An interview with the Managing Director of F1 - Stephen Price (+44) 01225 427285

Q1 - What idea are you promoting?

A - F1 is a specialised IT training company and we have decided to donate 10p to charity for every copy of our Newsletter we send out by Email. The reason for this is to attempt to break the mould of having to rely on paper based advertising and postal mailshots to communicate with existing customers and to obtain new customers.

Q2 - Where did the idea come from?

A - Well it all started when we decided to prepare a short Email based newsletter to keep our customers briefed on development and training news. We performed a mailshot to our customers who had personally given us their Email addresses and were, in general, pleased with the results. However we did have some negative feedback along the lines of 'I don't like to receive unsolicited Emails' and this got us thinking of ways we could improve our communication to customers whilst not offending some of them.
As we are also recipients of spamming Emails it was a top priority for us not to add further to the problem of spamming.

Q3 - What's your opinion of Spamming and other guerrilla marketing practices?

A - Spamming is a significant problem and getting worse by the day and if we in the business community do not find a way of dealing with it, all of society will suffer. Our company is member of EuroCAUCE (European Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email) http://www.euro.cauce.org whose aim is to lobby for legislation to limit spamming at its source. We are also a member of HonorWeb http://www.honorweb.com which commits F1 to guarantee customers privacy.

I think we need to remind ourselves how we got into this position where Email, although a technically more advanced form of communication, is frequently considered the poor relation to postal marketing.
In the case of postal mail, the sender pays for the entire cost of the mailing and receiver pays nothing and even when the marketing is badly targeted, consumers have got used to accepting this as a fact of modern day life and assume nothing can be done about it.

In the case of Fax marketing the sender pays for the call but the receiver pays some of the cost (fax ink and paper) and also has their fax machine tied up during the reception of the fax. This obviously causes some annoyance to consumers.

In the case of Emailshots the receiver pays for most of the cost (the time cost while connected to their Email server) and the distraction of having their in-tray filled with Email they do not want. This obviously causes great annoyance to consumers. In USA some people return form holiday to find several hundred of these 'spammed Emails' waiting for them and tie up their phone lines and in-tray as a result.

There has been much negative publicity about companies 'spamming' junk Emails to hundreds of thousands or even millions of people and we as a professional IT company do not want to be part of this kind of activity. However, until the system is changed and a way is found for the sender to pay for Emails, 'spamming' will continue to be a problem for everyone.
In the meantime, businesses will continue to waste money (and trees) sending out their messages via postal mail to many people who do not want or need it, in the hope that it may land of the desk of someone who might have a requirement for their product and services.

Q4 - So what can be done to change this situation?

A - We then came up with the idea that many people might be happier to receive marketing information via Email if they knew that whenever they received it, the company would be donating a specific amount to a registered charity. We then brainstormed the idea and came up with the pros and cons of such an action plan.

Q5 - As you see it, what are the pros and cons of in effect paying for people to receive your Email?

A - Pros

• We would annoy less people with Email.
  
• People would be more positive to our Newsletter knowing that whenever they receive an Email from us with a charity symbol, they have helped contribute 10p to a registered charity.
  
• We as a company would save on the effort and costs of postal mailings.
  
• We would do our part as a business in saving paper and the environment.
  
• We would be protecting the environment further by reducing fuel emissions with fewer deliveries of letters and brochures by couriers and Royal Mail.
  
• Charities would get regular significant amounts of money from businesses.
  
• We would be cutting down on our Internet traffic as, in effect, we are a company who is actually paying for our Emailshots to customers. We will therefore spend more time refining and reducing our Email lists to ensure they only go to the people who genuinely want to know and make use of the services we provide.
  
• We might encourage companies who use postal mailings to do the same and send money to charity for every letter mailed. But we won't hold our breath as it is more likely to be a customer driven marketing change than from the established marketing organisations, who have little to gain and possibly much to lose.

Cons

• Some people are likely to be cynical and think its just a PR ruse, others will think its naïve and a silly idea. On balance we think both statements are wrong. We honestly intend it to be a genuine attempt by our company to refocus our marketing efforts towards the Internet and let charities share in the benefits of doing this.
  
• Cost of donations to charity from F1 could be high if not carefully monitored and validated.
  
• Which charities should F1 be donating the money to? FOE, Greenpeace, Oxfam, or a body that collects for all. Some people very positive or negative to certain charities according to their own preferences. Shall we let customers decide which charity their donation should go to? Possibly later on when the quantity of donations is significant enough.
  
• What are the legal and tax implications of donations?
  
• If there is a sudden rush by people to be added to our Email newsletter, it may need more internal resources to cope.

Q6 - How much do you donate?

A - We have a policy of keeping our newsletter short and to the point, with direct links to specific web pages for more information. It can very quickly read and then file or discarded as required.

We limit them to a maximum of 1 A4 page containing only text with no attachments, so there is no possibly of it containing a Virus.
We calculated the maximum cost to the receiver of downloading this 4KB Email as follows. If they use a standard 28K modem it would take them less than 1.2 seconds, which even if they were using a dial up line at peak phone rates would cost them less than one tenth of a UK Penny. We then decided we would pay 100 times this amount to charity every time we Emailed a customer our newsletter i.e. 10p per contact.

Q7 - If customers read your Emailed newsletter and then visit your web site will they still not have to request that you send them flyers and brochures in the post?

A - No. Our web site contains downloadable PDF (Portable Data Format) documents enabling customers to select and print the specific flyers they require without having to wait to receive a copy in the post.

Q8 - Are you not concerned that if your idea catches on it could result in considerable cost to your company?

A - To a certain extent, yes. However, we do not want to swamp the Internet with Emails either. So we will positively vet requests to be added to our newsletter Email database. Only if the contact has a genuine interest in our development and training services will they be included.

Q9 - How do you determine this?

A - Well firstly both the customer and F1 must be realistic as to if, and when, the person is likely to require our services. In the main we provide development and training services to businesses and IT specialists only. If there was high demand we also might have to limit our Email to one per department or even company and rely on our contact to circulate the newsletter in that organisation.

Also over time if a contact was not making use of our services we would obviously reserve the right to remove them from our mailing lists.

Q10 - How can people be sure that you do actually pay the money to charity?

A - We have created a public web page www.f1comp.co.uk/charity which lists every Email mailshot we do, the size of the mailshot, the value of the donation and which charity benefited. Anyone can then check with the relevant charity to confirm that the donation was as stated.

Q11 - Why bother donating money to charity - why not invest the money saved into improving your products and services?

A - We think that it needs a mindset change in attitude from both customers and suppliers to make Email a respectable marketing tool. To do this we feel that having a visible, auditable donation to a charity is the best way of doing this.

Q12 - Would you like to see other businesses follow your example?
A - Definitely. There seems to be many advantages and it would be a shame if they did not. Ideally, we would like an independent monitoring group to set standards and audit contributions.

Q13 - What's to prevent spamming companies jumping on the bandwagon and claiming they are donating money to charity when they do not?

A - In an ideal world we would have some way of positively vetting companies that claim this. Until standards are established I think that we will have to rely in the integrity of each company involved. You also need to remember that it is auditable via the web and should be relatively easy to confirm facts on donations from the charities concerned.

Q14 - What about people who do not have access to Email or the web?
A - Well we've thought about this. One option is for us to provide a fax back service where essential information is selected and sent by fax to the contact. The down side to this is that it produces more paper and is more expensive for us. If there is a demand we will definitely consider it.

Q15 - What would you say to people who state that you are doing this because your web site and newsletter aren't any good, otherwise you wouldn't have to pay people to use it.

A - As for our web site we have had many positive comments on both format and content. With regards to the Newsletter, all I can say is that it is a genuine effort to change the way we market the company and we think it should be accepted at this level.

Q16 - Could a similar idea be applied to the junk mail that people receive at home?

A - There could be, although I would be reluctant for us to co-ordinate it as we do not have the time. However, if a charity agreed to act as database custodian, we could have a scenario where people make a positive statement guaranteeing that they will trash all marketing postal mail and register themselves to receive only 'charity donating' marketing information via Email. They could even fill in a customer profile form highlighting their personal interests and the charity could sell one off rentals of their Email list to companies who wish to market say 'winter sports holidays'. We would be happy to discuss and advise a charity or two on implementing the idea.

Q17 - Are you not in danger of encouraging spamming?

A - Definitely not. What we are trying to do is make Email a respectable communication media and exclude spamming.

Q18 - How much do you expect a small company like yours to contribute to charities each year?

A - We have set a budget of £12K per annum for this but obviously it depends of how much interest there is. This works out at 10,000 Emails per month which in our specialised area is quite a lot. If our example was replicated by businesses world-wide it could become the biggest source of charity contributions.

Q19 - What would you say to someone who suggests that this is just a cynical marketing ploy to get more business and free publicity?

A - I can't deny that it will be called this by some people. However, the facts speak for themselves, we will donate money to a charity which would not otherwise receive it. We believe that Email is the way ahead and we genuinely hope, for the reasons I have stated, that this is a success, not just for our company, but is taken up by many companies throughout the world. Whilst we may start the barrel rolling, in reality, if it is a success then most of our competitors will be doing it as well and the customer will decide whose Email they will act upon.

Q20 - Why don't you give £1 per Email as this is the average cost of postal mailing?

A - The comparison of a simple Email page and the glossy brochures most companies send out is not a fair one.

Our Email newsletter is a maximum of one page of plain text. It is not a glossy colour brochure and cover letter which is normally sent out. We need to find out what our customers want to persuade them to continue buying from us. We are hopeful that just giving customers the plain facts and news as we see it, with the option of going to the relevant web page is enough. However we are aware that it is a risk, and sometimes some people like the idea of a glossy impressive colour brochure and are persuaded to buy from suppliers who send them. We estimate that 10p per newsletter is a fair and reasonable amount given the limited content, but if we are successful in persuading customers to migrate to this form of communication then we will certainly review it.

Q21 - Is it realistic to expect large companies who mailshot millions each month to contribute 10p per contact to charity?

A - I can't speak for other businesses. It might be an option to have 'bands' of contribution, say for Emails over 100,000 they contribute only 2p to charity.

Q22 - How can other businesses interested in doing likewise join in?

A - Initially, we could suggest interested parties contact us. We could start a group to formulate standards and then possibly pass it over to a professional organisation who can evolve the idea properly and be responsible for conducting formal audits and establishing procedures.

4th May 1999

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