Over the next few years there will b a "race for permission" among marketers who are expected to spend $1 billion on previously approved consumer email promotions by 2001, according to a study by IMT Strategies, a sales and market research firm in Stamford, Conn.
Marketers that ask for and get a green light from consumers before emailing them are finding their messages are welcome and greeted with response rates that far exceed other targeted marketing vehicles, such as Web advertising, direct mail and unsolicited email. More than half of all email users feel positively about permission email promotions, and nearly three-quarters of users respond to these promotions with some frequency, according to the study. The survey is based on 403 adult email users and phone and Web surveys of more than 200 e-marketers.
Other findings include:
- Over 80% of email users have granted marketers permission to send them occasional email promotions.
- 70% of customers have responded to permission email offers more than once.
- The majority of marketers do not measure the performance of their email marketing campaigns.
(IMT Strategies, 877/566-7744)