My company, Silverpop, recently unveiled some interesting findings in the final phase of its study of the email marketing practices of 175 major retailers.

Phase III of the "Retail Email Marketing Study" examines retailers' opt-out practices. In a nutshell, it found that companies generally do very little to maintain email relationships once recipients express a desire to opt-out. As a result, companies may be needlessly losing subscribers. For instance:

• Only 12 percent of retailers studied offered customers a chance to change their preferences in addition to simply opting-out.


• Only 3 percent asked customers why they were unsubscribing.


• Only 7 percent gave customers an opportunity to reconsider before leaving.

Although you should never place obstacles between your email customers and an easy opt-out, you still may be able to re-engage them. Phase III concludes that the most successful email programs treat opt-outs as critical customer touch points -- customers don't leave a list without being given an opportunity to state why, and each is presented with a variety of new options and real incentives to stay in addition to a fast and easy way to get off a list.

The study presents all sorts of interesting findings. If you'd like a copy, you can get it here.

Posted by Bill Nussey at 09:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

ClickZ recently posted a great article by Laura Marriott, the executive director of the Mobile Marketing Association. You can read it here.

In a nutshell, she raises the question of how far behind the United States might be from Europe in terms of mobile marketing. While she doesn't suggest there should be a simple answer, her anecdotes paint a picture of a U.S. that isn't too far behind at all.

In the end, it will come down to consumers who actively use the data services of mobile phones. On a per-capita basis, the U.S. definitely trails Europe and Asia. But Laura makes a great point that we are catching up quickly.

However, I think the real story here is that mobile marketing may be one of the first truly global marketing channels. Even more so than the Internet in some ways, handsets and airwaves can level the marketing playing field for truly global marketers like nothing before.

Posted by Bill Nussey at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

A newly-released study of more than 100 million email inboxes designed to outline the scope of the global spam problem reports that ISPs blocked or tagged as spam more than 1,000 emails per mailbox in the fourth quarter 2005, and that abusive email accounts for at least four out of every five messages sent.

"MAAWG Email Metrics Program: The Network Operators' Perspective," is the first report by the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group, a San-Francisco based body created to combat spam, viruses, denial-of-service attacks and other online exploitation. The report includes email metrics provided voluntarily by nine MAAWG-member ISPs and network operators worldwide, according to a March 8 press release. The complete report is available from the MAAWG Web site.

Posted by Bill Nussey at 08:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Politics makes strange bedfellows, and apparently, so does Goodmail.

Plans by America Online and Yahoo to begin using Goodmail's certified-email system have brought together two rival political action committees: the liberal MoveOn.org and the conservative RightMarch.com. Both oppose the idea of paying ISPs for guaranteed delivery of messages to opt-in recipients, and have even recently joined forces.

On its Web site, MoveOn.org is urging members to sign an online petition to "stop AOL's email tax," which it says favors giant emailers over members' friends, families and favorite causes. And, if you scroll past a screed against MoveOn.com on the RightMarch homepage, you'll find a link to its email letter expressing concern over the rise of a two-tiered Internet that favors the affluent over non-profits, civic organizations, charities and small businesses.

Both organizations are also part of a coalition of more than 50 non-profit and public interest groups led by Internet civil liberties advocacy group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Other members of the group include Gun Owners of America, The Democratic National Committee and the National Humane Society.

Who says conservatives and liberals can't get along? You can read more about it here.

Posted by Bill Nussey at 09:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)