When Opt-in E-mail Becomes Spam

I haven't written specifically about e-mail in a while, and before I take my eye off the ball, I thought it would be good to revisit one of the trickiest aspects of e-mail marketing. If there was one mantra that can't be repeated too often it is that e-mail marketing is all about R E L E V A N C E. If you send juicy, up-to-date, interesting stuff to your readers, they will open, read, and respond. I've been saying this in various ways for years, and so have most of my colleagues.

Today I read something that brings home this message in an even more stark way. According to a study by Q Interactive/Marketing Sherpa (which you can read here): 

"Fifty-six percent of consumers consider marketing messages from known senders to be spam if the message is 'just not interesting to me.'"

What consumers are saying is that even if you get them to opt-in properly, and don't over-mail them, they equate irrelevant content to spam. This also gives a lot of additional credence to continually segmenting your lists. 

As you think about your own e-mail editorial plan, I urge you to think like a publisher as much (or more) than you think like a marketer.