The spam issue reared its head again recently in a widely unreported, but very interesting survey from Q Interactive and Marketing Sherpa. It revealed that over half of US respondents (56%) consider marketing messages from known senders to be spam if the message "is just not interesting to me". A further 50% said they received "too-frequent e-mails from companies I know" and 31% were sent "e-mails that were once useful but aren’t relevant anymore".

It is all too easy for marketers to rely simply on ‘opt-in’ or ‘data protection’ to keep their emails legal.

However, as the survey clearly demonstrates, recipients don’t view emails in these terms; the ‘data protection’ and ‘opt-in’ status of a message is not their primary concern. All they want is an email that is relevant to them – anything else is unwanted. A message that is not interesting is just as annoying as any phishing attempt or offer of a lottery win.

ISPs, whether rightly or wrongly, have much to do with this mindset. The junk/report button is now prominent in the majority of email clients. It is an easy click for any user and gives them the power to make a stance and a declaration of intent. And why not? For the recipient, it solves the problem of removing unwanted emails in their inbox. According to Jupiter Research, a staggering 26% of users admit to using the junk/report button to delete unwanted email.

But the consequences for marketers of users using this as a delete button can be catastrophic. Not only does this potentially end a relationship with a customer, it can result in significant damage to your sending reputation, contribute to brand apathy and, on a wider scale, diminish the effectiveness of email as a genre.

So what’s the solution?

There are two important steps to try and combat this. Both are fairly obvious and are not hard considering the range of tools that are now available to email marketers. Yet they are still widely ignored.

The first is to ensure that emails are relevant and targeted. This relies on having enough data about a recipient so that it is possible to make valid assessments about what they want and how often they want it. Finding this information is as easy as asking the questions and it is impossible to undertake any form of segmentation without it. Data acquisition should be developed over time as part of a sustained strategy, incorporating a number of techniques, from microsites and surveys to viral campaigns and competitions.

The second is to ensure that a recipient is offered the chance to feedback if they feel the email is either irrelevant or being sent at the wrong time or to the wrong person. This can be achieved through a simple link to ask for further preferences if an email is not appropriate. In addition, place an unsubscribe link in a clearly visible position; if someone wants to unsubscribe, don’t make it a difficult or arduous process.

With the right strategy it should be easy to send interesting and relevant emails. Once again, this survey suggests that we are at a crossroad. It is time for marketers to realise the value of email marketing as a highly targeted genre. With the DMA valuing an email address at nearly £9 it makes sense to fully appreciate and maximise the value of this asset .

Tink Taylor
Business Development Director
dotMailer