Sounds nice doesn’t it?  I mean, who would expect anything different from a Christian non-profit than responsible information handling?

But wait - in order to use email as an effective marketing vehicle you need a big ole list of email addresses to send it to.  Preferably the email addresses of people in your target market - in this case Christians who are active online and likely to respond to your offer of online training.

Oh, you haven’t been building that list yourself?  No sweat!  There are plenty of businesses just itching to rent or sell you a list to use.  Very cheaply, in some cases.

So there you have it - a cheap, existing audience ready-made for your product or service.  Put the message together, pay the list provider, send out your message, and lean back in your chair, arms resting behind your head - just waiting to see those responses pour in.

Ain’t the internet grand?

Well, not always.

You see - you just became a spammer.  And by doing so you’ve put the reputation of your organization on the line.

Yeah - I know.  The list provider told you the list was “clean” - meaning the addresses were from people who have indicated that they are willing to receive messages such as yours.

Well, guess what.  They lied.  How do I know?

In Clear Creek Baptist Bible College’s case, the email was sent to “hycw@boyink.com” That’s an email address I only use to post comments to HealYourChurchWebsite.com.  Which means whoever put this email list together did it by email harvesting.

The only “responsible information handling” in this day and age is to build your own email list - in an opt-in fashion.  Yes, it takes longer - but you should know the best way is never the easy way.

C’mon folks...can we stop looking so incompetent when it comes to using the Internet for Christian purposes?  It’s embarassing already....

More on the subject: Are Unsolicited Church E-mails Considered Spam?.