6 Email Marketing Myths Debunked by Loren McDonald

In this article, Loren McDonald debunks 6 email marketing myths:

• Myth #1: The CAN-SPAM Act doesn't require permission
  "CAN-SPAM is just a start. Permission, in fact, is the foundation of customer relevance and trust."
• Myth #2: Open rates are a good measure of email success
  "In the early days of email, the open rate was a valued metric because it captured who opened and, by inference, who then viewed or read the email. Today, the preview pane and image blocking have turned the open metric into a tired, inaccurate and irrelevant metric that no longer measures what it was originally intended to."
• Myth #3: Email is cheap, so send again. And again.
  "Consumers and the ISPs control the ecosystem. Yes, increased frequency can often deliver short-term results. But it also increases list churn through higher spam complaints and unsubscribes and, subsequently, higher acquisition costs to replace the lost customers and revenue."
• Myth #4: "I don't control my delivery rates"
  "There is, however, no magic pixie dust to sprinkle on the email list to get high delivery rates. It simply requires following well-publicized best practices."
• Myth #5: Larger lists are better
  "Yes, growing your email database is important because you'll typically lose about one-third of your list annually through normal churn. Additionally, various studies suggest that one- to two-thirds or more of your list members are actually inactive (no opens or clicks for some extended time frame)."
• Myth #6: Moving beyond "batch and blast" is really difficult
  "No, it isn't. Advances in email marketing software now make sophisticated techniques such as lifecycle, trigger- and behavior-based email programs possible for marketers at all tiers."

Read the full article here.

Comments

[Neil]

Great article.

"Blast" is dead. With the ISPs becomming more and more strict there is no reason to not segment your list.

Also, sending because it is cheap will only get you blocked.

Smart email marketing is the only way to go...