While sending relevant emails is an established best practice for increasing results and customer satisfaction, this study links relevancy (or lack of it) to a consumer action that can significantly damage an email marketer's sender reputation.

One of MarketingSherpa's key takeaways is that recipients "define spam by the quality of the email itself - not by the overall reputation of the company emailing them."

With consumers broadening their definition of spam to include irrelevant messages, it's more important than ever to ensure that you're sending highly relevant messages based on preferences given by consumers and gleaned from their behaviors. This does require some effort, including tight integration with your customer databases.

Behavior targeting

One of the most effective ways to ensure relevant messages is to use behavioral targeting. Try starting with email metrics such as opens or clicks and remarket to them. Make sure you categorize your links so you can key off those categories when you create your content blocks. Behavioral targeting can be even more powerful than targeting based on stated preferences - because actions speak louder than words.

Behavior targeting does require tight integration with your backend systems and customer databases. Having real-time access to this data can empower you to deliver relevant messages not just based on content - but timing as well. Sending a delayed promotion for something that that a consumer been searching for won't be effective if they're already made a purchase or since lost interest.

Keep in mind that relevancy can take many forms, including frequency. If you send email too frequently, recipients will begin to devalue your messages. Plus, frequency plays a prominent role in generating spam complaints. Send email to often, and recipients are likely to hit the spam button.

Testing is the key to find the best frequency for your line of business. If you're thinking about increasing frequency, start sending slowly and watch for an increase in unsubscribes, complaints and opens and clicks. On the other hand, sending messages with too little frequency can cause consumers to forget why they have a relationship with you in the first place.

Relevancy also means making sure you're identifying your email in a way that the consumer is going to recognize from a prior interaction. For example, if your company has multiple brands, be sure the "From" line of your email identifies the company with whom the recipient has a relationship. If the consumer doesn't recognize your brand or a prior relationship, they will likely hit the spam button.

In the end, while these survey results expose the risks of consumers hitting the spam button for legitimate emails that they've opted in to, it's a good wake up call and motivator to start thinking about how you can make your emails more relevant, which will earn respect and business from your customers.