• by Ray Schultz , March 29, 2021

Brand recall continues to produce greater email open rates than subject-line content, according to The Consumer Email Tracker 2021, a study by the UK Data and Marketing Association (DMA), supported by Validity. 

Of consumers polled, 68% say the brand dictates whether they open an email, versus 59% who cite open rates. 

But both factors have grown in importance since 2019, when 55% listed brand recall and 48% cited subject lines. 

In addition, 55% say relevance is the factor most likely to drive them to like brand emails, putting this into first place in the past year. In contrast, discounts and offers influence 53% in this way. However, these factors are the main drivers that influence 48% to sign up for emails.  

In general, 70% say email is the best channel for brands to use throughout the customer journey. And around 50% use their email inbox as the place to save information from brands. 

But email clicks are not the only action consumers take after reading an email — 19% are just as likely to engage with the brand indirectly or through another channel. 

That said, consumers feel they are getting too many emails. 

For instance, 36% want to reduce email frequency, and 36% prefer to only receive specific messages. Another 24% want more personalized emails.

But 31% would like to unsubscribe. The main reasons for doing this are:

• Receiving too many emails — 56% 
• Information is no longer relevant — 38%
• Don’t remember signing up — 34%
• Don’t recognize the brand — 34%
• A bad customer experience — 19%
• Negative stories about a brand — 11% 

“It’s clear from our findings that email remains at the heart of brands’ ability to communicate with customers, but they also highlight how important it is to make sure that businesses understand their customers’ preferences and have a strong rapport with them,” states Tim Bond, head of insight at the DMA.

The DMA surveyed 2,000 consumers.