OK, so I took some liberties with the line "All I wanted was a Pepsi" from the song "Institutionalized" by Suicidal Tendencies (one of my all-time favorite songs). But after trying to change my email address across 25 email subscriptions, I felt about as frustrated as the teenager in this song whose mom accused him of being on drugs -- but all he wanted was a Pepsi. Why? Because almost nobody makes this process easy to do. Sorry to say, email marketers, but most of you get an "F" for the effort it takes to change an email address.

Ultimately, it's all about trust. If you are using best practices and doing opt-in email, your customers have given you an invaluable asset: the right to send them email. When that "From" field displays your brand name, your odds of getting an open should dramatically increase for an opt-in customer. But this asset doesn't come without strings attached. You need to nurture it and continually reinforce the implicit trust associated with it. We suggest some ways to do this (and thank many of our clients from whom we've shamelessly borrowed these good ideas).