41% of consumers say they would consider ending a brand relationship due to irrelevant promotions, and an additional 22% say they would definitely defect from the brand. Yet, while marketers continue to weigh the pros and cons of email versus printed postal mail, consumers are much more concerned about the level of individualization and understanding of their needs and relationship with the brand.

Key findings of the consumer engagement study highlighted in the report, Why Relevance Drives Response and Relationships, showed that:

• Nearly three quarters of consumers have received promotions for products they have previously purchased from the company
• 73% of consumers would be open to receiving print statements if mailed materials were recyclable or part of a sustainability program
• Nine out of ten consumers open monthly bills delivered via traditional mail, compared to 72% who open bills delivered via email
• When given the opportunity to choose, 51% of consumers prefer to receive product or service promotions via traditional mail while 44% prefer email

The CMO Council report found that consumers are overloaded with unwanted direct marketing and promotional messages that are blasted out via email, or mass-produced and mailed in vast quantities, choking mail boxes and filling recycling bins. In most cases, recipients ignore, or have become immune, to standardized commercial overtures. And with the advent of the Internet, consumers are seeking product information and affirmation from trusted sources and referral networks online.
 Liz Miller, Vice President, Programs and Operations, CMO Council, said "Irrelevant, impersonal communications... (do) not engage a receptive recipient... customers will disconnect and stop doing business with brands who continue to send messages that demonstrate a lack of intimacy, customer insight and individual understanding."

 Even when marketers have deeper engagements with customer, as with loyalty clubs and rewards programs, they are often missing the mark in delivering meaningful messages. In fact, only 6% of consumers felt that the promotions received through loyalty club communications were based on preferences or past purchasing behavior. 30% of consumers stated they are inspired to do business with a company after receiving personalized communication.

Sandra Zoratti, Vice President, Global Solutions Marketing at InfoPrint Solutions Company, concludes that "The research... shows that staying relevant, valued and connected to customers has become the number one challenge for marketers today..."

Additional report highlights:

• Traditional junk mail accounts for over 100 billion pieces of mail each year, and 44% of this unsolicited, primarily promotional mail ends up in a landfill...unopened
• Email waste is also staggering. There is more than 200 billion email messages sent each day, yet 97% of all email sent is actually spam, according to an April, 2009 report released by Microsoft
• Cisco reports "customized" spam that is based on personal information stolen from the web has quadrupled over the last 12 months (2009)
• The average email open rate across 16 industries during Q2 of 2009 now stands at 22.2%, and has increased for the fourth quarter in a row
• About 3.3% of opt-in emails for subscribers in the US and Canada were sent to "junk" or "bulk" email bins, while 17.4% did not get delivered at all
• Forrester reports that by 2014, email marketing spend will rise to $2 billion - almost double the projected spend of $1.2 billion for 2009
• The average individual is expected to receive 25 messages a day in five years, double 10 or 12 emails received now

For additional information from the CMO council and a  complimentary summary of findings, please visit here.