Rejection is hard enough to take when all you have to deal with is the emotional fall out, but when it is your marketing email that is ignored it is much worse.
Emails lists are expensive items to create so an email sitting unopened in the recipient's inbox seems a personal affront.
There is little doubt that the recipient is the most difficult hurdle to overcome in email marketing.
Spam filters are logical and this is both a strength and weakness.
But people are largely illogical, unpredictable and therefore difficult to manage.
They act on prejudice, whims and moods.
So how can we convince them that we are genuine and to be trusted? Two or three bits of information are presented to the recipient: who the email is from, what it is about, and, more normally now, a brief résumé in the preview pane.
Each is critical.
Be slack in one and all your efforts in the others are wasted.
But let us concentrate on the source first.
It is acknowledged that the best thing for anyone engaged in email marketing is to be trusted.
This is rather glib but it does at least give you something to aim for.
You want the content of the first column, be it an email address or other title, to be instantly recognised and welcomed.
So the trick is becoming familiar.
In this those engaged in permission-based email marketing have a head start as the recipient will have taken the effort to tick a box to, essentially, ask for such emails.
It is a good idea therefore to ensure that the From line is identical, or at least very similar to, the URL displayed when they signed up.
Once used, it should remain in all email contact between you and those on your email lists.
Ensure that other forms of advertising, from packaging to presentations, contain something similar.
If your name is seen as mainstream then the email is much more likely to be opened.
Other forms of communication, such as newsletters or news alerts, can be used to make the address familiar.
These have a much higher open rate than marketing emails so there would be a learned positive response to seeing that particular address.
Further, as a newsletter gives something for free, there will also be a certain anticipation, a positive outlook, that might make a world of difference.
But to remain trusted requires careful management.
The ease with which the sender can be recognised will work against you if you treat those on your email lists with indifference.
If the recipient begins to feel that the offers are not relevant, that they are too frequent or they arrive at the wrong time then the delete button is all too easy to access.
In essence what you need to do is work out what is expected of you and conform to that expectation sufficiently so that you become a welcome addition to the inbox.
When they see who the email is from they should know that whatever it contains will interest them.
Your most difficult hurdle will be tamed.