A good article from Janine Popick,
President and CEO - Founder of Vertical Response Marketing that landed in my inbox this morning.

Well, it's the end of the year and you're not only sending a ton of email but you're getting it too, right? Retailers are going nuts trying to get as much as they can out of the short season. I'm seeing an email every 30 seconds pop into my inbox and I'm sure many of you have it just the same. Bloomie's and Nieman Marcus are up to 2-3 mailings a DAY right now, but they mail every day anyway, so that's not completely out of the ordinary. On top of that, the businesses who market to businesses are feeling the end-of-year crunch so they're having fire sales for their goods and services too.

What really got me this year was the sheer number of retailers I've purchased from last year, that didn't send me one email until November. Now by inbox runneth over with emails from them.

Where's the Respect?

Bounce rates are likely to be higher due to the amount of people that had a change of email address. Think of the many people who've unfortunately lost their jobs this past year. If you're not giving them something of value and keeping in touch with them throughout the year, they probably won't give you their updated email addresses.

Response rates might be lower because it's been so long since recipients have been communicated to. In fact, like me, recipients might feel "used and abused" because businesses are only giving them great deals when THEY need them the most, not when recipients need the deals most. Remember, it's a two way street. You both are giving and taking.

On top of response rates being low unsubscribe rates could soar. If recipients are all of a sudden getting slammed by your emails when they've not heard from you, they're more likely to unsubscribe. 

So here's to 2009, we all need to look at our marketing dollars under a microscope. The people that are going to get you through any tough times are your customers. So make sure you don't abuse them, and make sure you build a lasting relationship with them all year long.