Whats up with webmail?

[Jabu]

Hi

I am a webmail user and I have a strange problem. I never get the confirmation email when I register here. But I see my message got through about the problem because now I am a member.

Also, to correct the information. When you register for webmail they ask questions about what you are buying, how much you earn and things like that. So I think they do have a profile of each person.

[Dave A]

Great to see you made it, Jabu.

I'm going to have to take a closer look at webmail - you're the second webmail user today that has had an issue with the confirmation email not arriving.

[Jabu]

I thought I must let you know. The email arrived. It just took a long time.

[Dave A]

Thanks for letting me know, Jabu. I was getting quite worried there.

I assure you, the confirmation email is sent straight away. So obviously it just takes a little while to find its way to your inbox.

[Ann Williams]

Webmail is a fascinating business model - particularly in how they make money (and really huge amounts of it) from online advertising and e-mail marketing. (I use them as a mini case study in my e-mail marketing workshops.)

The basic model is that they provide free e-mailing services (mainly to the SA market). To get your free e-mail account, you have to fill in a fairly extensive questionnaire on a three monthly basis. This will include questions about who you are (age, income bracket, sex, whether you own your business, where you live etc), as well as long section on what products you are looking at buying in the next six months.

Of course, what this basically implies, is that although you will get the e-mail account for free; it still comes at a price - that you will be sent advertising e-mails on a regular basis.... (and they also sell online advertising space of course, but more on that in another post).

WebMail then approaches businesses and offers them the opportunity to reach a huge database of people (all those who have signed up for the 'free' e-mail accounts) with marketing e-mails.

The thing is, that with Webmail you can't start small!!! This is a major problem because you can spend tens of thousands of rands (general they try to sign you up for a contract for am absolute minimum of R5 000 a month for at least a year) before you even know whether you are getting results.

And quite frankly, from what I have heard from companies who have used them, the results are quite dissapointing (and that's from an e-mailing perspective, rather than from an uninformed perspective).

Some of the reasons why this is happening, is because as free e-mailing has become more widespread there is a definite trend to move to Gmail (in particular).

Secondly, because their actual e-mailing program isn't as nicely laid out, handle pictures etc as GMail (and others) now are. (It was great when it was the first in SA, but now it's 'old hat' technologically.)

Thirdly, because more and more users are just ignoring the marketing messages that appear in their in-boxes.

The result has been that WebMail is getting more and more desperate to get business. Previously, all they had to do was be a big player with the Online Publishers Association and wait for the advertisers to flock.

Then they had sales reps around the country who specifically went out and found business. At more or less the same time they decided to start with call centres where potential advertisers were invited to presentations showing how the model worked.

Lately, it has been a case of heavy-duty call centre pressure and heavy-duty e-mail marketing.

The only way that I eventually managed to get rid of their really pushy call centre operators (who didn't listen and who just went on and on pushing), was to tell them that I already was a potential client and was in contact with one of their sales reps in the area. (True. Because I have been following their model and how they manage the business for a while now - and because I originally had a look at using them but found the results to cost ratio most definitely not acceptable to me.)

I must admit to also having rather a personal objections to the hard core (very smooth, but not really giving you all the angles) sales tactics that seem to now be employed by the bigger online advertisers (including Ananzi and the Yellow Pages) to get you to take out long term (1 year or more) advertising contracts.

[IanF]

I have learnt the hard way as soon as you get a phone call and they ask to speak to owner, I say either are you the owner of your business if not can I speak to the owner. Or if I am tired I just say he is not in can you send an email with what you want. Most of the time it is either webmail or easyinfo.

[IanF]

Just had a call from webmail asking to speak to the MD. I just said we don't deal with webmail, when asked why I said get your MD to phone me and I will explain. How do you get off their calling list? Or do they just use the phone book?

[Novice]

Also had same problem. I kept telling them that they have already contacted me numerous times before... then the dead silence on the line.

Fortunatly they stopped.
Can't wait for the next time. Will give them a piece of my mind.

[murdock]

i heard one of my customers on the telephone to this webmail yesterday...he has spent 15k and has had no results...he sounded pretty peed off.

[Dave A]

Perhaps their real problem is their pricing?

I wonder if there is a zero return, or just a low return against the money spent.