- The average marketer sends 64 messages to their customers a year.
-Shop.org, State of Retailing Online 2007 report, 09/07
- 83% of marketing executives used email, ahead of display ads, paid search and online video
-The McKinsey Quarterly, 9/07
- Almost half of online retailers said email performs better or much better than other programs
-Internet Retailer, Email Survey, 4/07
- 73% of chain retailers, catalogers, virtual merchants and consumer brand manufacturers spend 5% of their marketing budget or less on email marketing, yet just over half of respondents report that 6% or more of their sales come from email, with 25% saying the portion is over 11%.
- 92.6% of merchants expect to increase their opt-in lists and anticipate conducting more frequent, but segmented, email campaigns
- Web merchants use email to communicate frequent information updates and product promotions to their best customers – 63.8% of retailers conduct up to 3 email campaigns per month and another 25.2% conduct between 4 and 8 campaigns.
- 68.2% of web merchants indicated that they’ve increased the frequency of email campaigns in the past year.
- A quarter of merchants report open rates of 20% or more (11.2% reported 20% to 25% while 15.3% said open rates were more than 25%)
- Along with relatively high email open rates, click-through averages are growing – with 17% of merchants reporting click-through rates of 16% or more.
- Sales conversation rates generated by e-mail marketing are also substantially higher than a year ago. 20.6% also indicate that sales conversions as a direct result of better e-mail marketing have improved by up to 5% in the past 12 months, with 7.2% reporting conversion increases of more than 10%.
- A full 26.9% of retailer respondents derive 11% or more of their sales from email marketing.
-Internet Retailer Monthly Survey, Email Marketing, 8/06
- Email is the #1 channel for US Interactive Marketers with 94% adoption
-eMarketer and Word-of-Mouth, 9/06
- Online retailers have become even more aggressive in using both their Web sites and emails to promote stores and catalogs. Eighty-nine percent and 81% of multichannel retailers used the Web and emails, respectively, to promote their stores in 2005 compared to 81% and 73%, respectively, in 2004.
- Shop.org State of Retailing Online 2006
- Retail professionals ranked email marketing as the most important demand-generation activity for holiday success
- In planning for holiday campaigns, retailers noted the biggest increases in their marketing spend would be email marketing
-Webtrends Online Retail Holiday Readiness Survey, 8/06
- Consistent with prior years, retailers still devote the majority of their online marketing budgets to acquiring new customers for their growing online businesses: In 2005, retailers allocated 55% of their online marketing budgets to online customer acquisition and 25% to customer retention.
- As sellers mature, they allocate a significant portion of their budgets to retention. Retailers that have been selling online for more than five years dedicate 27% of their online marketing budgets to customer retention.
- In 2005, 93% of retailers sent email to their house list in an effort to fine-tune their marketing tactics, a 2% increase from the year before.
- Despite retailers sending more emails – 51 email mailings per customer per year in 2005 versus 43 in 2004 – opt-out rates fell from 9% in 2004 to 8% in 2005.
- Online retailers have become even more aggressive in using both their Web sites and emails to promote stores and catalogs. Eighty-nine percent and 81% of multichannel retailers used the Web and emails, respectively, to promote their stores in 2005 compared to 81% and 73%, respectively, in 2004.
-Shop.org State of Retailing Online 2006
- 73% of chain retailers, catalogers, virtual merchants and consumer brand manufacturers spend 5% of their marketing budget or less on email marketing, yet just over half of respondents report that 6% or more of their sales come from email, with 25% saying the portion is over 11%.
- 92.6% of merchants expect to increase their opt-in lists and anticipate conducting more frequent, but segmented, email campaigns.
- Web merchants use email to communicate frequent information updates and product promotions to their best customers – 63.8% of retailers conduct up to 3 email campaigns per month and another 25.2% conduct between 4 and 8 campaigns.
- 68.2% of web merchants indicated that they’ve increased the frequency of email campaigns in the past year.
- A quarter of merchants report open rates of 20% or more (11.2% reported 20% to 25% while 15.3% said open rates were more than 25%).
- Along with relatively high email open rates, click-through averages are growing – with 17% of merchants reporting click-through rates of 16% or more.
- Sales conversation rates generated by e-mail marketing are also substantially higher than a year ago. 20.6% also indicate that sales conversions as a direct result of better e-mail marketing have improved by up to 5% in the past 12 months, with 7.2% reporting conversion increases of more than 10%.
- A full 26.9% of retailer respondents derive 11% or more of their sales from e-mail marketing.
-Internet Retailer Monthly Survey, Email Marketing, 8/06
- In their efforts to reach small business and organizations, marketers found the report the highest-rated online ad was an offer in a third-arty email newsletter.
-Marketing Sherpa, B2B report, 8/06
- A survey of ad:tech attendees ranked retention email as the best performing online advertising strategy, beating out both search and banner ads
-iMedia Connection, 12/14/05
- Advertisers targeting consumer markets rate e-mail as the second most used advertising technique after direct mail
- Eighty percent of marketers use e-mail advertising to generate leads and 85 percent use e-mail advertising in their branding efforts
-Outsell Survey, 2/06
- 70% of U.S. marketing executives planned for email marketing in 2005
-CMO Magazine
- Reasons that Online Retailers Use Email Marketing*
-Shop.org, "The State of Retailing Online 7.0", 2004.
- 81 percent of email marketers are unaware of the CAN-SPAM Act and its requirements.
- 84 percent said they received no information about the Act from their organizations and only 19 percent could identify the nature of the law.
- Nearly three-quarters of email marketers said they send mass emails to customers at least once a month - and 26 percent among those do so weekly and 7 percent daily.
-WebSurveyor, 3/05
- Email is second only to search in companies' online marketing budgets today, with 80% of marketers using, piloting or planning email marketing programs.
- 88% of marketers expect email effectiveness to increase in the next three years.
- Shar VanBoskirk, senior analyst at Forrester Research
- 95 percent of companies use or are planning to use e-mail as a marketing tool this year.
- The average company sends 23 million e-mail messages per year.
- The average company will lose 30 percent of its e-mail subscriber list per year.
- The number of people who sign up for an e-mail list for the first time has been flat for the last three years.
- Forrester Research
- E-mail marketing was used by 24 percent of young businesses and start-ups.
- Kelsey Group, 5/03/2006
- 95 percent of companies use or are planning to use e-mail as a marketing tool this year.
- The average company sends 23 million e-mail messages per year.
- The average company will lose 30 percent of its e-mail subscriber list per year.
- The number of people who sign up for an e-mail list for the first time has been flat for the last three years.
- Forrester Research
- E-mail marketing was used by 24 percent of young businesses and start-ups.
- Kelsey Group, 5/03/2006
- Online marketing has surged in popularity with industrial and manufacturing professionals with 54% using email as a marketing channel.
- GlobalSpec, 4/06
Email and Today's Average Consumer
- 84 percent of people agree both direct mail and email from companies has a purpose and 8 in 10 of those people believe that email is best for communicating brief messages.
- UK Royal Mail, 9/07
- 68% of consumers said they were prompted to browse a Web site after receiving an e-mail from a retailer
- RightNow Technologies & Harris Interactive, 5/07
- Consumers ranked email ahead of traditional media like newspapers, magazines and radio as a good way to learn about new products. Email was ranked 3rd only behind the Internet and Television
- American Marketing Association, Mplanet, 6/07
- 90% of consumers will use email to engage in and determine the value of a relationship with a company
- JupiterResearch, 2006
- 25% of US internet users share content via email (word-of-mouth) on a daily basis; 63% share on a weekly basis.
- eMarketer, Email and Word-of-Mouth, 9/06
- Email, newsgathering and personal shopping remain the most widely used internet activities among U.S. adults
- Mediamark Research, 12/06
- A survey of ad:tech attendees ranked retention email as the best performing online advertising strategy, beating out both search and banner ads.
- iMedia Connection, 12/14/05
- 79% of all consumers have signed up to receive emails from at least one company and an average of 30 messages per week from these senders.
- When asked what they would like to see e-mail replace, 51% of respondents said telemarketing, 44% said in-person sales calls and 41% said direct mail. In addition 33% would like to see e-mail replace retail offers and coupons, while 31% said bills and statements.
- eMarketer, 12/30/05
- 94% of consumers now expect e-mails to confirm orders and 90% expect shipping confirmations.
- Growing Your Retail Email Lists" 2005, Forrester Research
Online Marketing
- Internet advertising revenues (U.S.) for the first six months of 2007 were nearly $10 billion, setting yet another new record and representing a nearly 27 percent increase over the first half of 2006
- IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report, 10/07
- Online shoppers are highly engaged and spend an average of 41 percent more in stores compared to consumers not exposed to online advertising.
- Yahoo, comScore, 7/07
- Top three media channels that US Consumers most frequently reference in brand-related word-of-mouth:
1. Internet – 12%
2. TV – 7%
3. Newspapers – 5%
- eMarketer, Email and Word-of-Mouth, 9/06
- For the full year 2006, online retail spending (non-travel) reached $102.1 billion, a 24 percent increase from 2005, and online holiday (Nov. 1-Dec. 31) e-commerce accounted for $24.6 billion, up 26 percent from last year
- comScore Networks, 1/07
- By the end of 2005, there were 50.2 million U.S. homes and businesses connecting online via broadband--marking a 33 percent increase from 2004.
- Federal Communications Commission Report, 7/06
- Online sales in 2005 accounted for approximately 7% of total retail sales, which measured approximately $2.8 trillion.
- Shop.org State of Retailing Online 2006
- Internet usage topped 694 million worldwide in March 2006.
- ComScore Networks, 5/06
- The percentage of U.S. adults with access to the Internet has grown to 77 percent.
- Harris Interactive, 5/06
- Internet advertising reached a new record of $3.9 billion for the first quarter of 2006 – a 38% increase over the same period last year.
- Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers, 5/06
- Online ad spending will enjoy robust growth across the board over the next five years, reaching $25.9 billion by 2011, representing nearly 9 percent of the total U.S. ad market..
- JupiterResearch, 7/06
- Online spending will eclipse $100 billion for the first time in 2006.
- ComScore Networks, 5/06
Potent Quotables
- "E-mail is powerful. It pretty much owns the digital landscape. This is true around worldwide. In many cases, research has shown e-mail accounts for over 60 percent (sometimes as high as 90 percent) of all marketing messages."
- Jeanniey Mullen, discussing email marketing in ClickZ article, 8/06
- "Because the cost of email distribution is so inexpensive, you have the opportunity to tailor messages. The click-throughs and purchases go up dramatically when you give customers a message they care about, rather than just broadcasting to them."
- Scott Key, VP Business Development, Gap, Wall Street Journal, 11/23/05
- "In 2006, I hope the ESPC (Email Sender and Provider Coalition) can become more of a cheerleader for the email channel. It's not getting its due in the marketplace and it (email) truly is the killer application."
- Trevor Hughes, Executive Director, ESPC (discussing expanding the organization's mission)
- "We're starting to see a higher level of sophistication with email marketers. As the sophistication and level of targeting improve, it will help delivery problems."
- David Daniels, Research Director, JupiterResearch, 2/06
- "E-mail is effective; there is no arguing with that. The channel works amazingly well for marketers who know how to use it. Even 45% of consumers in a recent survey said it was a "great way" for companies to stay in touch with their customers. Return on investment for e-mail marketing tops all other channels except for telemarketing."
- eMarketer Report, 3/06
- "It is abundantly clear that marketers are seeing a compelling opportunity to leverage the internet as a powerful medium that drives both branding and sales results."
- Peter Petrusky, Director, Advisory Services, PricewaterhouseCoopers, 5/06
