• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, May 18, 2004

Relevant Promotions Increase Click Through Rates

Sustained or improved delivery and unique click-through rates (CTR) for permission-based email are reported in the Bigfoot Interactive quarterly vertical benchmark analysis for email campaigns launched and monitored from January through the end of March 2004.

With marketers diligent in their list management and hygiene efforts to improve adherence to CAN SPAM compliance, most vertical markets experienced improved delivery rates (emails successfully sent). Retail, Financial Services and Media campaigns, showed the strongest performance among all vertical segments, with delivery rates rising 14%, 3% and 2% respectively over last quarter. Overall delivery rates for the Media and Financial Services' vertical markets peaked at 93.3% and 92.4% respectively.

The unique for Financial Services service email campaigns revealed the strongest CTR increase within the vertical, up 21% over last quarter primarily due to significant interest and response to year-end statement alerts from major credit card issuers and banks.

CTR for Financial Services E-Mail Campaigns in the US

• Q4 2003 17.6
• Q1 2004 22.1

Source: Bigfoot Interactive, May 2004

Quarter Over Quarter (4th Q 2003 to 1st Q 2004) Performance Highlights Across Other Key Business Segments:

Retail - Timely, spring season promotional email campaigns from leading luxury brands yielded an average click through rate of 11.2%.

Automotive - Promotional mailings including a mix of aggressive lease specials, auto show promotions and interactive games yielded an average unique CTR of 19.3%, representing more than an 8% increase over Q4 '03 results.

Media - Personalized newsletter headlines contributed to a 26% increase in the unique click-through rate for editorial campaigns to reach 16.5%. Focused promotional campaigns, including specials offers and contests around local events, spurred a significant spike in the average unique CTR for promotional messages and yielded a 96% increase over last quarter's results to reach 4.9%.

CTR for Promotional E-Mails in the US, Q1 2004

• Automotive 19.3%
• Retail 11.2
• Media 4.9

Source: Bigfoot Interactive, May 2004

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