Dear Marketers, Nobody Cares

One of the great marketing mistakes: thinking your customers care about what you have to say as much as you care about it.

Customers care what you say when it's relevant and useful to them. And if they are sick of you, they'll decide how to end the relationship, not you. So is it any surprise that ReturnPath has found that nearly 80% of people "unsubscribe" from email by marking it as spam?

That should tell you one important thing: when you look at your email list, you must assume that it includes people who just don't read the messages you send, or who have them heading straight for a junk mailbox never to be seen. You've lost them. You weren't interesting. You weren't useful. You're history.

Consumers are funny that way; they do what they want, not what you want.

Your challenge is to stay interesting, and to remember that once you lose the customer, they're gone. Look at every message you send and ask yourself, If I were getting this, would I give a crap about what's in it? If the answer isn't a big yes, don't send it.

Meanwhile, though, you can hope that a day will come that customers are so in love with marketing that they download this. Don't hold your breath, though.