E-mail campaigns have been some of the most successful in reaching individuals in their own homes, on their own time; but just as we have seen with telemarketing, being intrusive and not respecting a person’s invitation to enter their mailbox can be disastrous.  So the question of crafting e-mail marketing that involves the recipient instead of bombarding them is the most central.  What does your campaign say?

According to recent research by emarketer.com, consumers tend to be quick to opt-out of permission-based e-mail campaigns: 14% cancel frequently, while 55% do occasionally.  In terms of satisfaction with email campaigns, 69% of people are leaning towards frustration, not interest.

The cause?  According to emarketer.com research, 67% of people feel they are being sent irrelevant content, while a close second place sentiment was receiving emails too frequently.

The lesson imbedded in this public irritation from e-mail marketing, or as they see it—“spam mail campaigns,” harkens back to what we have forgotten from the inception of mass marketing on radio programs in the 1920s—they are effective at initially capturing attention, but with time grow stale and fade to white noise.  Or in this case, our deleted mail folder. 

History repeats itself, e-mail campaigns shouldn’t.

The problem does not lie in the email campaign’s prospect for success; in the United States, e-mail had a 4.4% sales conversion rate according to comScore.  It works when it is done in a way that makes the receiver comfortable and engaged.

While there are thousands of “best ways” to achieve high retention on opt-in campaigns, the simplest might be the best.  Crafting campaigns that are personal to the individual receiver is necessary.  Although having the person’s first name in the greeting is a step in the right direction, there is capability to go beyond this.  When a person decides to join the mailing list, a few extra questions that provide the company with more information on the person’s interests could make each mailing relevant and no longer faceless.  The focus should be, like that of the first e-mail, to share information, not simply an explosion of sales offers that does not empower the consumer.

This doesn’t mean less-flashy, simple text will win the hearts of potential consumers, but using flash media and graphics effectively to create a campaign that doesn’t bloat the inbox and doesn’t ignore the individual will get the job done.