MediaPost: Researcher Confirms Email Marketing Fear: Confirmations Add To Fatigue, Frustration

The Nielsen Norman Group found that many, if not most, companies send customer service and transaction confirmation messages so clumsily that they get ignored by recipients, many of whom mistake them for spam messages. Customer service programs often use obscure email addresses that look like the ones spammers use, and subject lines are sometimes decided by programmers as an afterthought. Some companies still use "important information" as the subject line for their emails.

The study also found that companies obscure truly important information - like coupon numbers, flight confirmation info and tracking numbers, etc. - underneath additional product offers and verbose branding claptrap. Some seem to email customers four or five times per transaction, confirming when an order has been received, stocked, shipped and confirmed by the carrier. The study found that these emails aggravate customers more than they allay fears about the ecommerce process.