Who Protects Your Email Subscribers’ Interests?

Effective email marketing hinges on a delicate balance: achieving business objectives while genuinely serving your audience. The core functions, engaging subscribers, nurturing relationships, and prompting action, are universally understood. However, a sustainable program requires a dedicated internal champion who consistently protects subscriber interests. Without this advocacy, list health deteriorates, leading to audience disengagement that directly sabotages the commercial goals email is meant to advance.

A common pitfall is prioritizing quantity over quality. One large organization experienced a steady decline in email metrics. To reverse this trend, a strategy combining incentives and firm guidelines was introduced. A key rule mandated that each business unit could only email subscribers who had engaged with their specific content within the previous two years. This segmentation is a proven best practice that minimizes irrelevant messages for subscribers and boosts performance for the business. Simultaneously, teams received strategic support to enhance creative elements like subject lines and design, aiming for better results with more focused audiences.

Despite these clear parameters, an issue emerged. A business unit was preparing to send to a list significantly larger than permitted. An investigation revealed that segments of subscribers, who had engaged with other departments but not this one, had been quietly added. This action completely negated the segmentation strategy’s intent.

The apprehension that smaller send volumes lead to poorer results is understandable. However, blasting messages to disinterested parties carries severe consequences. These include a surge in unsubscribes, higher spam complaint rates, and depressed open and click-through metrics. The most damaging outcome is trained disengagement. When subscribers are repeatedly sent irrelevant content, they begin to ignore all emails from the brand, even those that might be pertinent. This erosion of trust doesn’t just harm one team; it impacts the entire organization’s reputation.

This is why a dual approach of carrots and sticks is so effective. The stick involves enforcing segmentation rules and limiting audience reach. The carrot provides teams with the resources to create more compelling emails for their targeted groups. Together, these measures yield genuine improvements in key performance indicators, not just superficial gains from a smaller denominator.

Such a strategy falters in organizations clinging to a “spray-and-pray” mentality or where internal politics allow certain campaigns to bypass established rules. This environment underscores the critical need for a subscriber advocate. This individual is responsible for flagging creeping send volumes and posing difficult questions, such as “Is this message relevant to everyone on this list?” using data to back up the answers.

Is “subscriber advocate” an official job title? Typically not. Is it a C-suite position? Unlikely. Yet, in many companies, this crucial work is already being done, often by junior team members deeply involved in campaign execution and analytics. They are the first to notice problems and attempt internal improvements. Unfortunately, their warnings are frequently dismissed due to fears about missing targets, departmental politics, or executive preferences. This is precisely why the responsibility for advocacy needs greater organizational weight and authority.

So, who is currently championing your subscribers’ interests? If the answer is unclear, you are not alone. Initiating change involves several key steps. Begin with a comprehensive audit of all sending activity: which teams are sending what content, to whom, and how often. Next, clearly define what constitutes engagement, selecting a timeframe like 12 or 24 months, and start analyzing performance based on engaged versus unengaged audiences. Most importantly, champion relevance over mere frequency, as volume without value inevitably damages trust and long-term results. Finally, ensure someone is officially tasked with this advocacy role, whether through a new hire, a delegated responsibility, or external consultation. The return on investment is clear.

Email marketing is fundamentally about building relationships, and healthy relationships require clear boundaries. Sometimes, the most important action is having the courage to say “no” to a colleague for the greater good of the program and the audience it serves.

(Source: MarTech)