"In the world of multi-channel and [multi]-location opt-in and opt-out, how do you keep your lists in sync?" asks Dylan Boyd in a post at the Email Wars blog. "Can you?" To explain what he means, he outlines the ways that one client—a retailer—builds its email list: Customers opt in at the website. "They want to simply get [the] newsletter about alerts and deals. Easy and done."

But then come ample opportunities for redundant subscriptions—for instance:

• Customers don't uncheck a subscription box when making a purchase.
• While making an in-store purchase, they give the cashier their email address.
• They subscribe once again when entering a contest designed for users with a mobile device.

Boyd hopes that you have a system for identifying permissions like these that overlap: "Best idea here," he says, "is to flag the change-in-record date, and location–of-subscription, again, or at least have a data point in your subscriber record to reflect this secondary opt-in."

"Where does opt-in start and end and then begin again?" he asks you to consider, "and do you have your systems set up to handle this?"

The Po!nt: Repetition is annoying. Devise a plan to eliminate redundant mailings. Your subscribers will love you for it!

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