Is It Such an Inconvenience to Skip Over or Delete?

Nielson's analysis of Bush and Kerry's email newsletters is interesting, though it does lack some of the macro level, results-oriented reporting that would really tie together an understanding of email newsletters. Many of Nielson's detailed critiques are completely worthwhile as a set of do's and don'ts when devising an email newsletter strategy.

I would challenge Nielson, however, to tie his research on the frequency of email newsletters to actual voter behavior. I think that the American public generally accepts the temporary nature of political campaigns, and as a result understands that for a brief period of time every couple of years, they are going to have to tolerate the marketing efforts of political candidates entering their TVs, radios, and email boxes.

The frequency graph is telling. It indicates that the Bush team had a frequency strategy, while the Kerry team was a little more chaotic.

With email newsletters the topic of focus this week, there are a number of other things to consider that may help fill in the forest for anyone stuck in Nielson's trees, including the role of official newsletters in benefiting incumbents, CRM systems, privacy, and microtargeting.