IDMB Backs Opt-In E-Mail

The newly formed Internet Direct Marketing Bureau (IDMB) has endorsed opt-in as the best practice for email marketing.

The announcement was made at the group’s inaugural meeting in Scottsdale, AZ at the E-Biz Solutions conference.

The IDMB called on all email marketers and their industry groups to join in endorsing opt-in, inviting them to be signatories to the group’s best- practices guidelines, which will be posted on the IDMB Web site by month’s end.

“Opt-in” allows users to visit a Web site and check a box to request information about a particular product or service of interest. Ordinary spam campaigns blitz Internet users with electronic junk mail they don’t want.

“Our members are Internet-based companies, so they understand that a viable business model for direct marketing in this medium must respect the privacy needs of consumers,” said Paul Grand, CEO at Word of Net, and head of the IDMB’s steering committee. “Further, if our industry fails to voluntarily adopt these practices, we risk over-regulation by government. The IDMB will be aggressive in reaching out to all marketing concerns and educating them on these issues.”

“Spamming under an opt-out model is the mark of a company that doesn’t care how many people it annoys, and doesn’t have a brand it needs to protect,” said Jason Catlett, president of Junkbusters Corp. and an adviser to the IDMB’s privacy committee. “We’re delighted to see responsible marketers coming forward and saying ‘we never want to treat our customers like that.’ One hundred percent opt-in is the only ecologically sustainable policy for the Internet.”

In addition to Word of Net and Junkbusters, other charter members of the IDMB include: InterActive Agency, Webstakes, marketreach, WebPromote, Think New Ideas, Pixelpark, Netcreations, Engage Technologies, Flycast Communications, Dave’s World, DoubleClick Network, Hall Dickler, IDEA Inc., Interactive Marketing Inc. and Revnet.

Annual membership in the Internet Direct Marketing Bureau is available under two different pricing packages at a cost of $2,000 and $5,000 respectively, based on the amount of visibility a company wishes to have within the organization. Charter members receive additional benefits.