Comments on: E-Mail Marketing: How Much Is Too Much?

By: hentay

hentay — Sun, 27 May 2007 17:02:17 +0000

Guter Aufstellungsort, ja!

By: John Doe

John Doe — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 11:06:02 +0000

For me, one e-mail everyday is painful enough for me to see and I will never subscribe to any marketing newsletter with that level of intensity.

By: Jodi Kaplan

Jodi Kaplan — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 15:04:54 +0000

You’re right, it is a forced free trial. I never saw it in e-mail before. I wonder if they are getting a positive overall response, or the cyber equivalent of shredded Bible tracts stuffed in BREs.

By: Bob Bly

Bob Bly — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 22:41:31 +0000

Jodi: I understand your frustration. Some print newsletter publishers use this approach in snail mail, sending 3 free — and unrequested — issues. This is called a “forced free trial.”

By: Jodi Kaplan

Jodi Kaplan — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 18:40:28 +0000

Right now, too much is a media business newsletter that cheerily informed me two days ago that I had been “selected” to receive 4 trial issues of their e-newsletter. They started as a print publication, and I was startled as I had never seen this approach for e-mail. I couldn’t quite decide what I thought at first, but later came to the conclusion that it was annoying and spam-like. Since it was annoying, and the content wasn’t relevant, I emailed them back to unsubscribe. Since then, I’ve gotten three more e-mails from them (including two so far today) inviting me to seminars, making other offers, etc. The last one came right after I emailed them a second time to opt-out. Now, I understand that they can’t run the suppression instantly, but that many e-mails to someone who absolutely did not ask for them is too many!

By: Cristina

Cristina — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 20:13:37 +0000

At this point, I have to answer your question by saying “All email I’ve been receiving lately is too much…” But that’s just because I’m frustrated with spam — pregnancy hormones may have something to do with the frustration as well… but I can’t be sure. Add to that the spam I have to go through on my blog … UGH!!

Anywho, 4 emails in ONE day — and right after signing up — is WAY too much. I don’t know who made that brainchild decision…

I accept weekly and monthly newsletters IF they contain useful information. I’ll tolerate one or two marketing messages a month, but more than that, I unsub right away.

Just my 2 cents!!

By: David C

David C — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 22:37:41 +0000

I think from what I’m reading here is ‘Content is King’ to your particular target market?.

Yes, I agree, however the Frequency/Opt Out Ratio is the also a key determinant, which I believe should be dictated by the need to get product/service information to market in a timely manner that reflects the demands of the market at any given time of the year.

In my previous efforts, I have seen e-mail frequency fluid and dynamic in nature. Thinking a little more holistic, for instance, known seasonal factors. For B2C SEM’s Some may lower their frequency during holiday periods and increase frequency at site visit peak times - thus getting more for their online advertising dollar. B2B example. In the UK governement and corporate [not all] fiscal year ends are in April, so procurement departmens have budgets to spend, which may not be availble post April. E-Mail Frequency can be high in the Feb/March run up and tail off until the next peak in the procurement cycle.

So as well as ‘Content being King’, the business environment may be a key factor in e-mail frequency for an SEM’s target market(s). Here I’m adding a new component ‘Dynamic’ Email distribution. Let’s catch these Lemmings JUST as they are about to jump off the cliff.

By: Mike Duffy

Mike Duffy — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 21:16:05 +0000

And you did state that the musician was an opt-in list. Fair enough.

By: Bob Bly

Bob Bly — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 17:36:08 +0000

Mike Duffy: e-mail and RSS are BOTH opt-in: I don’t send e-mails to anyone who does not double opt-in as a subscriber to my e-list. If the recipient has not opted in, he is getting spam, not legitimate e-mail marketing.

By: Jonathan Kantor

Jonathan Kantor — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 22:05:08 +0000

I agree with you Bob. More than one a week from a source such as the musician you spoke of is too much.

On the other hand, I subscribe to Microsoft’s and Apple’s newsletter and I appreciate it when they notify me of downloads or free templates. About once a week is appropriate for them.

So it depends on how important that resource is, especially when it impacts my computer and my work.