There’s a discussion going on at the ASAE & The Center listserv where folks are passionately defending the practice of pre-subscribing a membership list to launch an electronic mailing list (listserv).

I’m not convinced. And I’m prepared to hold up the minority end of this argument in the name of responsible e-mail use, which we marketers are well-served to protect at any cost.

Don’t get me wrong. I do understand the thinking behind pre-subscribing. After all, our members CHOSE us. They give us their money just to be a part of our community. We, in turn, have a RESPONSIBILITY to make sure they know to participate in all the great benefits we create for them. You must have a CRITICAL MASS to make a listserv valuable, so pre-subscribing is the way to go. Besides, our members WANT to receive e-mail from us and that extends to a new listserv.

Three and one half of these assumptions are no longer valid. They are wrought with a kind of hubris that keeps us from taking the few extra steps it takes to really understand our members’ preferences and show them (and their e-mail inbox) the respect that every other trusted business in the world shows them.

Let’s tackle the first assumption—our members CHOSE us to be a part of our community. For some members, that may not be true. Maybe they signed up purely to enhance their reputation. Maybe they signed up only to attend your convention. But even for members that do want to be an active part of your community, there’s simply no way to know how they prefer to interact within that community unless you ask.

The second assumption—we have a RESPONSIBILITY to make sure they know to participate in all the great benefits we create for them—is actually true. But when grouped with the other assumptions, it’s a recipe for violating the trust of our members. If you’re creating a listserv for the first time, you need to promote it through your communications plan, have a sound strategy for ensuring the technology meets your members’ needs, and explain the benefits clearly and succinctly. Want to create buzz? Mimic the many online services companies who create beta sites and send out a limited number of opt-in invitations to people they know are early adopters and influencers.

The third assumption—you must have a CRITICAL MASS to make a listserv valuable, so pre-subscribing is the way to go—is half right. You do need a core group of frequent contributors to make a listserv valuable…but you should recruit that core group long before you launch the listserv. You need them to help you understand the reasons for your listserv to exist. They can guide the way you set up the listserv—you may need more than one list to serve a diverse membership. And your core group of champions can help plant the seeds for ongoing discussion. The strategy work you do with your core group will make the opt-in strategy not just achievable, but preferable to pre-subscribing, because you’ll know you’re connecting people who want to be connected.

The last assumption—our members WANT to receive e-mail from us and that extends to a new listserv—is the most flawed. E-mail is a “push” technology, meaning the sender, not the receiver, initiates the communication. That means you are creating an interruption. A listserv has the potential to create a big interruption. Consider several forces that are changing the way people use e-mail. Because listservs rely on e-mail, they are affected by the same forces.

1. Unmanageable Volume—according to a Dec. 2007 report from JupiterResearch, e-mail users now receive an average of 274 personal e-mails and 304 business e-mails weekly. A listserv has the potential to add significantly to this volume.

2. Multiple Addresses—One way people are managing e-mail volume? Keeping more than one e-mail address. According to the same report from JupiterResearch, 74% of e-mail users maintain multiple e-mail accounts. Can you decide for your member that your listserv should go to their main account? NO.

3. Spam Reporting—Another way people are managing e-mail volume? By reporting unwanted e-mail as spam. Most e-mail clients now make reporting unwanted e-mail as spam so easy, it’s preferable to going through an unknown opt-out process. According to a 2007 report from Return Path, only 22% of professionals bother to unsubscribe from email they no longer want. While I doubt all 22% of those are clicking the spam button, it only takes a very small number to cripple your listserv.

4. Mobile E-mail—Exact Target reported in 2007 that 37% of business people regularly read business emails on their mobile devices, up from 30% just a year ago. When your members rely on their Blackberry or other mobile device for mission-critical e-mail, a sudden, un-solicited influx of e-mail shows a lack of respect for their time and attention.

Source: E-mail Stat Center

One of my ASAE & The Center listserv friends sites an example of a Direct Marketing Association listserv that in his words, “crashed and burned because the staff insisted on opt-in.” Why would staff at the DMA insist on opt-in? Because someone in the decision-making process is just as passionate as I am about protecting e-mail as a viable communication tool…and that means adhering to strict opt-in standards.

I’d argue that the real reason the DMA listserv failed is what my friend goes on to say… “it was useless in covering the breadth of our community and people didn’t understand enough about how to actually use it.” Those sound like strategy and communications issues that would have been equally problematic in a pre-subscribed scenario.

In summary…opt-in good. Pre-subscribe bad. Discuss.