Merkle releases 2009 “View from the Inbox” e-mail marketing trends report

The study sets out to measure the attitudes and behaviours regarding permission-based email among US consumers. Permission-based, or “opt-in”, e-mail marketing is a marketing approach used to reach consumers who voluntarily sign up to receive updates, offers and information from select
organizations.

The 2009 View from the Inbox report reveals new insights into the attitudes and opinions of the average US consumer toward permission-based e-mail. Highlights include:
• A Bigger “Inner Circle”: (Merkle's term for the companies from which a consumer chooses to receive emails.) For the past six years, this number held steady at nine. Today, the new average is 10, signalling that subscribers' capacity for brand engagement via e-mail is expanding slightly.
• Add Me to Your Contacts: Slightly more than half (53%) of consumers have added at least one company to their address books to ensure that e-mails land in their inboxes.
• Not Relevant? No Thanks: Subscribers who opt-out of permission e-mail cite that the e-mails lack relevance (75%) or are sent too frequently (73%).
• Not So Fast: Slightly over half of respondents said that they were less willing to sign-up for e-mail communications, compared to just a few years ago - showing that they are exercising caution. To expand their subscriber lists organically, marketers must continue to emphasise the value of their e-mails to consumers.
• Common Disconnect: An inverse relationship exists between the e-mails that are valued by consumers, such as transaction-related confirmations (64%) and account summaries (55%), and the quantities that they receive, such as news alerts (20%) and offers (18%).

The email channel continues to gain in popularity

For the 2009 View from the Inbox report, Harris Interactive surveyed 2505 American. Adults, aged 18 and over, who check and/or send e-mail at least once a week. The margin of error for the study is +/- 2.0% and the confidence level used to report comparisons between sub-segments of respondents is 95%.

Lori Connolly, director of research and analytics in Merkle's Interactive Solutions group, said: “Marketers in today's economy are relying heavily on the e-mail marketing channel, which continues to gain popularity due to its low cost and high measurability. As a result, inboxes are becoming more crowded with marketing messages. Our annual study shows that marketers must be careful not to overstep their boundaries and stick with relevant communications and appropriate timing or risk losing the trust that they have established with their customers.

Marketers who apply the findings from this year's study to their own e-mail marketing programmes will find that they will be able to balance short-term revenue gains with long-term subscriber value.”

Read the white paper here.