• by Ray Schultz , May 31, 2022

Email is No. 1 in influencing consumers to make online purchases, with direct mail a close second, according to The Shopper Speaks: Digital Marketing Insights and Tactics, a study conducted by Digital Commerce 360.  

The consumers polled list these influences: 

• General email — 44%
• Catalogs and other printed material via postal mail — 42%
• Advertising in content I visit online — 32%
• Offers within order confirmation/shipping notification emails — 23%
• Advertising on social media — 21% 
• Email that suggests I left something in my cart — 20% 
• Back-in-stock emails — 20% 
• Social media — 18% 
• Text messages — 12% 
• Advertising that follows me online after I have viewed a product — 11%
• Influencers on social media — 7% 

Of those polled, 60% will make a purchase because of reading an email monthly. Another 10% will do so weekly, 6% a few times a week, 1% daily and 1% multiple times per day. 

• Buying or not, most respondents are actively engaged with brand emails. They open email advertising from retailers:
• Multiple times a day — 18%
• Daily — 25%
• A few times a week — 29%
• Weekly — 10%
• Monthly — 8%
• Never — 8%

Shoppers are most likely to open:  

• Messages about promotions/discounts currently available — 62%
• Shipping confirmations — 52%
• Order confirmations — 52%
• Delivery confirmations — 41% 
• Offers tied to loyalty programs — 40%
• Messages about free shipping — 37%
• Messages about new products currently available— 2 6%
• Requests to review products you recently bought — 20%
• Back-in-stock emails — 19% 
• Seasonal activities — 19%
• Replenishment — 5%

According to the article written by Lauren Freedman, Digital Commerce 360 and Bizrate Insights surveyed 1,015 online shoppers in May 2022.