Are you enduring a steady decline in clickthrough rates? Having more difficulty proving ROI? Or seeing unsubscribe rates rise while the lifetime of an average opt-in falls? According to Michael Leander, these trends are the stark reality for many email marketers. "As a result, the channel has become less reliable in delivering tangible results," he writes at his blog.

To help you reverse any negative email trends you're experiencing, Leander offers a three-part plan:

Un-silo your email marketing efforts. If your email program is failing, there's a chance it operates independently of other communication channels. "It is a known fact that direct and digital marketers who have managed to structure all their data into one data repository tend to achieve a much better ROI on their email marketing activities," Leander argues.

Avoid a sender-controlled approach. Although email marketers often stress the importance of subscriber preferences, they just as frequently send messages when it suits their own agendas. They also resist the idea that some customers simply don't want to receive email from them. Leander says he has seen many instances where a company's top five customers had opted out of email campaigns altogether. Honor those preferences!

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