There have been quite a few posts around  email blogs lately giving advice on things such as relevancy, testing, segmentation, preferences, content etc..... However there is one thing that I truly believe in that I have yet to read much about and that is respect.

Respect your subscribers. Respect them as consumers, as customers and as real people.

Are you respecting your subscribers by sending them an email every day pitching your company?  Think about this for a minute. Would you call up a prospect EVERY single day and pitch them over the phone. Better yet..would you do it to a friend? Would you call them up 3 days a week to sell them something?  I bet not.  Its all about respect.

Respecting your subscribers goes a lot farther than just send frequency.   You respect them in many other ways including:

Respecting their privacy.

Respecting their choice.

Respecting the fact that they once took the time to register for your email.

Respect that they are intelligent human beings who support your program.

Respect that if you give respect...you will get it in return.

We are a society in which has very little regard for respecting one another. Just the other day, I was at a red light and when it turned green, I hesitated for 5 seconds to ensure that the coast was clear (as it was a dangerous intersection) and the person behind me blew her horn and gave me the finger.  Was that really necessary?  And was it really necessary to send that email 2 times or 1 time a day during the holiday season?  Was it respectful? Is it respectful to auto opt in a subscriber via an eAppend because you can?Lastly, do you treat your customers with respect or do you and your company just see them as a number? 

Respect should be the number one goal/challenge put forth to email marketers for the remainder of 2009.  In fact it should have been in 2008 and should be number one in 2010 and beyond.