April 25 2008
2007 Email marketing trends
While spam seems to increase by the day most users still feel in control of their email inbox, and are happy to make buying decisions based on emails received
Database marketing agency Merkle has released its free annual e-mail marketing study 'View from the Inbox 2008’. The study measures and tracks attitudes and behaviors toward permission-based e-mail among U.S. consumers and points to several trends in consumers’ attitudes and use of permission-based e-mail marketing:
Consumers feel in control: Most consumers (88%) feel mostly or completely in control of their inboxes – up nine points from 2004.
E mail users are spending more time with permission email. Sixty-nine percent of permission email users spend 20 minutes or more reading their email on a weekly basis, up significantly from last year.
General attitudes toward corporate e-mail are positive: More people (58%) believe e-mail is a great way for companies to stay in touch – up from 45% three years ago.
E-mail is effective: Half of the respondents made an online purchase in the previous year as a result of permission-based marketing – up 3 percentage points from one year ago.
E-mail can influence decisions: Half of respondents reported that a company that does a good job with e-mail influenced their decision to do business – up 6% points from last year. However, e-mail can also close doors: About one-third (32%) have stopped doing business with at least one company as a result of poor e-mail marketing practices.
Relevancy is in the eye of the beholder: Consumers (41%) consider transaction confirmation emails to be most relevant, followed by account summary emails (18%).
The report is available for download here http://www.merkleinc.com/user-assets/Documents/WhitePapers/ViewFromThe%20Inbox2008.pdf.
