The conclusion drawn in a new report from Merkle, "View from the Inbox," 2009, is that Email continues to be a popular marketing communications channel in today's challenging economic
climate due to its low cost-per-contact and its ability to provide direct, measurable results. But, consumers' attitudes and behavior regarding email continue to change.
As a result, inboxes
are becoming more crowded with marketing messages and marketers are finding they must adapt to sustain gains made via their recent email marketing efforts. Permission-based, or "opt-in"
email marketing, is seen as an important element in the unfolding strategies.
- Time spent with permission email has stabilized since the gains seen last year. 59% of all email
users spend twenty minutes or more with permission email weekly, with just over one- quarter spending an hour or more weekly
- Permission email accounts for about a quarter of all
time spent with email, second only to its primary function of communicating with friends and family
- Just over half of all permission email recipients have added at least one company
to their address book, and do so for 25% of the companies sending them email
- There is an inverse relationship between the email types that are most valued and the quantities
consumers receive
- The biggest reasons subscribers choose to opt-out of permission email continue to be lack of relevance (cited by 75%), followed closely by sending too
frequently (73%)
- Slightly over half of respondents said that they were less willing to sign-up for email communications when compared to just a few years ago - showing that they
are exercising caution
Willingness to Sign Up for Permission Email: Change Over
Time |
Willingness | % of Respondents |
Less
willing | 52% |
More willing | 14 |
Unchanged | 34 |
Source: Merkleinc, February
2009 |
An inverse relationship exists between the emails that are valued by consumers pertaining directly to them such as transaction-related confirmations
and account summaries and the quantities that they receive in which they are relatively less interested, such as news alerts and offers.
Permission Email Types Most Worth Reading vs. Number Received Monthly |
Email
Type | Perceived As "Most Worth Reading" | Emails Received
Monthly |
Transaction confirmations | 64% | 5.8 |
Account summaries | 55 | 5.0 |
News alerts | 20 | 5.8 |
News letters | 20 | 7.8 |
Promotional offers | 18 | 15.8 |
Source: Merkleinc, February 2009 |
The main reasons subscribers choose to opt out of email programs, 75% say perceived irrelevance and 73% cite
sending too frequently, are problems most commonly associated with promotional email because these can be the most intrusive.
The subscribers that receive promotional permission email, says
the report, estimate that they delete 55% without opening, and the majority of email believed to be "too much" or "moderate," by 44% of those who receive promotional permission,
goes unopened.
27% percent of all respondents spend an hour or more with permission email weekly, statistically unchanged from last year, finds the report. Permission email continues to make
inroads those who don't spend any time with commercial email. This group decreased from 12% of respondents last year to just 9% this year.
As a percentage of total email time, permission
email increased by five points year-over-year, and permission email accounts for about 26% of the total time spent with email. 58% still believe that email is a great way for companies to stay in
touch with customers, unchanged from last year.
Percent of Time Spent with Email by
Category |
Category | % Email Time Spent |
Permission Email | 26% |
Friends & family | 43 |
Work | 19 |
Other | 12 |
Source: Merkleinc, February 2009 |
While there was only
a nominal percentage point gain in those checking email on a mobile device (currently at 11% of all respondents), the percentage of total permission email viewed on a mobile device gained five points
since last year. For these mobile users, 16% of all permission email is viewed on a wireless phone or organizer.
The report concludes that the quality of a company's email program
influences brand perceptions, both negatively and positively, acknowledged by 59% of permission email recipients, while 30% of permission email recipients have stopped doing business with at least one
company due to their poor email marketing practices.
The margin of error for the study is said to be +/- 2.0% and the confidence level used to report comparisons between sub-segments of
respondents is 95%.
Please visit Merkle here for the free report in PDF format.