Bacn vs Spam
Originally uploaded by jted
I like new words when they help understand a new concept.
The concept of “bacn” needs to be understood by anyone involved in e-mail marketing, which, with 50% of market research being conducted via online access panels, includes market research professionals.
From Wikipedia:
Bacn (pronounced bacon) is the term given to electronic messages which have been subscribed to and are therefore not unsolicited but are often unread by the recipient for a long period of time. Bacn is email you want but not right now.
They differ from spam messages in that they are not unsolicited and are not necessarily sent in bulk. Bacn derives its name from the idea that it is “better than spam, but not as good as a personal e-mail”
Common examples of Bacn messages include news alerts, messages from social networking sites and wiki watch lists.
You can add online survey invitations to the list.
I am often asked whether online sample should be opt-in, or double opt-in or whatever. Of course, you must make sure that people agree to be invited to take surveys. A panellist is nothing more than that. Someone who, at some point, agreed to take a survey. Just like someone who picks up the phone once and agrees to take a phone survey. But it doesn’t mean that he will want to participate in all your future surveys. And if he doesn’t take any of your surveys for a few weeks, it doesn’t mean that he wants out. So single or double or triple opt-in doesn’t matter. More opt-ins during registration will not help your future survey invitations become more relevant for your members and customers.
For the same reason, panel sizes are irrelevant metrics. What matters is how many unique users would take a survey at a given time if you invited all your panellists.
Like many things in life, permission is not black or white. “bacn” introduces the notion that there is a very large grey area between what you want to hear about and what you don’t want to hear about.
When you think about survey invitations by email, think about this: they are “bacn”. They are not spam. They are legal, but probably not the most important thing for your panellists when they receive it.
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