There seems to be a high push among marketers to get peoples contact information which is great, and needed. The problem is that once they have that information they assume that they have permission to market to that person for years to come. Unfortunately they don’t. Permission is a tricky thing. It means that you clearly stated that the opt-in form is specifically for your newsletter, blog, or whatever else you are using.
According to Seth Godin’s Blog you should never assume you have their permission, and should never combine marketing permission with any other product. If you are marketing a newsletter then that is what they are giving you permission to send. They don’t want an email every day with coupons; they want your weekly or monthly newsletter. If they sign up for the coupons then you can go ahead and send them.
This all seems like a lot of extra unnecessary work but here is why it is important. If someone says they want something it means they will actually be paying attention to what you are saying. Your audience becomes a solid group of people who are actively interested in your business and product and are much, much more likely to actually buy your product or sign up for your service.