An e-mail house list is the centerpiece of any e-mail communications plan. At first blush, the process of building this list may seem fairly straightforward; but, when it comes to constructing a responsive list, quality counts more than quantity. By incorporating permission-based practices into your e-mail collection process, you can build a list that generates sales.

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Now that the days of simply blanketing your customer database with e-mails are long past, optimizing your e-mail contact patterns is as much about understanding where your customers are in the purchasing cycle and optimal timing, as it is about how often you mail. Optimizing for the long term takes testing, planning and a good understanding of your customers’ behavior patterns. All these factors will help you formulate a contact strategy that’s relevant to your customers, ideally lifting response rates and keeping unsubscribe rates low.

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In March 2008. the CMO Council surveyed top marketing executives for their insights into customized content, collateral and personalized Web interaction on marketing effectiveness, customer acquisition, retention and business outcomes. The survey population consisted of more than 700 senior executives – ranging from CEO, CMO, SVP and VP of marketing–from across technology, lnternet, telecommunications, media, professional services, banking/finance, retail, consumer goods and manufacturing.

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