Goofus and Gallant: 3 Missed Opportunities to Do the Right Thing

Sometimes progress in email marketing best practices feels like two steps forward, one step back. Over the weekend, three emails landed in my inbox that were technically legal under US law, but pretty out of touch with modern email marketing best practices. Upon investigation, I had some past connection to each sender: a long-forgotten service, a parent company, or something buried deep in the terms and conditions.Remember Highlights for Children and the classic "Goofus and Gallant" comic strip? Goofus was rude, careless, and impatient; Gallant was polite, thoughtful, and considerate.Email marketing has its own Goofus and Gallant moments. Here are three real-world examples of senders who chose the Goofus path, and how a Gallant marketer would have handled them instead.The Lapsed RelationshipGoofus: A veterinary clinic I used seven years ago (and now live 1,400 miles away from) starts sending me newsletters and marketing invites out of nowhere. There is no customer relationship left to…