There is good news on the email marketing front concerning its effectiveness as a marketing strategy: Email marketing continues to reign as one of the most effective marketing programs available, and consumers are beginning to shed some of their negative views about it.
In an October 2014 study, “Take Advantage of Positive Email Attitudes,” Forrester Research queried more than 33,000 online adults, examining attitudes towards email marketing and their responses to it and uncovered some interesting upticks. Among the findings:
- The number of respondents who delete email promotions without reading them declined steadily from 2010, dropping by seventeen points from 59 percent to 42 percent in 2014;
- The percentage of adults who think email ads have offers that are of interest to them increased to 62 percent, up three points from 2012;
- There was a seven percent increase between 2010 and 2012 (17 percent to 24 percent) in the belief that emails are an excellent way to learn about new products and promotions;
- Younger adults are more likely to make purchases prompted by promotional emails.
Despite these improvements, MarketingCharts had a tempering observation. In their Q4 2014 ancillary study “Why Consumers Open Brand Emails,” they found that both the timing of emails and their ability to engage email subscribers play important roles in prompting recipients to open materials, as well as in driving email generated purchases, but the mode of engagement may need to encompass more territory than simply special offers and promotions.
Reference:
MarketingCharts Staff. “Consumer Attitudes To Email Marketing Reveal Improvements, Challenges,” October 6, 2014.
