Retailers have made it significantly easier for people to opt into their e-mail programs and have gotten smarter about the way they handle opt outs during the last two years, according to a new study by e-mail service provider Silverpop.
But a surprising percentage of marketers still come up short on some of the fundamentals of e-mail.
For example, 73% of the companies studied sent e-mails to new subscribers confirming their registrations, according to Silverpop. While this is a significant improvement over the 43% who sent confirmation messages in 2005, it still means 27%, or more than one in four, are not thanking new customers and prospects.
“It’s a bit like turning a deaf ear to someone who has just walked into your shop,” said Mike Weston, managing director of Silverpop’s London office.
People who ask to receive a company’s e-mails are highly engaged with the brand, giving marketers an opportunity to cement the relationship, he said.
In a related finding, just 17% of U.S. marketers and 35% of U.K. marketers let registrants know in advance to expect confirmation messages, according to Silverpop.
On the plus side, marketers have significantly improved their list growth tactics, according to the survey.
“Marketers are making it as easy as possible for consumers to sign on to receive email messages,” Weston said.
For example, 80% of companies in the survey offered e-mail sign-ups on their home pages in 2007, compared to 75% in 2005, according to Silverpop. Also, 92% of companies offered a value proposition for e-mail sign-ups in 2007, such as sales information prizes and news, compared to 75% in 2005, according to Silverpop.
In another finding, an increasing percentage of companies are apparently getting smarter about handling opt-out requests.
For example, 32% of companies in the survey took people who ask to be removed from their lists to preference centers where they could change their preferences rather than simply opting them out, according to Silverpop. This is compared to just 12% of retailers that did so two years ago.
Also, 59% of the companies in the survey made it easier for people to opt-out by sending them Web forms pre-filled with their information, compared to 30% that did so in 2005.
Meanwhile, the vast majority of companies in the survey immediately stopped sending e-mail to people who opted out of their programs. However, 30% continued to send messages for several days, a 7% continued doing so after 10 days, which is a violation of the federal Can-Spam Act.
Not surprisingly, Internet service providers blocking graphics in e-mail sent to their users has changed the way marketers design their messages.
For example, 78% of those in this year’s survey included links recipients could use to view the message as a Web page, compared to 59% who did so in 2005, according to Silverpop.
Also, whereas two years ago, the so-called postcard format—or one big single-pane graphic—was the most popular creative style among retailers in 2005, this year, 26% used the postcard style, 30% used a letter or newsletter format to communicate with customers and 19% used a single-pane graphic across the top of the page with rows and columns below, according to Silverpop.
“Silverpop’s study reveals that email marketers have made significant strides in the past two years, but more can be done,” Weston said. “To continue making inroads into e-mail marketing best practices, retailers who aren’t doing so already should not only place opt-in requests on the home page but should place them in a prominent location. Each person who opts in should receive a personalized confirmation message. E-mails should always include a link to view the message in a browser, and marketers are wise to give recipients choices in addition to opting-out.”
