[Worldwalker]

It's not whether you give out your email addresses to spammers -- it's whether you create the impression that there's a risk you might do so. One of the ways a site can create that impression is trying too hard to get those addresses. This leads the user to ask "why does he want my email address so badly?" and the first answer that comes to mind is generally "because he thinks he can make money off of it" -- especially on a slick, commercial-looking site like yours. How can someone make money off a list of email addresses? Spamming it himself, or selling the list to spammers. It doesn't matter that you don't do it, any more than it matters that you're not planning to rob a bank if you walk in with a ski mask over your face. It's what it looks like you're going to do -- looks to people who have been made sensitive, even paranoid, by the actions of others -- that counts.

Image matters. Why is your website not just stark black text on white pages, with nary a picture in sight? Or perhaps some "Geocities 1995" style, complete with animated GIFs and <blink>? Image. Appearances. The same content could be presented either way, but every website owner is intuitively aware that image matters. The problem is they stop short of understanding that all aspects of their online image matter, not just the slickness of their website. They build glitzy websites to convince their prospective customers to do business with them, but then act in ways that make them look like weasels.

Ecommerce sites that make you jump through hoops (or start the buying process) just to find out how much their stuff costs are one example. Their idea is "once the customer it in his cart, he'll feel committed to buying it." My idea is "Why would I want to do business with a weasel? Their competitors are as close as my Back button and the next hit in my search results" The probable outcome of these competing ideas is left as an exercise for the student.

Another, a real biggie, is the ones that are dead-set on forcing you to sign up for their marketing emails. You know the ones: they make you check a box saying "don't send me your valuable newsletter with exclusive special offers", and sometimes one saying "don't allow your trusted partners to send me information on special deals just for me", or in some cases it's un-check the alternative. The really weaselly ones reset the checked state of that box to "spam me!" if for some reason there's an error in the form -- you leave out a field, for instance. They don't reset the entire form (they've learned that people just give up if they have to type all that stuff in again) but they reset that email-harvesting checkbox, to get a second try at tricking their customers into signing up to be spammed by them and "trusted partners" (those being, apparently, anyone they can trust to actually pay for the mailing list). It's not the fact of the marketing emails themselves -- I just finished reading about a half-dozen of them that I signed up for, ranging from Borders (Stephanie Meyer, ick ick ick) to a local comics shop (20% off on graphic novels today, need to stop by when I'm out doing errands). It's the fact that the website owners are trying to trick users into signing up, or require them to take actions, often several actions, to not be signed up by default, that builds the mistrust. It's not just "if their newsletter is something I'd really want to get, why do they think they have to trick me into signing up for it?" but the whole impression you get from someone who thinks weaseling you into giving them something you don't want to is a good way to do business.

That's what's in play with this site. You go there, and a big giant "give us your email address! Now!! NOW!!!" thing takes over your screen. You just want to find out if a Sony PRS-600 or a JetBook would be better, and here's something that wants you to hand over your email address to a website you haven't even seen yet. Sure, you can make it go away; but more often, you'll go away. It makes a bad first impression. Instead of "they want to give me something" it says "they want me to give them something" -- private, and potentially marketable, information, in this case. That's not the way to build trust and credibility for a website.

It's not just true for sites like this one, either. Not long ago, I wanted to notify a major company's webmaster about a broken link on their site. The contact form required my full name, email address, physical address, phone number (home and work), age, sex, and several other things. Their link is still broken, because I was not going to hand over any, let alone all, of that personal information as the price of doing them a favor. I'm sure Marketing demanded that any customer contact capture all possible data about that person. The price of Marketing's demands? An unfixed website problem, and a customer who has a poorer opinion in the company, undoing some undoubtedly expensive advertising meant to get me to think highly of them. The marketroids, in other words, shot themselves in the foot.

An ebook reader review site not something that requires return visits. Unlike, say, Tom's Hardware Guide, which covers many different topics, it's something you generally use once, or within a short time period, rather than on a repeating basis. Why would I want emails from an ebook reader review website? If I've read their reviews, and selected an ebook reader, I have no reason to go back there. So the user sees little or no value in getting mailings from the site (and may not even be able to envision a legitimate reason for any such email).

As a counter-example, I got a mailing from Spring Hill Nursery last night. They sell garden plants. When I bought some plants from them, I signed up (well, actually, didn't un-click) because they have insane sale prices, and as any gardener can tell you, garden catalogs are crack; there's always room for one more plant. Sure enough, last night's e-flyer told me about an end-of-the season perennial grab bag deal, $20 for $100 worth of random plants. So I ordered it -- it sounds like fun! (note: if you're in need of plants, go there by clicking on their paid Google ad and they give you $25 off your first $50 order) Garden plants are something that you generally buy repeatedly, so I'll have reasons to do business with Spring Hill in the future. Therefore, the mailing list makes sense, both from my point of view (my name is Worldwalker and I'm a plantaholic) and theirs. I get deals; they get a customer. But what's the value proposition here? What does a person who's read the reviews and bought an ebook reader need from a review site in the future? Will whatever it is you want to send to their email bring in enough money to make up for what you'll lose from customers who scramble for their Back buttons the instant that thing pops up in their faces?

Image is everything online. On the Web, nobody knows you're a dog -- or you're a trustworthy person. They have only your image to go on. You have to build an image of being trustworthy, as well as actually being trustworthy, or you won't get people's trust. And in business, a customer's trust is worth infinitely more than their email address.