• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, September 15, 2014

Revenue generated through online sales could reach $370 billion by 2017 -- up from $291 billion this year, per Forrester Research --- but many top brands don't have the skills or the technology to greet consumers with a personal, digital marketing experience. The biggest problem involves a lack of tools to analyze data to personalize emails and their content, even during a time when it has become so easy to click on a link in an email from a mobile phone and make a purchase.

SimpleRelevance, which helps companies personalize emails, ran a study analyzing email marketing programs from 20 top retailers and found some of the highest revenue-ranking brands like Macy's, Target, and The Home Depot rank much lower in data-driven marketing personalization. They fail to execute basic methods that personalize emails such as sending a personalized subject time or addressing the recipient by name in the email.

Of the 418 emails received from the 17 companies during the study, only two companies -- Amazon and Wal-Mart -- sent more than one email with a personalized subject line. In fact, 70% of Amazon’s emails included the recipient's name in the subject line. The study also listed the 10 most frequent words in a subject line. The top five were "Your" with 85 times; "Daily," 57; "Extra," 51; "Special," 42; and "Deal," 40. Personalizing the subject line means nothing with personalizing the content of the email.

The study also found that 104 emails did not include product recommendations. Some 16 of the 104 emails did contain product feedback requests, asking customers to give feedback in the form of a rating on products ordered. Only 9% of emails sent by major retailers included personal product recommendations.

Some 46% of recommendations were generated individually, and 54% were delivered based on categories. The research does not favor one method over another, but it does suggest that retailers work with technology partners to create program goals that include one.

Visual and images have become an important part of online advertising. Amazon email following the purchase of a football might recommend a ball pump, along with the image of the item. It's been proven in Google Shopping ad that images work, but only 10% of emails analyzed in the study contained personalized images. Some 19 emails failed to include any images. One of the biggest no-nos points to falsely suggesting product recommendations.

Some 78 of the emails falsely suggested that their product recommendations were selected specifically for individual customers.

It all comes down to taking advantage of have the technology and the customer data to personalize the email. Not only what's inside the email, but the time of day it's sent. Not all email users check their inboxes at the same time of day, but the data can help tell the most optimal time to send the email to determine when the consumer will click through the email to the landing page. Some 60% of users only click through emails during one hour each day.

Per SimpleRelevance, four of the 17 companies evaluated in the study sent emails between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. and resulted in higher click-through rates. Dell, Target and Men's Wearhouse sent more emails during this time than any other company analyzed in the survey. Between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. is the second most popular hour for opening emails. Unfortunately, zero companies optimized send time frequency based on user interaction.

"Online shopping" photo from Shutterstock.