â–¶ E-Marketing’s Potential Real, But Unrealized: A recent survey conducted by Internet Retailer suggests that although revenue numbers for retailers are down, sales conversion rates for e-mail marketing tactics rose for nearly a quarter of those surveyed, while more than half of the respondents reported little to no change.
According to the survey, less than 10% of all online sales derive from e-mail marketing tactics, indicating that the medium is perhaps underutilized in the retail industry. The study also found:
• 51.6% of those surveyed plan to increase their use of e-mail marketing during the recession, while 43.7% plan to keep e-mail marketing volume about the same. Only 4.7% plan to decrease it;
• 38.8% are triggering e-mail blasts based on customer behavior or events;
• 46.7% of retail marketers say they will be fine-tuning their mix of graphics and content to improve the effectiveness of e-mail campaigns during the economic recession;
• 36.5% of retailers are personalizing messages (such as by addressing customers by first name); and,
• 18.4% are providing multiple options (for example, opting out of promotional e-mails but remaining on the e-newsletter list) during the opt-out process.
Source: Internet Retailer