The Email Wars

I have a confession to make. I have let something I used to care about die. Yes my attention to the new new thing, the shiny thing, the next thing made me forget and neglect one of my longest life partners on this mad ride we call the internet. Now it was not something I was doing on purpose, we just grew apart over time. I found corporate accounts, gmail and social tools to pull my attention in more often and in less locations. Hell I had changed my preferences so many times I just had to simplify. I needed more but needed to check less places.

It was love at first site. Email, an inbox, communications, connections, wild mind blowing stuff…. well even today email still intrigues me. So many others jump from tech to tech, thing to thing, but one thing stays a constant not matter what you throw at it.

You (MSN/Hotmail) were my first and I am not sure why I keep you around as we have grown so apart and our friends all know where to find us at other places. Maybe it was just convenience and old habits. Maybe it was just time and attention.

Maybe I am running the other way in the 3 email addresses on average studies going on. Sure I have a Yahoo, a Gmail, a MSN, a work, and a few other email accounts, but do I really use them? It seems to me that it was time for me to move on. But after 7 months of failing to log in it dawned on me I should take a look as we were nearing the holiday season and I wanted to see if this profile I had set up had a different frequency cadence, offers, etc than the same emails I was getting and actually reading other places. So I went back into MSN assuming that many of these people would have killed me off, changed a cycle of emails, or tried different things. I mean that is what I would be doing and these were bigger brands that I would think have it nailed, right?

What I was amazed to find out was how wrong my assumptions were. I was shocked to see all the same promos, emails, and consistent mailing dates from many of the larger brands that I have not opened, read, or responded to emails for over 7 months. To me that is a long time to not make changes to what is working or failing in your email marketing programs.

Here is a snapshot:

MSN.com

Account Neglected (Abandoned): 4/03/09

Last Login (Remembered): 11/13/09

Never used to sign up for anything in 2 plus years. Used to use as main account in 1995 but really stopped as a primary in 2004 (Thx Gmail)

Total emails since last login: 1470 Inbox /144 Junk

My biggest thought coming out of this delayed login was if I had no response/action in 7 months why are brands still mailing me? Well I can understand that they just move through the cycle here till I say enough (unsub), change my preferences, or reengage; but why were all the emails the same offers, creative and frequency as my active email accounts? It was less of a shock at the volumes of email and more of a let down as to these marketers I felt were rocking it just being lazy.

Sure I am an email snob as this is what I do on a daily basis. My thoughts are engaged in all things email and I expect the best things out of email marketers. Guess it was time for some grounding.

In conclusion, I think MSN and I are done. Seven months is a lifetime online of not being engaged. We had 14 years together with ups, downs, missed logins, and utter dependence. Thanks for the good times. I also think that I am done with the majority of these email subscriptions – yet that was all just me thinking out loud – maybe I will simply leave this account open and watch to see if anything changes. Just the type of person I am – no lazy, but inquisitive to see how these people approach the challenge. And at the same time I am a constant optimist.

Take Away: If you are not working on mixed messaging and frequency to your subscribers you are just firing blanks. Sure you will always get a  certain percentage of folks to take an action, but will you ever move the bar? Get in and look at your data and make decisions. Stop checking the box. (not the inbox but the check list of tasks)