The Slow and Boring Path

Understand the e-mail environment

Did you know the phrase "extra inches" can get you in the spam can? It's pretty obvious why. It's one of hundreds of perfectly legit phrases that spam-bots might zap — killing your chances of reaching your online donors.

E-mailing is surrounded with oddball things like that, plus a changing technology landscape. It's even more difficult than understanding the USPS — at least the USPS puts its rules in writing. Different e-mail experts have different rules, and what was a safe bet yesterday might not work today. Keep your eyes open, and be flexible — watch the environment and read everything you can about it.