February 2009
Merkle, a database marketing agency, has released its 2009 ‘View from the Inbox’ email marketing report.
This report highlights the results of Merkle’s annual study, which is conducted in conjunction with the national survey research firm Harris Interactive.
The study sets out to measure the attitudes and behaviors regarding permission-based email among U.S. consumers. Permission-based or “opt-in” email marketing is a marketing approach used to reach consumers who voluntarily sign-up to receive updates, offers and information from select organizations.
The 2009 ‘View from the Inbox’ report reveals new insights into the attitudes and opinions of the average U.S. consumer toward permission-based email.
Highlights include:
A Bigger “Inner Circle”: Merkle uses the term “Inner Circle” for companies that a consumer chooses to receive emails from. For the past six years, this number held steady at nine. Today, the new average is ten, signaling that subscribers’ capacity for brand engagement via email is expanding slightly.
Add Me to Your Contacts: Slightly more than half (53%) of consumers have added at least one company to their address books to ensure that emails land in their inboxes.
Not Relevant? No Thanks: Subscribers who opt-out of permission email cite that these emails lack relevance (75%) or are sent too frequently (73%).
Not So Fast: Slightly over half of respondents said that they were less willing to sign-up for email communications when compared to just a few years ago–showing that they are exercising caution. To grow their subscriber lists organically, marketers must continue to emphasize the value of their emails to consumers.
Common Disconnect: An inverse relationship exists between the emails that are valued by consumers, such as transaction-related confirmations (64%) and account summaries (55%), and the quantities that they receive, such as news alerts (20%) and offers (18%).
For the ‘2009 View from the Inbox’ report, Harris Interactive surveyed 2,505 U.S. adults age 18 and over who check and/or send email at least once a week. The margin of error for the study is +/- 2.0% and the confidence level used to report comparisons between sub-segments of respondents is 95 per cent.
Lori Connolly, Director of Research and Analytics in Merkle’s Interactive Solutions group, said, “Each year, Merkle’s ‘View from the Inbox’ study seeks to ‘take the pulse’ of consumers’ attitudes toward permission-based email. Marketers in today’s economy are relying heavily on the email marketing channel, which continues to gain popularity due to its low cost and high measurability.”
“As a result, inboxes are becoming more crowded with marketing messages, which can have serious implications for marketers relying on this channel. Our annual study shows that marketers must be careful not to overstep their boundaries and stick with relevant communications and appropriate timing or risk losing the trust that they have established with their customers. Marketers who apply the findings from this year’s study to their own email marketing programs will balance short-term revenue gains with long-term subscriber value.”
The report is available free of charge at www.merkleinc.com/inboxwhitepaper
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