One mistake e-mail marketers make is to ignore customers who show no interest in their e-mails - and continue to send out messages with the same frequency, ReturnPath says. In a new study that follows up its 2008 survey of e-mail practices among e-commerce companies, ReturnPath found most retailers did exactly that - sending as many as 9 to 11 messages per month to inactive subscribers.
None of the companies studied explicitly offered the option to change preferences for content or frequency - a best practice suggested for customers that seek to unsubscribe.
The Win Back Move
One tactic marketers might want to try in this scenario, ReturnPath suggests, is an e-mail asking for permission to continue sending e-mail. It is the rare retailer to try this, ReturnPath found: only five out of 40 companies in its study sent any e-mails aimed at re-activating these clients. And of these five, only one sent an e-mail specifically asking for permission to continue sending email. Nor were any of the win-back messages customized to the subscriber's previous purchase.
