It's amazing how much junk mail we continue to receive, considering the cost and waste associated with each mailing that gets tossed into the recycle bin daily. In many cases, I get the same letter from the same company about a dozen times. If I haven't responded after the first five mailings, you'd think they might cease efforts. And, worse than junk mail are the evening phone calls from telemarketers with non-relevant offers.

A long-time e-commerce colleague reached out to me for a "cocktail and complaining" session while she was in town recently. Seems her new role as "Guru of All Things CRM" at a big retailer was becoming a bit of a hazard, thanks to her boss in the corner office who might be reading a few too many white papers.

We're coming up on the end of the holiday sales season, and every emarketer has one objective in mind: sell. Sell as much as possible, as quickly as possible. And it's working: a recent report by Custora says that by Dec. 5, sales were up 13% over last year.