So i sat here and i read all the posts...hmmmmmm!
Here is my 2 cents worth. I have been involved and am actively involved in dealing with email lists. Anyone that says profitability has gone down is VERY wrong.
The big problem has been mentioned several times here. Active remove lists. the people that purely sapm have not a clue how to manage an email list. You must remove people that want to be removed and NEVER mail them again. We as internet users think that spam is worthless casue we never would buy anything that is being advertised, but when one of my campaigns makes $11k in one day, i can't say that it is not performing.
single opt-in double-opt in, triple opt-in..all this means is that the surfer agreed to see YOUR stuff. They will still complain, not as much as a list that you buy on those get rich quick programs on the net ( 60 Million email addys for a $1
) but they will complain.
I think it is not fair to say that we as email marketers can not send mail.
As mentioned here before, Junk mail in the mail box at my house gets more crap that I never asked for than anywhere else. Why is it fair for those people to advertise and not for email guys??? i'll tell you why!
Cause the government doesn't make any money off emails. SO they are going to want to step in. Believe me when i say this, spamcop is a good thing. It is in place to show the government that the internet can police itself and it does not need a government helping hand.
In closing, as an email marketer, remember to remove people that don't want to see the crap you are selling, and remember that you can make more money off surfers in a small list that opens compared to using all the resources necessary to mail say 20Million emails that are going to bounce and cpmplain, not to mention the amount of bandwidth that's necessary o mail a list like that.
And that's all i got to say about that .