Soliciting People for Their e-mail Address

If there is one thing I hate is going to the grocery store and having the cashier try to get my phone number or address.

Worse is when I am surfing a website and the website flat out keeps poping up a solicitation for my e-mail address.

Many people see this activity as a way to get customers. But anyone with good sense knows it drives customers away.

The average business builds a 5 page website and puts a form on the front page to collect your e-mail address. And why whould anyone intentionally give up their e-mail address so you can spam them?

Some people tell me they have a news letter they send out. Hey! You have a five page website, why would anyone beleive you are going to tell them something valueable when you can't even build a few good pages.

If you want to kill a website, add a form on the home page asking for e-mail addresses.

There are some legit reasons that sites have like sending sale notifications or special offers. But if the website only has a few items or is a service oriented site, then the request is just seen as an annoying way of doing business and likely will dive away most potential customers.

But if the site is sucessful in gathering mails and does send out solicitations, they will likely get an earful from the recipients. People hate being spammed, even if they did sign up for it.

Try it! You will see.