Articles

To email or not to email: the horrors and blessings of email activism

by Marlyn Tadros

Ah! The blessing of having email! There was a time when we had to go to the post office and send a letter that took a few days [sometimes months depending on which side of the Globe you were in] to reach its destination. Then came the fax machine with its instant connection; but of course having to make that long distance phone call was not exactly cheap. When blessed Email arrived, it dramatically changed the way we communicate. Activists in particular, from all over the globe, found the ideal means to communicate: it was fast, easy, inexpensive, and could even mobilize people. Alerts about human rights violations circled the globe within a few minutes and interested people were able to subscribe to causes they were interested to pursue.

When did it turn into horror?

In spite of that bliss, email has turned into pure horror, with the number of emails that one receives, from spam email, to virus-infected emails, to alerts that just don't seem to stop. We now seem to have email-fatigue-syndrome, where we open our emails in the morning and just go through the motions of deleting them automatically without ever bothering to open or read them. Let us pause a moment before we continue writing, signing or receiving those petitions or alerts and let us ask ourselves: do people really read the emails we send out? Do they delete them too as we delete what we receive? I for one could assure you that that I delete more email alerts than I read them. Given the proliferation of alerts, I thought perhaps they were effective in some ways, or else why would people spend time writing them and then keep sending them? Perhaps there is something about them that I am not understanding? I therefore decided to look around and see if I was the only one deleting my emails. I asked participants in several of the online workshops that Virtual Activism conducts, and here are their responses about why they delete alerts without reading them:

Why we delete email alerts without reading them:

• When they seem to be junk mail that fill up the mailbox.
• When they are too long and take up too much time while connecting. One participant commented: "I have only between 10 to 20 minutes to check my mail box daily before starting my day's work so I find alerts a waste of time."
• When they are unsolicited. We never asked for them nor signed up for them, and they just keep coming.
• When the topic of the alert is of no interest to us.
• When they are from sources not known to us. One participant added: "When the alert is coming from an unknown source it is hardly possible that I am the target so I delete it."
• When they are from organizations that send alerts so frequently that it becomes, as one participant put it, "more of a weekly (or daily) newssheet." She added: "For some of these I either use a mail filter that sends them straight to the trash or indicate to my server that they are spam so they will be bounced". In short, when we get messages from the same sender more than once in a short period of time.
• When they are incredibly lengthy and don't explain in the first paragraph or two what the rest of the text is about. Many participants commented that in periods when they are swamped with work and unread emails, they go through their email list and eliminate low priority issues (as described in the subject line) and unknown/dubious senders with strange subject lines, without opening them.
• When they don't look like they were well-researched or checked for grammatical errors. Grammar, presentation and first impressions DO matter when corresponding by email.
• When they do not give exact information on what people can do and whom they should contact or what exactly is required of you.
• When they have complicated formatting that can be a problem for people with slower browsers or older software.
• When they are emotional and not clear or factual. One participant said that "Emails (much like some TV ads) that try to invoke indignation or too much emotion can often have the opposite effect than what they intended."
• When they are sent as an attachment instead of within the text.
• When the same organization sends the words 'urgent' in the subject line every time. After the first two 'urgent' emails, one will never open them again.
• When the alert is too long because the online reading-span is not too long.

The Golden Rules of sending email action alerts:

Well the golden rules are really the reverse of all the previous points. One thing to always remember is that online reading 'spans' are very very short, and if something is not to the point and quick, we will delete it or move on to the next. Whatever it is, it has to capture our attention immediately. But here are some more tips on writing effective alerts, besides reversing the points above:

1. Use credible aliases: if I am a politician or even just an interested individual and I get an email from someone called bubblehead@hotmail.com, I will not bother to open it. Use a credible sounding email address. If you do not have one, get a new email address.
2. Put name and address clearly at top and explain briefly who you are.
3. Be brief: brevity is golden!
4. Be clear and concise: avoid long paragraphs and long sentences. Bulleting, numbering, sub headings, etc. make it more readable and enables one to span to the sections that they are interested in.
5. Include date of action even though email provides a date
6. Provide accurate and true information.
7. Proof-read your email. Grammatical errors are unacceptable.
8. if you have a website, include more information in it and add the link to it at the bottom of your action alert.
9. Tell readers exactly what to do: if you do not, your "action alert" is not action but rather a release or a piece of information. If you are asking your audience to write to embassies, government officials, or the media, include as much contact information to them as possible
10. If you are asking your recipients to write letters, include a sample letter.
11. Send it to interested people. To know if they are interested you need to first create a mailing list and invite people to subscribe to it. If they do not subscribe, do not send them alerts because it will be a waste of your time and theirs.
12. Limit the number of emails you send to your target audience, unless it is truly an emergency. If one receives repeated emails from one source, one is more likely than not to delete it. The Golden Rule: Scarcity makes precious.
13. Use the bcc field in your email in order not to disclose the recipients of your email. There are many reasons why you would want to hide the list of recipients. Some people do not like to show their regular mailing list, and email is no exception. It is not a good idea to receive an email with 20 or thirty or more email addresses in the To: field. Otherwise, create a mailing list where all emails will be hidden.
    

One more thing to remember: email alerts are not always the most effective. We continue to live in a world where, as one participant in our workshops put it "the paper culture" is prevalent. Printed letters continue to be more effective, more impressive, and more professional, whereas email is not considered as authoritative or as credible. Remember also that the people you really want to target may not be online, and you need to create a strategy for your alerts whereby you combine the online with real time. By all means use email alerts, but understand its weaknesses and strengths before you do, and most of all, remember the golden rules.