Friday, May 11, 2007

Internet Retailer Survey - April07

According to Internet Retailer Survey April07, E-mail remains one of the best one-on-one marketing tools retailers can use to attract and retain customers, although pay-per-click advertising and social networking are gaining status in retail marketing circles. The survey finds that merchants are expanding both the size and scope of their e-mail programs. Of the 302 merchants taking part in the survey, 94.5% are building bigger opt-in lists and 64.7% are conducting more e-mail campaigns than a year ago. The report says that 65.2% will increase the size of their opt-in e-mail lists between 10.1% and 40% in 2007; and only 28.8% of merchants in the survey maintain an opt-in list of fewer than 5,000 names. The survey report says that many merchants still have flaws in their e-mail marketing programs that may result in fewer readers and customers. The survey reveals that only 40.2% of all merchants are delivering between 90.1% and 100% of their e-mail messages; and only 59.3% of respondents have acceptable e-mail delivery rates. Only 17.1% reported e-mail click-through rates of 15.1% or more.

The Internet Retailer survey finds that 47.8% of merchants list increasing web sales as their main objective, followed by 17.2% who see customer retention as the top goal and 12.7% who use e-mail to attract new shoppers, and 19.7% who want more multi-channel customers or higher tickets and conversions. While the survey indicates that retail marketing managers are working to improve the effectiveness of their campaigns, many aren't paying close enough attention to conversion rates. About 30% of respondents to the survey don't know their conversion rates from e-mails. A low sales conversion rate is a key indicator that merchants need to adjust their approach to e-mail marketing. Today only 56.6% of retailers segment their e-mail lists, which could be segmented to identify recipients by demographics such as age, sex, annual income and past purchase histories to generate more effective campaigns. The report states that e-mail generates 1% to 2.5% of sales for 18.7% of all retailers in the survey, and between 2.51% to 15% of revenue for 37.4%. According to Jordan Ayan, CEO of SubscriberMail LLC, E-mail is likely to experience continued growth as a marketing vehicle, particularly as direct marketers look at even higher postage rates. However, a bigger program won't necessarily deliver better results if a retailer just takes a one-size-fits-all approach. If only 60% of a campaign is being delivered, the other 40% is a huge missed opportunity.
Thanks Internet Retailer, April 2007

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