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previous / index / next E-mail Churn Causes Marketing Havoc by Alf Nucifora I recently got into an argument with my Webmaster. I could not understand why 25% of the addresses on my e-mail newsletter distribution file came back as undeliverable. I take particular pain to ensure that my database is kept current and accurate and yet a quarter of the names were out of date. How could that be? It seems that e-mail address churn is now a growing phenomenon and where its impact will be most sorely felt is in the area of B2B e-mail marketing. According to Debbie Weil, in her online article, "Where E-mail Addresses Go Bad," e-mail address churn is estimated by industry experts to be running at a 20-40 percent rate annually. It is, says Weil, "a constant factor undermining the success of e-mail marketing campaigns." The industry stats confirm that judgment. Weil's article references a recent NFO WorldGroup s tudy of U.S. consumers that found that 41% had changed e-mail addresses at least once in the past two years, with 15% changing twice or more. According to John Coe, President of Database Marketing Associates, Inc., more that 75% of the 300 business cards he collected in the past year as a speaker for the Direct Marketing Association recorded changes in personal information. The Pew Internet Project notes that 37% of experienced online users provide fake e-mail addresses when registering at sites in order to avoid spam. (I confess to plugging in a false phone number for a home phone number request.) It now seems obvious that bad e-mail addresses are tied to a number of recurring events, from job loss to change of ISP to a growing trend on the consumers part to have multiple e-mail addresses, each discreet address reserved for a particular need depending upon the degree of privacy associated with that need. The growing incidences of spam mail is also causing frustrated consumers to keep a generic e-mail address for all the junk mail and reserve a separate address for the truly important stuff. For the e-mail marketer, this multi-address trend is a major hassle. But there are a couple of steps that can be taken to ensure that your database is kept alive and well.
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