Is Jobster Engaging in Risky Direct Email Practices? You Decide.

I received an email from Jobster that said "Jessica Scheibach just left a note on your Jobster.com page." I don't know a Jessica Scheibach so I logged in to my Jobster account to check out the note - I assumed it was a networking related message. So I was surprised (not really) to find out this was a promotional email from Jobster that read "Hi, I'm dropping you a note to introduce you to some new features we've been working on.........".

As it turns out, Jessica is a Jobster employee.

Why couldn't the email have told me this? I believe this is a bit misleading. There are better ways to introduce me to new features on Jobster such as including a brief list of these features in the email itself and providing a link to the details if I was interested in learning more.

Anyway, I do not consider this spam (I did after all create a Jobster account) and I don't mind getting emails (I get 500+ a day) so please don't think I am annoyed at receiving this email. I'm not. But as a marketer I think this is bad form. The strategy is risky and will likely alienate a lot of people. As for me, I am less likely to respond to any future Jobster emails that tell me I have a "note in my profile" - and some may be genuine.

In marketing, it always pays to be straightforward and upfront. And practicing good email etiquette is recommended.

P.S. When I did log in to read the note, I thought some of the new features were pretty cool but there are better ways to introduce me to these new features.

P.S.S. I was a little reluctant to even post this blog entry because it actually rewards Jobster for their inappropriate email (helping to get the word out about their new features) but I felt it was a great example of what I feel are risky and short sighted ways of communicating with customers and driving traffic to your website.

Posted by Mark Willaman