Commentary
Just an Online Minute... How Email Impacts Brands
- by Masha Geller , October 17, 2002
The study I’m referring to was conducted in recent months by Quris, Greenfield Research and Executive Summary, who surveyed 1,256 regular email users on a range of attitudes and behaviors about permission email marketing.
The study concluded that - get this - “well-executed permission email positively affects brand attitudes.”
Forgive the monosyllabic reaction, but DUH!?!
Be that as it may, it gets better. The second finding of this “study” was: “The quality of email programs impacts brand perceptions.” Apparently, the majority of respondents to this particular study “believe” [I guess they’re not quite sure] that the quality of permission email programs influences their opinions, positively and negatively, about the companies sending them email. Well, of course it does! That’s not only common knowledge, it’s common sense – everything you do impacts your brand! Everything! Including email! Why would anyone need to research this?
But wait. That’s not all. The finding that really got me thinking about whether I give the online industry too much credit for basic intelligence was, “Subscribers loyal to permission email programs are better customers.” These esteemed researchers concluded that respondents who have maintained permission email relationships longest with companies are much more likely to shop online, click on links in permission messages and feel that email impacts their perception of a company’s brand.
That jewel of a discovery goes hand in hand with the next one, which basically states that consumers are more interested in receiving email they’ve specifically asked for than email they didn’t ask for.
If the email marketing industry still needs someone to “research” this kind of stuff, we might as well all pack up and go home now. I sincerely hope that’s not the case and that common sense will prevail.
