The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is reminding political parties that their email communications with the electorate have to remain within the law. It follows complains from the last election. The data watchdog is reminding consumers they have a right to ask what their personal information will be used for before they part with it.

Dotmailer has released its "Hitting the Mark" report on who's getting email marketing right, and according to London Loves Business, it's good news for well-known British brands. Asos tops the charts with Asda, easyJet and John Lewis all sharing the third spot.

Small business celebrates the success of British brands in Dotmailer's "Hitting The Spot" league table, but warns that many companies are still not getting the basics right. The site further quotes DMA figures that suggest getting on for one in two consumers report deleting emails because they receive too many, untargeted messages from brands.

"The Guardian" is reporting that that the chief executive of Unroll.me is "heartbroken" that users have discovered and felt betrayed by the service that was selling their data to the very services they had unsubscribed from.

A Professor at Cambridge University's Judge Business School has published his findings on what really annoys colleagues about one another's email habits. CC'ing in the boss is the biggest way of making your fellow workers distrust you, the BBC reports. Sending out email just to prove you're in the office or working late and boasting about achievements are other major gripes.

MarTechAdvisor is encouraging email practitioners to keep abreast of developments in the channel so their messages can truly stand out in a crowded inbox. New features such as including animations, and ensuring campaigns are suited to mobile are two important considerations.

It may sound like pretty simple advice, but Business2Community reminds email marketers that there are three important steps to boost engagement -- the right subject, personalised offers, and the one that is often missed -- a compelling call to action.

MarketingProfs highlights the finding of a recent eConsultancy and Adestra email research project, which shows that while marketers at companies want to focus on personalisation and automation, those based at agencies think they should be prioritising behavioural response marketing.

The ICO is blogging that as the "rapporteur" on drafting guidance for profiling under GDPR, its staff have met EU member state representatives in Brussels to hear their feedback -- which will, ultimately, help shape and inform the final guidance the UK data watchdog publishes.

Although the research is US-based, EU email marketers may be alarmed by research in eMarketer which shows a marked contrast over attitudes to email. Despite around a quarter of respondent giving email the thumbs up for receiving loyalty information in 2016, it drops off the entire chart for 2017 as push notifications and chat bot virtual agents gain a little more traction.