E-mail: not a communication panacea. (Eye on the Industry).E-mail is a quick, convenient, and inexpensive means by which an association can communicate with its members. Yet a typical association has active e-mail addresses See Internet address. e-mail address - electronic mail address for only 60 percent of its members, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. survey data collected by ASAE's Industry and Market Research Department in 2001 from more than 1,000 associations in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . The more members an organization has, the less likely it is to have active e-mail addresses for its members. For example, an organization with 4,001 or more members generally has e-mail addresses for only 43 percent of its members (see chart). The fiscal implications of this finding are clear: Organizations may have to employ more expensive forms of communication--telephone, fax, and standard mail--to communicate with each member for whom it does not have an e-mail address. For a trade association with only 10 members, the extra cost is probably negligible. For an individual membership organization with 20,000 members, however, the additional expense can be significant. Tom Quash To overthrow; to annul; to make void or declare invalid; e.g., "quash a subpoena." Unreasonable, obviously irregular, or oppressive subpoenas, injunctions, indictments, and orders can be quashed by a court. , ASAE's director of marketing and communications, underscores another key consideration involving email. "There is a fine line between using e-mail to promote services and benefits to your members and spamming them," he points out. "Once you cross it, you tarnish tarnish, n 1. surface discoloration or loss of luster by metals. Under oral conditions, it often results from hard and soft deposits. 2. a chemical process by which a metal surface is discolored or its luster destroyed. member loyalty and value perception, which are not easy to rebuild." In fact, some members may refrain from providing their email addresses for fear of, or in reaction 10, an avalanche of e-mail communicatior. This reticence ret·i·cence n. 1. The state or quality of being reticent; reserve. 2. The state or quality of being reluctant; unwillingness. 3. An instance of being reticent. Noun 1. on the part of members is one possible explanation for the relatively large number of missing e-mail addresses in association member databases indicated by ASAE's data. For more detailed benchmarking data related to association membership, call 202-371-0940 or 888-950-ASAE to obtain a copy of ASAE's 2001 Policies & Procedures in Association Management: A Benchmarking Guide. Submitted by Janel S. Schuh, research associate, ASAE ASAE American Society of Association Executives ASAE American Society of Agricultural Engineers (Society for Engineering in Agricultural, Food, and Biological Systems) ASAE Alkali-Sulfite-Anthraquinone-Ethanol Industry and Market Research Department. E-mail: research@asaenet.org. [GRAPH OMITTED] |
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