| There have
been some phenomenal figures quoted recently on the success
of e-mail campaigns. There is no doubt that they work, but
for how long?
America is much further down the line in e-marketing than
here in the UK and a recent report has thrown up some interesting
statistics. Although e-mails still give significantly higher
responses than standard mail-shots in every area such as the
read rate, the interest rate and ultimate take-up rate, some
companies have seen a significant drop-off in response compared
to their initial e-campaigns.
The report makes it clear that it is 'quality not quantity'
that works, a lesson we should learn in the UK before we 'kill
the goose that laid the golden egg'. Fifty-two percent of
1,256 regular e-mail users surveyed by e-mail solutions provider
Quris Inc. said they delete messages messages from unrecognized
senders unopened.
Another 21 percent said they may open them but are annoyed
when they do. What's more, these users said on average that
commercial e-mail overall makes up 66 percent of the volume
they receive and that spam takes up 35 percent of their inboxes.
And marketers who think that simply getting permission is
enough should think again.
The
No. 1 complaint about permission programs was too much frequency.
Respondents said they delete on average 39 percent of even
their permission e-mails unopened.
"Companies have to realize that the way they conduct their
programs will have an impact on the
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way their customers
think about them," said Michael Sippey, vice president of
corporate development, Quris. In other findings, two-thirds
of those surveyed said they get "too much" e-mail and
31 percent said they are happy with the amount of e-mail they
receive and 3 percent said they'd like to get more.
The top way marketers can improve their permission marketing
programs is by sending higher quality, less frequent e-mails,
according to Quris. "People [marketers] are still treating
the channel like any other direct mail (DM) list, and you can't
treat this channel the same way," said Gina Lambright. Marketers
still need to understand that not all direct marketing principles
apply to e-mail, she said. "There is a divide between what
consumers want on this channel and what marketers are providing."
The most popular types of permission communications were predictable
ones like scheduled corporate newsletters, account status alerts
and transaction confirmations, the study determined. Sixty six
percent of respondents said they felt very or somewhat positively
about such services. "People value communications where they
know up front what they are getting," Sippey said. Also,
all forms of personalization got high marks from respondents.
The most commonly cited complaints surrounding poorly executed
e-mail marketing programs were suspicions that the company is
sharing addresses, an inability to unsubscribe from the list,
too frequent messages and nothing of value being sent.
"People are feeling e-mail fatigue and they realize
that when they give permission, that this one little step
can lead to a flood in their inboxes," Lambright said.
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