We’re in the business of sending email people want.  Spammers cost business and industry billions of dollars, a chunk of which is spent working to deliver mail to people who want to get it.  

Spam hurts our business.  Anyone working to clear out crooks so the postman can do his rounds and make sure every piece of mail gets delivered, is a Good Guy.  That this ESP for spammers is gone happened in no small part due to the reporting efforts of Washington Post reporter Brian Krebs. Krebs’ Security Fix blog documented McColo’s ties to the pharma/viagra/cialis crowd in such detail that McColo’s connectivity providers were forced to act.

Spam volume dropped by 2/3 in the wake of the McColo shutdown.

Your email marketing recipients don’t stop to think when they mark something as spam – they just react. They won’t remember back in March 2006 when they opted in to get your email marketing. All they know is the here and now. If right here, right now, your email is annoying them they will consider it spam.

Why is it a annoying them? Because it doesn’t interest them and therefore they don’t want it. Period.

Improving your email marketing ROI takes a lot of pieces: the best email marketing vendors, the right ESP, the permission-based email marketing list. But never underestimate the importance of compelling, relevant content.

Want to improve your email marketing ROI? Then you have to stay out of the “spam” category or your email will never get acted on. Make it interesting! To your recipient, not you.