My inbox is under attack. In just the last couple of days, I have received no less than 15 emails from either the same sender or with the same subject line.
A barrage of junk
The first one came in on Sunday at 3 a.m. from “Emma Thompson” with the subject line “New customers looking for your services.” When I opened it, it said someone was seeking PR services. I deleted the email because I thought no serious agency would be sending out emails on Sunday at 3 a.m.
Later that morning, I got an email from “Kate Potter” with the subject line “Web designer quote.”
And then an email from “Mia West” with the subject line “New customers looking for your services.”
And then at least ten more emails throughout President’s Day from “Kate Potter” with alternating subject lines:
“Mobile Software Developer Quote”
“Photographer Quote”
“Packaging Designer Quote”
“Web Designer Quote”
Interspersed were two more emails from “Mia West,” subject: “New customer looking for your services.”
Notice a pattern? Same sender and/or same subject line.
This is lead generation?
I opened some of these email and found they all came from a supposed lead generation outfit called Bark(dot)com. This “company” found my website and copied my contact information into their database, and then began “contacting” me.
Perhaps Bark(dot)com is a legitimate business, but it doesn’t act like it. In fact, it is acting in a downright shady manner. Its marketing “method” is more like a spammer’s than that of a legitimate business’ email marketing technique.
If it acts like spam…
What makes these emails look and act like spam, and therefore be wholly ineffective:
- Sending during non-business hours and days
- Sending the same email time after time
- Sending way too many emails in too short a time span
- Sending emails that are not relevant and not personalized
Update
Since writing this post, I received six more emails, making it over 20 emails in a 48-hour time period.
About Deborah Brody
Deborah Brody writes and edits anything related to marketing communications. Most blog posts are written under the influence of caffeine.
Receiving spam, marketing and scam emails is very annoying. The best way to deal with it is to block those emails. Thank you for giving us information on what makes those emails look and act like spam.
Our not for profit organisation has received almost 100 in the last few days. We have asked them to stop.
Note that if they are emailing direct to your name, (e.g. joebloggs@mycompany.com) as they are doing with our staff, then they are in breach of GDPR regulations. If they don’t stop as soon as possible then they will be reported to the Information Commissioners Office.
The maximum fine for a GDPR breach is 4% of annual global turnover or 10 million Euros, whichever is higher.
Thank you for commenting. I am very interested to know that others have also received the barrage of emails. In the US, there is little to be done about SPAM. If this outfit, in spite of being beholden to GDPR rules, thinks that this is a good way to reach people, I think I’ve proven my point that they do not understand how to do email marketing.
Hi Pip and Deb I have also received all the way in New Zealand, from the same “Kate” and have replied with Pip’s suggestion as a warning about a GDPR complaint to the Information Commissioners Office.
Hi Eddie,
It’s amazing that these people are still at it! It’s been well over a year since I wrote about my experience with these shady leadgen people. I never heard from them again, so I hope they leave you alone too.
Thanks for your comment and update.
Deborah
Update- after sending them a warning email about GDPR I got an instant response back that I’ve been removed from their mailing list. But it’s a copy and past auto-response in my opinion because I asked them to remove my domain entirely and they haven’t acknowledged that. The wording was:
“Hi
Thanks for getting in touch! We have now removed you from our system and will not email you with business opportunities again.
If you do change your mind then you can sign up any time as a Pro at Bark.com and choose exactly which types of leads you want to hear about.
Kind Regards,
Bark
The Bark Team
http://www.bark.com
team@bark.com“
What email did you write to them? I get emails daily from them and it is quite annoying. I am not familiar with GDPR because in my country they have some other law for this kind of thing. Would you mind sharing your email?
Thanks for your comment. If you are in the European Union, you are under GDPR protections. If not, check whether your country has any data/internet privacy laws.
… we have emails them at team@bark.com and asked to be removed from their mailing lists, which they have done promptly
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Wow! I got the same email from ‘Kate Potter’
It sounded too good to be true.
Then I came across your post on a google search. Thanks so much 👍
(In the meantime I am preparing for the barrage of emails from this bark crowd!) Ugh!
I’m in NZ as well. I responded to the email from Kate explaining that I wasn’t interested and unsubscribed. The next day I got another one. This time I phoned them as there was a local number on the email. Went through to a pleasant sounding person in the UK. She said that Kate was one of their Marketing people, but she wasn’t available… 😉
I asked her to remove me and she assured me it was done.
For good measure I unsubscribed a second time.
Let’s see what happens tomorrow morning!
Yep, I’m in the process of launching a new marketing agency, the website has only been live for two weeks and I just got two emails from “Kate Potter.” I’m curious as to how they got my email address as we’re not very public (yet). This article is the second hit on Google in Australia for “Kate Potter Bark.” The first? A “review” for a dog groomer on Bark…
Hi Chas–I’ve no idea how Bark got your contact info. I get emails from vendors/spammers every single day, and I have no idea where they get my info. It’s amazing that Bark’s been doing this for several years. It looks as if they’ve been targeting Australia and New Zealand, as you can see by two previous comments from New Zealand. My advice is to block Bark’s email domain, and report if you can. Good luck with the new marketing agency!
I came across your blog post because my name is… Kate Potter. Bark.com’s unsolicited spam emails using the name “Kate Potter” are causing me no end of frustration, because a lot of people think that it is ME emailing them! I’ve contacted Bark multiple times through multiple channels asking them to stop using the name “Kate Potter” to spam people. One year on and no luck yet. The perils of having a common name! Thank you for shining a light on this issue!