Response Posts
Jul
12
By Stephanie Colleton
Director, Strategic Services
An eMarketer article reports that a survey conducted in May 2007 by the e-tailing group and BetweenMarkets asks online shoppers what they do when a merchant is out-of-stock on the item they want to buy. Almost half reported that they go to a competitor website for the same or similar product. However, 25% will sign-up for an email alert that notifies them when the item becomes available. An additional 31% will check back later. It would be interesting to know how many of those 31% would sign up for email alerts if they were available.
Online shoppers crave convenience. If a consumer has spent time finding what they want, at the right price, from a retailer they trust, only to discover that the product is out-of-stock, it's frustrating to have to start the search all over again. By contrast, it's easy to sign up for an email alert. If the item is exclusive to your brand the shopper may make a mental note to check back later. But what if they forget? Email alerts allow you to remind them!
If you don't have email inventory alerts, you may be missing a great opportunity ...
Tell me moreCategories: Response
Jun
25
By Margaret Farmakis
Director, Strategic Services
How often should marketers send email to their subscribers?
According to Chad White at the Email Experience Council (eec), that depends to some extent on the industry norm. He compiled frequency data for 92 major retailers over 16 weeks and found that the average number of touches is 1.7 per week.
What's a marketer to do if you fall above or below the industry average? The knee-jerk reaction is to submit to the peer pressure of your industry's frequency statistics and fall in line accordingly. But will that really make a difference when it comes to response? ...
Tell me moreCategories: Response
Jun
14
By Stephanie Miller
VP of Strategic Services
I spoke at both INBOX and Internet Retailer recently, and at both events heard smart marketers ask, "Why do readers unsubscribe, ignore or complain about my emails? They opted-in!"
The answer is that permission is not forever. Subscribers opt in and then promptly forget about their actions. Many marketers are not clear about what they will be sending, or at what frequency. That disconnect is real -- in fact, it's not unusual to see a high number of complaints and unsubscribes on a Welcome Message.
Nor is permission a panacea. Opt-in doesn't replace relevancy and keeping your promises.
To that end, here are a few key moments in the subscriber experience when permission should NOT be assumed ...
Categories: Response
May
29
By Stephanie Miller
VP of Strategic Services
Email is so important to subscribers that the rising volume of spam really doesn't bother them so much. Really.
This according to a May report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project -- simply named, "Spam" -- 37% of email users said spam had increased in their personal email accounts, up from 28% of email users who said that two years ago. And 29% of work email users said spam had increased in their work email accounts, up from 21% two years ago. Yet fewer people say spam is "a big problem" for them.
This is very consistent with consumer research from Return Path -- in fact, consumers are pretty good at managing their inboxes using sophisticated tools and practices. They know what they like - and they are quick to delete or complain about email they don't like. ...
Categories: Response
May
22
By Chad Malchow
VP, New Business Development
Last week the Return Path crew traveled to Chicago for our second in a series of Email Marketing Leadership Forums. These are half-day workshops that include up-to-the-minute industry news on email deliverability and response.
The session was lively with lots of great questions from some of Chicago's top email marketers. Here are just three interesting questions, with answers from the Return Path expert panel.
1. Are my "best buyers" my best audience for effective segmentation?
Not necessarily. ...
Categories: Response
May
14
By Stephanie Miller
VP of Strategic Services
After three intense days at MediaPost's Email Insider Summit with some of the smartest email marketers in the business, it feels pretty good to be working in this space right now!
I was so delighted to hear so many speakers lead with the importance of relevance. We email marketers are the subscriber advocates at our organizations, and it's imperative that we take that role seriously. While I heard a lot of talking the talk at the Summit, I confess I didn't hear a lot of case studies that walked the walk. My personal goal this year is to help all our clients make 2007 the first year that they send more targeted, custom, relevant and high performance email than batch-and-blast email.
Melinda Smith and Carey Dietz of Expedia wound up the Summit on Saturday with a solid presentation on creating relevant subscriber experiences every week when most people take two or three trips each year. ...
Categories: Response
May
10
By Stephanie Miller
VP of Strategic Services
Greetings from the Email Insider Summit in Bonita Springs, Florida. Great sun, nice breeze and wonderful networking.
At the opening reception tonight, I heard repeatedly from email marketers that the biggest challenge they wanted insight on this week was how to get past short-term thinking internally. Email channel revenue is the crack cocaine of direct marketing. Send out a bunch of emails and generate sales. Forget that we are churning the file and that 60%+ of subscribers are totally checked out. The predictable revenue hit is a very powerful force. And frankly, it's legit -- who can argue with revenue?
The answer is we can. I'm encouraged to hear ...
Categories: Response
By Stephanie Miller
VP of Strategic Services
There are so many marketing conferences that it can be tough to find time or budget to attend them all.
This is why I love that MarketingProfs is testing an ingenious idea - a virtual seminar! Check out their business-to-business conference that is completely online and completely free. What's better than that? ...
Tell me moreCategories: Response
Apr
24
By Margaret Farmakis
Director, Strategic Services
We've known for awhile now that email works. But it's still always nice to get a little data to affirm our passion for this channel.
So we were thrilled to see the release of a consumer survey from our friends at Epsilon. They found that an astonishing 84% of email recipients report clicking through on an email offer. The survey also found that 73% made an online purchase and 86% made an in-store purchase as the result of receiving a relevant email offer. In other words, when subscribers are happy, marketers will see tangible and impactful results. ...
Tell me moreCategories: Response
Apr
04
By Stephanie Miller
VP of Strategic Services
New research from Forrester reveals a trend we've been seeing for some time: Email recipients are an online retailer's best customers. In fact, Forrester found that people who buy products advertised in emails spend 138% more than those who don't buy through email. Email customers are also more likely to buy impulsively and are willing to pay premiums for convenience products.
These are your dream customers!
But wait ... it's not all wine and roses. The report also reveals just how tough the competition for inbox dominance has become. ...
Tell me moreCategories: Response
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