asked, “which ones are wrong?” I pointed them out.
While one point that should be obvious to anyone that has ever read Orwell’s 1984 was accepted as a mistake, or poor analogy, but the other points, well, not so much….
Moving from Twitter to the post itself, I left a comment that included:
The generally accepted definition of delivery are those messages accepted by the receiving server – the number of messages sent less bounced.
The generally accepted definition of deliverability are those messages delivered to the Inbox.
To which the reply contained,
John: Regarding delivery vs. deliverability, you make some excellent clarifications. Just out of curiosity, where can one find these “generally accepted” definitions?
A little snarky, I thought; and after all, shouldn’t the author have done their own homework on the subject before posting with authority?
But hey, I’m always happy to do someone else’s work for them, so I provided links to the definition of deliverability from the IAB (pdf), the DMA (pdf), the EEC, and a couple of others that included a quote from SMTP.com,
“beginners at email marketing often confuse these two distinct metrics”
I ended that comment with something along the lines of, always happy to do someone else’s work, and closed with “/sarcasm”. You won’t see that part, though, or other comments that moved the thread from the definition of delivery v. deliverability to my sarcasm, because, well, I guess sarcasm is just too offense…. Welcome to the Ministry of Truth….
What was that quote from #eec11? “Social media is not about power over your customers, it’s about partnership” or something like that?
Since I don’t have to worry about being edited here (pat me on the head now, Vahe), let me get back to the responsibilities of pundits….
When faced with three industry associations all defining “deliverability” the same way and contrary to the information provided as one of those “17 Email Marketing Terms Every Business Should Know”, what’s the response?
I was only talking about one term – deliverability.
And there is an industry definition for it.
And the leading industry associations all agree on the definition.
And they all publish it online.
I would think that someone attempting to teach others might have researched the subject a little bit, but, hey, that’s just me. Like my friend, Margo, says, “We all make choices.”
Unfortunately some newbies may make the wrong choices based on incorrect information. As Georgia from MailBlaze thinks,
“this is a great reference, especially for newbies to the email marketing industry“
So is it fair to newbies and people just learning the industry for a pundit to promote inaccurate information?
What responsibilities does the pundit have?
Does promoting inaccurate information following a lack of research bring the pundits subject knowledge into question?
Should the information be rewritten? That is the job of the Ministry of Truth after all…. Don’t worry, I’ve kept a screenshot….
Should the post be appended – in transparency – with the correct information? A good old fashioned retraction? That would require admitting that there are in fact industry-defined terms, of course.
And what if other information in the same post is less than accurate? Should everything be corrected at once, or do we knock them off one at a time?
Paraphrasing a comment that was edited from the post, 17 Email Marketing Terms Every Business Should Know, are there any standards or should we just embrace mediocrity so that no one’s feelings are hurt?
I think every online marketing channel has trouble with this, especially with the infancy of the technology itself.
Unless it’s a statistical forumla, there are going to be interpretations.
I think the @eec_measurement initiative is a step in the right direction.
Thanks for commeting, Alex, and for the @eec_measurement props!
My interpretation of three leading industry associations all promoting the same definition of deliverability is that there is a generally accepted definition of the term. 🙂
I read the post too yesterday, and commented on it through Twitter (love cross channel): agreed with your points there and also posed the question whose definitions they were.
When industry associations (whose existence email marketing really needs, esp. for cases like these) define and agree upon certain terms, then yes, these should be used and talked about.
Putting in new versions of definitions can only add to the confusion, not make things clearer.
Uniformed definitions aside, you shouldn’t edit social media conversations going on around you. Listen? Yes. Join? If you have something to contribute. Snarky replies? No.
The bottom line is you should open the flood gates and let the conversation flow. Yes, these comments can be harsh at times (ahem…), but they’re real. There is something to learn from everyone.
Take Away: Don’t edit a person’s voice.
Manners are important no matter what the situation. It wasn’t the best move to take down the comments, but buddy – you have WAY too much time on your hands. Your blog post wasted so much time, I’m a little upset that someone mentioned the rant of an old man to me.
Take away: NO ONE CARES
PS – I love that my comment is “awaiting moderation”
@Joan – belive it or not, I don’t have that much time on my hands – knee-deep in work 🙂 – but I feel that accurate information is worth the effort….
As for waiting moderation (sorry for the delay), now that you’re known as a person and not a spambot you’ll never have to wait again….
If nothing else, you now know what the generally accepted industry definition of deliverability is, so feel free to tell others what it means with confidence!
well played – for a baby boomer, you sure do like your smiley faces.
Yes – proper information is ALWAYS important keeping your audience educated and informed. No worries, correct terms are always provided to my clients.
@Joan – Old guys aren’t born this way; it takes years of practice 😉 And if I didn’t use smilies how would people know when I’m smiling? 😀
Props for keeping the industry clean and teaching your clients what words mean! The industry will never move forward without a common language with common meaning.
John:
I’m sorry that my article and subsequent tweets/comments have upset you. I made a few attempts in the comments to edit the article. I’d still be happy to do that.
As you are aware, I’m not responsible for the editing of comments on MarketingProfs. I was as surprised as you were that they were removed.
Also, there is no way for me to subscribe to additional comments via email. I do not indent on refreshing this page daily, so please let me know if the conversation continues.
@DJ – When I tweeted a couple points were wrong, you always could have DM’d, emailed, or called, and I’d have give you the answer (and supporting documentation if you needed it).
Instead, you chose to publically challenge me – more than once – and when I supported my position you pubically brushed it off and turned the conversation to my sarcasm.
Vahe deleting my comments is one thing, editing the ones left is something entirely different. If Vahe or MarketingProfs thinks it’s in their best interest to edit “the conversation”, that’s their business and between them and their readers. I can name one person that won’t waste their time anymore….
Combine those things and what am I left with other than to make my point in an environment where I have more than 140 characters and don’t have to worry about being edited?
That said, apology accepted and no hard feelings on my side. You’re a great guy, great voice in the industry, and a great teacher. Lean on your resources; you’ll get much farther standing on their shoulders than standing opposed. 🙂
This just in: It has been brought to my attention that Vahe was not responsible for removing or editing my comments on the MarketingProfs post. Based on the back-and-forth in the comments on that post, and Vahe’s editor status I made the assumption that Vahe was the one editing comments.
I was wrong.
As it turns out my comments were removed and edited by someone else behind the scenes that didn’t have the authority to do so, nor did they check with Vahe before doing so.
So to Vahe I apologize. I won’t edit my the above post or prior comments; I don’t think I could take the irony…. 🙂
And while I’m here, I have to give mad props to MarketingProfs for reaching out on this issue. Their professionalism in light of the incident has been second to none!
Hi John —
Thanks for the clarification here… appreciate it.
Just to close the loop… the comments have been fully restored:
http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2011/4358/17-email-marketing-terms-every-business-should-know
Thanks, Ann!
I don’t think too many others would have given the attention or gone to the same lengths as MarketingProfs. My hat is off to you all! 😀