Political Campaigns: What Not to Do with Email

After watching the final Obama-McCain debate, I must admit that I was awakened from my political hibernation and I'm now looking forward to knowing who our next national figurehead will be. However, after checking my Hotmail inbox recently, it was like having an extra cold glass of water thrown in my face, reminding me of what I hate most about election season.

Is there a bigger turn-off than political email campaigns? Not only the is frequency completely annoying, but the relevance missed the bus to the town hall meeting, uh, about 6 months ago. Here's the typical structure you'll often see from both parties:

"Dear [Friend],

Did you know that [opponent] is a liar and unqualified to be [position pertaining to which the election is being held]? Nevertheless, we need your money to fight off their negative campaigning so please spare what you can by clicking on the following link:

[URL to donation system]

We'll see you at the polls and be sure to tell a friend about [candidate].

To unsubscribe, [click on the link that will lead you through a series of pages attempting to dissuade this decision]. What's the physical address of the sender? Ah, who cares- there's no time for that."

No personalization, no relevant content (how about an email highlighting issues I feel are important?) & no CAN-SPAM compliance. Donors are actually paying for this drivel.

Regardless of the way you may be leaning with your vote come November, please make sure NOT to follow the shoddy email practices used during the political season. If you do, you risk your customers not re-electing your brand.