Direct Marketing - The Disadvantages of Fax Broadcasting
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Fax broadcasting involves copying or creating a document and then simultaneously sending that document to multiple recipients. This is the same thing as sending out simultaneous e-mails to multiple recipients only it is done using a fax machine or Internet fax broadcast service. This is a great marketing tool when it is used appropriately. When it is not used appropriately you can end up hurting your market instead of enhancing your market. Before you start fax broadcasting you really need to take a look at the disadvantages of this marketing technique.
Lost Faxes
Once a fax has been transmitted there is no guarantee that the recipient will actually receive this fax. If the recipient's fax machine is very busy with incoming faxes from other sources, your fax must wait its turn in line. That wait in line may be just a few minutes or it could be hours. The longer the wait the higher the risk that your fax may not even be received at all. If you are using your own office fax machine you may be able to configure an automatic redial function to keep sending your fax until you receive a confirmation from the recipients that your fax has been received. If you are trying to fax broadcast to 1,000 recipients, the initial dial and subsequent redial activity on your machine can tie up your machine for days.
Bandwidth Cost
Heavy fax broadcasting may cause you to cross over into a higher threshold of service requirements for either your Internet connection or your telephone connection. An Internet fax service will also charge you based upon the amount of activity you are generating with your fax broadcasting.
Customer Relations
You know yourself that email spam is annoying and can be a very time-consuming problem in your workday. Fax broadcasting has the potential of doing the same thing. If your targeted fax broadcasting recipients are getting your faxes instead of business faxes which they are eager to receive, it is very easy for them to perceive your fax broadcasting efforts as a hindrance to their business day. Repetitious fax broadcasting can result in the recipient automatically trashing your faxes, just like junk mail or spam, without ever reading or reviewing your faxes. Unsolicited faxes are often considered an irritant that not only take up time but that use paper that ends up in the trash.
Legal Impact
Fax broadcasting can sometimes cross legal limits and even violate some privacy and data-protection laws. This is more than just the standard copyright and privacy concerns of mass marketing. You need to understand the laws and regulations governing fax broadcasting not only from your point of origin but the physical locations of all of the recipients of your fax broadcasting. For example, in some localities businesses are offered the opportunity to "opt out" from receiving unsolicited faxes. Or in some cases your fax might contain data for specific information which is considered private and not for public distribution. Fax broadcasting has the potential or disadvantage of incurring legal problems.
Tags:
Direct Marketing, Marketing
Lost Faxes
Once a fax has been transmitted there is no guarantee that the recipient will actually receive this fax. If the recipient's fax machine is very busy with incoming faxes from other sources, your fax must wait its turn in line. That wait in line may be just a few minutes or it could be hours. The longer the wait the higher the risk that your fax may not even be received at all. If you are using your own office fax machine you may be able to configure an automatic redial function to keep sending your fax until you receive a confirmation from the recipients that your fax has been received. If you are trying to fax broadcast to 1,000 recipients, the initial dial and subsequent redial activity on your machine can tie up your machine for days.
Bandwidth Cost
Heavy fax broadcasting may cause you to cross over into a higher threshold of service requirements for either your Internet connection or your telephone connection. An Internet fax service will also charge you based upon the amount of activity you are generating with your fax broadcasting.
Customer Relations
You know yourself that email spam is annoying and can be a very time-consuming problem in your workday. Fax broadcasting has the potential of doing the same thing. If your targeted fax broadcasting recipients are getting your faxes instead of business faxes which they are eager to receive, it is very easy for them to perceive your fax broadcasting efforts as a hindrance to their business day. Repetitious fax broadcasting can result in the recipient automatically trashing your faxes, just like junk mail or spam, without ever reading or reviewing your faxes. Unsolicited faxes are often considered an irritant that not only take up time but that use paper that ends up in the trash.
Legal Impact
Fax broadcasting can sometimes cross legal limits and even violate some privacy and data-protection laws. This is more than just the standard copyright and privacy concerns of mass marketing. You need to understand the laws and regulations governing fax broadcasting not only from your point of origin but the physical locations of all of the recipients of your fax broadcasting. For example, in some localities businesses are offered the opportunity to "opt out" from receiving unsolicited faxes. Or in some cases your fax might contain data for specific information which is considered private and not for public distribution. Fax broadcasting has the potential or disadvantage of incurring legal problems.
