What do you think of email marketing to get new players?

[hiigara]

I plan to harvest emails and advertise my game through email.
Have you ever done this?
There is one good thing about email marketing. You can measure accurately what percentage of people you mailed actually tried the game.

[Mutant]

There's one (really) bad thing... it's illegal in most western countries. The US in particular has very harsh penalties.

If you have a database of emails that you've collected via legitimate means (e.g. an existing game), and they opted in to receive emails, and the opted in to receive emails about things other than the game they signed up for, and you give them easy options to opt out in the future, and also to delete themselves completely from your systems, only then is it legal.

[hiigara]

For legal reasons I will provide an opt out option. I am not going to be an annoying spammer. I don't intend to email the same address more than twice a year.
Now about the way the addresses are collected, I don't care about breaking the law. Who can prove the exact way of how I got hold of an address?

[Mutant]

I'm sorry, but if you are opting people in to your mailing list without their explicit consent, then you are an annoying spammer, no two ways about it. It's illegal for a reason.

People who play games are generally very tech savvy. They know who the genuine developers are, and who the annoying marketing-obsessed hacks are. Word spreads fast. You may make some gains in the short term (but even that's not guaranteed), but as a long-term strategy, it just won't work. I've even been ripped apart just for requiring an email address for registration purposes (and I don't send any non-game related emails).

But ultimately, it's your choice. Sounds like an incredibly bad idea, but it's your choice.

BTW, how are you planning to harvest the addresses?

[hiigara]

I don't know exactly how people will react. That's one of the reasons I started this topic. I have nothing to lose in experimenting  though.
From a quick google search I have read about different harvesting techniques. I am going to try more than one.
Some of them are not very orthodox, others are pretty much criminal.

[capturts]

Imagine I harvest a number of email addresses from all over the web. Maybe I even try and harvest from websites that sound like they may be related to my product. Maybe I'm selling underwater basket weaving lessons. I htry to be ethical so I harvest from underwater.com baskets.net and suchlike (all made up). You've previously posted in a forum and therefore when I am harvesting I assume your email address belongs to someone who is 100% interested in my lessons. So I send you some spam emails a few times per year and to 1000 other victims users who've posted on those sites. That's, say, 3000 emails to 1000 people every year. Then someone else does the same thinking "Oh those people must be interested in my basket weaving materials", so that's 6000 emails per year. Then 100 others do the same... well I won't continue but that's one hell of a lot of emails that will be sent, and that's assuming the email list doesn't get sold to other spammers email marketing individuals.

If I don't ask for your emails then I don't want them.

[pirategaspard]

A sure way for me to NOT play your game and to spread the word to my friends and family to NOT play the game is to harvest my email and start sending me spam twice a year.

[Marek]

A better use of emails is to re-engage players. Many players log in once and never again, and you can salvage some of them by emailing them an invitation to come back to the game.

Such emails will probably be much more effective, and you won't be angering people with spam.

[capturts]

Yes getting an email from something you signed up for and have now forgotten about is fine.

[hiigara]

A sure way for me to NOT play your game and to spread the word to my friends and family to NOT play the game is to harvest my email and start sending me spam twice a year.

Don't forget. The first time I email you I will put in capital letters "I DO NOT WISH TO RECEIVE MORE INFO ABOUT THIS GAME", and provide an opt out link.
I will not keep sending emails if you opt out.
Most people who never heard about the game before will not be offended by my email. I think.

[MystressNyx]

Don't forget. The first time I email you I will put in capital letters "I DO NOT WISH TO RECEIVE MORE INFO ABOUT THIS GAME", and provide an opt out link.
I will not keep sending emails if you opt out.
Most people who never heard about the game before will not be offended by my email. I think.

As someone who is often on the receiving end of spam, I can tell you that an opt out link wouldn't change a thing for me. My first thought would be, "why the Hell do I have to do anything to get rid of junk that I never asked for?"

[capturts]

Email spam marketing lists should be opt in - not opt out. If 100 people decide that it doesn't cause me much effort to opt out of their lists then is that fair on me?

Also it's a well known fact that most spam opt out links are there to confirm to the spammer that you are a real person and then they can spam you that bit more...