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A new study outlines the ideal habits, actions that are out of favor, and emerging best practices among retailers that offer e-mail alerts.

While few fall into the "what else is new" category , the survey's sponsor, the DMA's Email Experience Council, documents how many of the 118 online retailers follow these best practices, and the report itself illustrates both the best and the worst.

For instance, only 3% use the most stringent double-opt-in process for verifying subscribers, while 92% have an e-mail sign-up option or link on their home pages.

Among the study's recommended best practices, retailers are advised, in addition to placing an e-mail sign-up option on their home page, to keep sign-ups simple; clearly detail the benefits of subscribing before launching the subscription process; offer those enrolling the opportunity to customize the content they would receive; assure privacy and state subscriber information policies; confirm that the sign-up process was successful after; and ask to be included in "trusted e-mailers" lists.

What's fallen out of fashion? Offering non-related rewards, such as sweepstakes, as benefits for signing up. Doing so, the study's authors argue, lards up a subscription list with people who merely wish to be entered into a drawing, and may actually be harmful, especially if a number of those use the "this is spam" option to opt out.

Those e-mailers for whom the above practices are standard operating procedures may be more taken with the emerging practices. These include providing both long and short sign-up forms -- one allowing quick enrollment, while the other captures more data about subscriber preferences in return for more highly targeted content; providing a sample newsletter before sign-up; using JavaScript enrollment forms with drop-down menus; and allowing enrollees to determine how many frequently they would like to be contacted.

The full report, which also features commentary from Elie Ashery, president and CEO of e-mail marketing services firm Gold Lasso, is available from the Email Experience Council.