New York-based Return Path subscribed to and studied the email programs of more than 60 major marketers across the retail, travel, consumer goods and media/entertainment industries--including brands like Martha Stewart Living, Crate & Barrel and Jose Cuervo. Return Path signed up via each company's Web site, and monitored the communications sent out for the next 30 days.

Some 60% of the companies fumbled the first ball by failing to send a welcome message to new subscribers.

"It was quite surprising," said Bonnie Malone Fry, Return Path's director of strategic services. "There's so much talk about it that you'd think it would be a best practice, but the fact is that a vast majority of brands aren't confirming that the subscription was a success."

On average, it took about nine days to receive the first email--an unacceptable lag time in the age of IM, Twitter and other forms of instantaneous online gratification, Fry said. "You really can't afford to wait any period of time to engage," she said. "If a consumer signed up with you and four other companies in search of the same product, the first in the inbox is going to have an advantage--particularly in a society where we have such an immediate gratification mentality."

A majority of the advertisers studied also missed out on the opportunity to personalize their initial message--with just 15% of them sending an email that used the consumer's name. And it wasn't from a lack of data, as nearly 70% of the companies asked for a full name upon sign up.

"If you're collecting information in addition to an e-mail address when a person signs up, you should be using that information to create a personalized message," Fry said. "Personalization keeps subscribers involved with your brand and more inclined to purchase."

Return Path also observed performance variations by vertical. For example, retail brands tended to have quick, succinct sign-up processes that asked for very little personalization info. "It makes sense because most retailers are just trying to grow their list and mail generic promos," Fry said.

Travel advertisers asked for much more personal information, but they often used it in subsequent communications. Meanwhile, media companies had the fastest response times. "We subscribed to the New York Times and they started sending emails the next day," Fry said. "Again, it made sense though, because news is a product that's very time critical."

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