Effective Email Marketing: Why ‘in’ Is As Important As ‘Out’

If one is not seeing the kind of results that were expected out of the email marketing campaign, there might not necessarily be anything wrong with the email message being sent, but with the approach that is being utilised to send the mail. Effective email marketing principles dictate that the recipient’s choice must always be respected, and this is done in the best possible manner only when he/she is given the option of opting out of the mailing list. It is important to understand that attrition from mailing lists is completely natural, and the more one tries to fight it, the worse it will get, with regards to retaining customers and maintaining positive brand equity.

The simple reason why effective email marketing evangelists insist upon making the process of opting out as easy as possible is that customers must always be treated like their choice is important to the marketing company, and this is possible only when all their decisions are respected, even if they wish to not receive mails from a particular source. Often times, under the pretext of taking feedback, companies try to pretentiously ask customers why they want to opt out.

This process may get so long that the customer would eventually drop out, which means that he is still on the list. According to effective email marketing tactics, this is not a successful retention tactic, as the customer would still hold grudges against the brand, and would also badmouth the organisation to friends, relatives and acquaintances. However, it is a point to be noted that if the freedom to opt out is given, the customer may also consider opting in at some point in time. But if the first impression is so disappointing, there’s little one can do to have a positive impression on the TG, which would certainly do irreparable damage to the revenues.