The holiday season is upon us which is typically the cue for companies and charities to start marketing aggressively – unfortunately the increased volume of emails increases the possibility for spammers to try and deface you. Be vigilant, you may receive deals that are too good to be true, offers to support The Human Fund or your bank’s evil twin may contact you about fraud. You may be asked to fill out surveys, buy now, give etc.
As discussed in previous posts, as legitimate marketers we should maintain consistent branding and messaging (don’t make too many changes too fast.) We also need to take the necessary steps to protect your data, here are a few suggestions:
1) Make sure your employees don’t have copies of customer information floating around in print or on their PCs.
2) Solicit feedback and complaints via email and phone – make sure that you monitor that inbox.
3) Don’t list customer’s full names on your website or in your catalog, their first name will do. Never put your customers email IDs on your site either. This goes for your blog comments too, try to ensure that you mask the identity of those leaving the comment… you don’t want to be the source of an ID being compromised.
4) Most importantly, audit your ESP to make sure that your data is protected, ask them to provide you with a SAS/70 certification, if they don’t know what that is – START WORRYING. Test them further by asking for a copy of your data, if you receive an unencrypted spreadsheet – PANIC. Secretly seed the ESP list with email IDs that are common to the two of you, if those are compromised – FREAK OUT.
As a marketer and a legitimate business you need to stress the importance and security of email, you also need to secure your customer’s data and remind them that you have high standards. This peace of mind goes a long way.
