Imagine your trusted marketing advisor telling you that your next project is going to take ten times longer to turn around, cost you a hundred times more, and that you might never know whether it was successful or not. You think that’s crazy? Well, this is what it is going to look like if you couldn’t use e-mail for marketing communication.
 
It is easy to see why e-mail is good for the marketer.  It is relatively inexpensive, it is easy to track and measure, and it still provides better returns that any other marketing vehicle.  But that is really not the point.  The point is that e-mail is just as good for the recipient of marketing communication.  Here is why:

• E-mail is an information navigation tool.  Say I am looking for more in-depth information on a specific topic included in a marketing message.  Sending volumes of hard copy information is impractical.  There is a wealth of information on the web, but finding it is not always that easy, even on your own website.  A well-crafted e-mail message can contain links to relevant sources that make it easier for me to find this information. 
• E-mail is easy to store.  Yes, I wish there was a better way to store and retrieve e-mail information (DALI Software is doing some interesting work on this problem); for me, it still beats paper files (or more likely paper piles).
• E-mail is easy to share.  I remember the time and effort it took to make multiple copies of print articles to share with my colleagues, not to mention faxing them to people in other offices.  Pressing the Forward button is surely much easier.
• Electronic communication is good for society.  It reduces the waste associated with hard copies.  Not only the paper waste, but also the inefficiencies associated with printing, delivering, and disposing of hard copies. 

If e-mail is so good, what is the problem?  Some things have changed over the past year.  The overwhelming response to the government sponsored Do Not Call list, the popularity of TV-commercial-avoidance devices such as TIVO, and the emergence of anti-Spam software - are all clear signs that people are looking to reduce the interruptions by marketing messages across all communication channels. 
 
What it means for us, marketers, is that we have to find ways to communicate rather than interrupt.  It also means that we have to protect e-mail as a credible communication channel.  To do that, you need to establish yourself as a trusted source of valuable and relevant information. While some of it applies to any communication channel, I would like to focus this article on the things you can do to save your e-mail communication channel with your audience.
 
First, the Don’ts

• Do not ever sell or let anybody else use e-mail addresses of your customers.  I assume this is obvious, but I had to mention it, mostly as a setup for the next point.
• Do not ever BUY e-mail addresses.  You can bet that anybody that sells you e-mail addresses for permanent use has not established any permission to do so.  Using such e-mail addresses will clearly put you in the Spam category. 
• If you rent e-mail addresses, check how they were obtained and use only legitimate opt-in lists.  Make sure to let recipients know where the addresses came from (legitimate list brokers will send the e-mails themselves and will include an identifier in the message).

 
Deliver Value in Each Message

• Remember, it’s not about you!  The more you focus your communication on issues that are important to the recipients, the higher the likelihood they will view you as a trusted resource.  I am not saying you cannot mention who you are; as a rule of thumb, I like to see less than 20% of the content about the publishing company.  For a good example of such content mix, take a look at the Nexterna newsletter. 
• Take advantage of e-mail to make it personal and relevant.  E-mail allows you to make communication more personal and relevant.  Good personalization goes beyond the “Dear John” in the first line.  It is tailoring the message to the specific interests and situation of the recipient.  This makes e-mail an extremely valuable tool for integrated campaigns with multiple offers.  For example, here is how we used personalization in a follow up e-mail to a recent client webinar:

1. A thank you note and an invitation to fill out a feedback survey were sent to those that attended the webinar.
2. A “sorry you missed it” message and link to the webinar recording were sent to those that did not show up.  
 
In addition, the audience was further segmented and the message further personalized with relevant offers based on past responses:
 

3. An invitation to register for a future event was added for those that have not registered yet.
4. An invitation to download a white paper to those that have already registered for the next event.

Based on this segmentation, we ended up with four different messages, ensuring that each recipient gets the most relevant message. Using such segmentation not only increases response rates to the current communication, but also tells the recipients that you know who they are and that you care to make each interaction of value to them.
• Make it timely.  E-mail allows communication to be extremely timely.  A simple example is event reminders.  I cannot tell you how many times I have heard from people who have registered to webinars how much they appreciate being reminded of the event.  We usually send reminders a couple of days before the event, and then two additional reminders on the day of the event – one at the beginning of the day and a final reminder 15-30 minutes prior to the event start.  These reminders always contain the connection information, making it easy for the recipient to find this information when it’s time to join the event. 

Actively Promote an E-Mail Policy

While I assume most of you have a privacy policy in place, that is not enough.  Since e-mail has been getting such bad reputation, you have to make some extra effort to establish the credibility of your e-mail communication with your target recipients.  Here is what I suggest for an e-mail policy to include:
• Explain what’s in it for the recipient.  Does it sound like a sales pitch?  Yes!  Don’t be shy about it - explain to the recipients why getting your e-mail messages is of value to them, along the lines of the benefits described above. 
• Give the recipient control.  First and foremost is the unsubscribe option.  Make it clear and easy.  Make sure your unsubscribe links work and any unsubscribe requests are promptly honored.  Moreover, provide multiple subscribe and unsubscribe options, so people that prefer not to get event invitations can still subscribe to your newsletter, for example.
• Ask recipients to help you get your e-mails delivered.  Depending on e-mail policies and tools used by their organizations, there are several things recipients can do to help you get your messages delivered to their inboxes (please take the opportunity to help us get future newsletter to your inbox by following these steps):
 

1. Add you to their address book: several current and future e-mail filters will not allow messages from addresses not found in the address book.
2. Add your e-mail address to any corporate list of allowed senders.
3. Remove/exclude you address from any list of suspected Spammers.
4. Provide you with an alternate e-mail address that you can use in case your e-mail to their primary address is blocked for some reason (please send us yours!)

E-mail is still a relatively new marketing communication medium.  While it presents great opportunities for efficiency and immediacy, both senders and recipients are still learning how to take advantage of its inherent benefits.  This is an evolutionary process, and I am sure we will revisit this topic in the near future.  
 
What do you think?  How does e-mail work for you as a sender and as a recipient?  I look forward to hearing from you.