A few months ago, a fellow dot-com worker confessed to me that his web site has been flagrantly violating its own privacy policy since the market took a dive. At on-site events in shopping malls, this site collects email addresses from young people who are interested in receiving special offers from the site. I now hesitate to do business with a lot of online companies that have been violating their own privacy policies. I imagine many tech-savvy online users also feel the same way and are probably aware of the companies that are less than scrupulous in their dealings with customers via email. One doesn't want to necessarily throw out the email marketing baby with the proverbial bath water.
Email marketing does work, but some of the potential negative consequences are downright scary.
Before advertising on an email list, you should sign up for it yourself. See how you are treated as a member of the community before you become an advertiser. If your email address is sold without your permission, avoid doing business with the seller. It might be necessary in the future to safeguard your clients by getting email sellers to agree to discount the price of the campaign if complaints rise above a certain level. Since many Internet users go out of their way to avoid doing business with spammers, this has great potential to be a detriment to your client's brand.