It's beginning to look a lot like…

That unsubscribe time of year

• laura
• Dec 18, 2013

• Industry

Like many people, I make purchases online. This usually means the vendor adds me to their mailing list. I normally don’t care, that mail all filters to my “commercial” folder (my own personal version of tabs) and I can browse it at my leisure.
At this time of year, though, email marketers go into a bit of overdrive and that folder fills with 20 – 30 or more emails a day. The volume is no so much of a problem, but it can get annoying to try and find mail I want in all the crud from random vendors.
In some cases, I don’t even know who the company is or why they have my address. Today’s example was a florist in Maryland. Eventually I figured out I’d purchased from them back in 2007 to send flowers to a colleague when her mother passed away. Apparently, they’re doing so badly they need every dollar they can find.
What it does mean, though, is that I unsubscribe from more mail in December than I do through the rest of the year. I don’t mind the occasional mail, even weekly is no big deal. But when that frequency drastically increases, or someone has not bothered to mail me for 5+ years, I just don’t want that mail anymore.
Dana Perino used the term ‘unsubscribe Tuesday‘

Ask Laura

• laura
• Jan 29, 2016

• Delivery Improvement

An Advice Column on Email Delivery
When we work with brands and senders to improve email delivery, there are many questions that come up again and again. For 2016, we thought it might be interesting to answer some of those questions here on the blog so others can benefit from the information.
Confused about delivery in general? Trying to keep up on changing policies and terminology? Need some Email 101 basics? This is the place to ask. We can’t answer specific questions about your server configuration or look at your message structure for the column (please get in touch if you’d like our help with more technical or forensic investigations!), but we’d love to answer your questions about how email works, trends in the industry, or the joys and challenges of cohabiting with felines.
Your pal,
Laura

 
 

Dear Laura,
I’m having a hard time explaining to our marketing team why we shouldn’t send email to addresses on our lists with very low read rates, that are dormant but not bouncing, or that spend less than 2 seconds reading our mail. I’m also struggling to convince them that it’s not a good idea to dramatically increase email volume during the holidays (i.e. going from one send/day to 2-3 sends/day).
We already segment based on recency, engagement, and purchase behavior, and we also have some triggered messaging based on user behavior.
Can you help me find a way to help explain why sometimes less is more?
Thanks,
The Floodgates Are Open

Dear Floodgates,
ISPs ask two fundamental questions about email when it comes in:

1. Is it safe?
2. Is it wanted?

If the answer to both those questions is yes, the mail is delivered to the inbox.

'Tis the season

• steve
• Feb 13, 2015

• Best Practices

It’s the time of the year, when we celebrate a holiday by telling you about email.