• San Francisco Chronicle, Tuesday, October 28, 2008 11 AM

Even the most dedicated online shoppers have begun to pull back on spending, leaving online retailers in a bind as they enter the holiday season. Their solution? Pick up the pace on annoying e-mail solicitations. Merry Christmas!

Sending out e-mail blasts announcing sales or discounts is an easy, cost-effective way to generate some more site traffic, with an average cost of only $2 per every thousand e-mails. The Direct Marketers Association estimates that marketers reap $45.06 in return on investment for every dollar they spend on e-mail campaigns. That compares with $7.28 for catalogs and $15.55 for direct mail pieces.

The downside is that you risk seriously annoying consumers. "I am a 32-year-old guy who lives in an urban area with no kids," said one recipient of dozens of such e-mails. "In other words, I don't need blouses, high heels, or kid's juice boxes."

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