How to Use Internet Mailing Lists for Business by Bill Ringle Consider the following scenarios: Fran is director of communications at a New York City bank and is struggling with the right components for an internal customer services program. If only she could brainstorm with others who have implemented similar programs, she would be able to design a more appropriate training. Peter manages sales for a division of a Fortune 100 chemical company and has been inundated with sales brochures since announcing his intention to standardize on a contact management system for his post-sales support group. If only he could gather a sampling of actual customer experiences, it would help him sort out the decisions he needs to make from the marketing hype. Nancy left her Wall Street job to become CIO at a dotcom start-up in Cupertino, CA. The technical aspects of the job are going well, but she could sure use some perspective and support dealing with the culture shift -- make that shock -- that she's encountered. When every web site you click seems designed to sell you software, a watch, a book, toys for your children, or wants your resume posted, where can you turn to find peers to exchange information, learn new perspectives, ask advice, and read about what's new? Web sites aren't the only tools in the savvy business professional's Internet toolkit. Sure, you use e-mail as well, but your options are limited if you only send mail to people you know. Listservers work better than managing lists yourself if the duration of your communications with the group is longer than a week, the group is larger than a dozen, or if more than one person needs to share information with the group. Those are typical metrics used to select Internet mailing lists over group addresses, no matter what size organization or e-mail client software you happen to be using. Another benefit of taking a few minutes to learn a new tool is that you can use listservers for professional growth. You can exchange e-mail messages and expand your circle of knowledge and acquaintances through Internet mailing lists. But first, you've got to know what the buzzwords mean. Know the Lingo A listserver(sometimes called a listservfor short back in the days that mainframe program names could accommodate a maximum of 8 characters) is software that manages Internet mailing lists. A listserver refers to both the software and service provided by the software to avoid uttering awkward sentences such as, "Hey, I can't wait to tell you about this new listserver listserv!" Listservers are essentially mailing lists, so where do the names and addresses come from? Either individuals register via a web site, postcard reply form, or e-mail, thereby opting-into be on a list by choice. The alternative is for an individual or organization to purchase a list of e-mail addresses and provide the list victims -- er, list members -- with the ability to opt-out of further messages. SPAM is unsolicited commercial e-mail, usually a pitch for a product sent to a one-time opt-out list. Spam is easy to identify two ways: 1)when the return address is to a bogus address, especially of a "free mail" domain, such as hotmail.com; and 2) when the subject line pitches instant riches, weight loss, or pornography. Typically, when you opt-in to a list, you are sent a confirmation message that acknowledges your membership on the list and contains other important information. Hang onto this help file! By convention, it let's you know how cancel your membership automatically, along with any other commands that are available, such as changing to a digest version-- a daily summary of messages -- from a single-message version (very common) to seeing the list of other members (rare). Warning: Avoid railing against spam, and that includes trying to unsubscribe from the annoying lists.A better strategy is to simply delete the offending message. One well-known technique spammers use is to send to random e-mail addresses and wait for the naïve to attempt to unsubscribe either through the proscribed channel or via a polite (or not so polite) note to the sender. All that this accomplishes is that the spammer now has a confirmed address, which he or she can now sell to other spammers at a higher value than an unconfirmed address. These are some of the shady and dangerous neighborhoods of Cyberspace that these folks operate in. The person who has ownership responsibilities of a listserver is officially referred to as the list administrator, or listmaster(akin to webmaster). Colloquially, however, "List Mom" and "List Dad" terms are quite commonly used, and affectionately so. In nearly all cases, it is a voluntary position, and done with passion for the topic, fairness to the variety of perspectives presented, and with firmness to insure the ongoing viability of the list. The list mom's responsibilities span the list of administrative and content- moderation issues, including nudging discussions back on track to keep a high signal to noise ratio. On business-related topics, especially, participants have little tolerance for indulging those who flout the group's standards. Often, it's safer to simply be a lurker- one who joins lists, and listens/reads for a long time before contributing. Broaden Your Horizons Listservers are efficient for sending messages to large groups of people who have a common interest, such as an interest in advertising campaigns, Italian shoes, what's on sale at Nordstrom's, or the weekend supersaver fares on United Airlines. You may already be on a listserver and not even know it! How can you tell if a message is coming from a listserver? Check the reply to line. If you find any of the following words, you've got a very good chance that the message was transmitted through a listserver rather than directly from an individual's e-mail: list, announce, news, enews, talk, discussion, list(s), listserv, listserver, listmail, or digest. Advanced tip: If the To line of the e-mail contains "subscribers, list, group," or obvious synonyms, you're also likely looking a listserver e-mail. We cannot say with absolute certainty that these words in those places indicate a list serve origin because some individual correspondent may use one of the words in an e-mail address. Conversely, a professionally run e-mail listserver manager may either not follow the convention or employ more sophisticated software to send messages to each subscriber by his or her name to give the publication a more personalized appearance, similar to a letter mail merged with a list of addresses. What types of listservers are there? Just two fundamental types of listservers exist, really: announcement (also known as broadcast) and discussion. Announcement listservers broadcast messages that are written or edited by a single source. A magazine, author, news source, event manager, or professional association might take advantage of an announcement listserver to inform, educate, and update interested parties. Discussion listservers allow participants to voice their own opinions and have a self- enforcing understanding. For instance, if a particular list is designated to discuss the Amazon business best seller of the month and a member asks for help from the list for a volunteer willing to read their latest business plan, then it is fair game for anyone on the list to suggest politely (then more bluntly) that the query is off topic and to either get back on topic or go someplace else. Is it better to join an existing listserver or start my own? If a list exists, you'll have greater resources (in both number and depth) to interact with initially. Support lists for computer tips, investment bulletins, vacation bargain announcements sponsored by travel agencies and airlines, and book fans abound. It is far better to join an existing one for general knowledge and news, since the hard work is already taken care of. The advantage of starting your own is for specific closed-group discussions, such as your own customers. Getting Started and Getting Better Here are the three fastest ways to get started with a listserver, in order of simplicity. 1.Ask a friend or work associate what lists he/she reads regularly and why. If a list sounds interesting to you, ask your friend to forward you one of the messages to read. In that message, you will likely find either instructions for joining, or a web site to visit to learn more about the list. 2.Get a book from your local bookstore. Go browse the aisles of Borders, Barnes & Noble, or the reviews on Amazon.com. A good starting point is the Internet Yellow Pages, which I've used in my seminars for years. 3.Visit Yahoo.com and enter the phrase "listserv" in the search field. You'll do better at Yahoo than the other directory/search engine sites as a first step. For more choices, also search for the term "listserver"; to narrow your search, enter another word or phrase related to your area of interest, such as "financial management" or "human resources." Be sure to select one that's relevant to your interests. Like so many other areas of business research, it's better to find a few lists that you enjoy and participate in and a few that you skim, than to overextend yourself and subscribe to more lists than you could possibly read. Do's and Don'ts for participation in professional listservers: Keep on topic. If the list is for 1031 exchanges, don't ask the group questions about vacation recommendations. Contribute value, not just "me too!" Be mindful of other people's feelings. Read, then re-read your message. Be sensitive to your company's intellectual property (with any form of e-mail you send!). Only include information that you'd be comfortable seeing quoted on the front page of the Wall Street Journal with your name attributed. If in doubt, leave it out. Check spelling and grammar. You can do this in your e-mail client software, or copy and paste into a word processing package: check it, make correction, then transfer it back to your e-mail message. Only send mail attachments to individuals, not list addresses. "Power Users" post their content on the intranet (or a private Internet site), then send a web/ftp download address when a document needs to be distributed. Never send a "take me off this list" message. That will simply annoy readers and reflect poorly on you. Alternate strategies include: referring to the latest message for instructions, sending a private message to the listmaster, and visiting the website for help. I've worked with enough business leaders to recommend, without qualification, that listservers are a critical way that companies in size from 1 to 100,000 can take better care of their internal and external customers. Consider this twist on the business maxim of "you're only as strong as your weakest link." Ringle's reframe says that a business is only as strong as its communications network. Challenge this assertion with organizations you work for and belong to. Does it hold water? Do you ever find yourself asking, "What have they done for me lately?" Is there any excuse to not communicate when the tools are so accessible, affordable, and widely accepted? So take the plunge. Use a listserver to enrich your knowledge, circle of influence, and business relationships. Doing so will help you connect with more valuable sources, and will be a welcome alternative from wasteful web sites and spam. © Bill Ringle, 2000, all rights reserved. Bill Ringle works with organizations that want to use the Internet to grow their business. He is a frequent presenter at business conferences and seminars, author of Internet business books, and a founding member of the International Society for Intranet Collaboration. Call 800-654-4425, or visit the website www.StarComm.com to learn more about how to use the Internet for innovative and measurable business results. Send e-mail to eNews-On@starcomm.com to subscribe to his free newsletter on business technology.