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3
Introduction
Executive Summary
Introduction
Of all the digital accounts and profiles,
none is more personal than email. These
systems excel at delivering one-to-one
messages, and email continues to thrive
some four decades after its inception. At
the end of 2017 its estimated there will be
4.9 billion email accounts worldwide.1
Though email marketing never
disappeared, the tactic is experiencing a
renaissance of sorts largely due to the
increasing ubiquity of smartphones in
the developed world.3 In the past several
years, smartphones have transformed into
hubs for email and other forms of media.
65 percent of email is now consumed
through a smartphone. 4
Consequently, email is reclaiming a bit of
the marketing limelight. Sixty percent of
Executive Summary
Of adults surveyed, 60 percent said they read emails from businesses*, though
only 16 percent of this group did so on a regular basis. Forty-three percent
confirmed that they only rarely read emails from businesses.
Among adults who do read business emails, 57 percent said they read between
zero and 25 percent. This shows that many people engage with marketing
emails only occasionally. The other 43 percent of adults who read marketing
emails read over 25 percent of the messages they receive. These findings
demonstrate that the majority of adults are open to receiving marketing
content through email, but also reinforce the importance of pre-open email
characteristics, such as subject lines, sender names, and deliverability.
Thirty-eight percent of respondents said receiving promotions and discounts
was the reason they read marketing emails. Getting news and updates ranked
second at 26 percent. Answers varied significantly based on gender, with men
choosing news and updates as their top reason for reading, while women
were more likely to read for promotions and discounts. Customer service only
garnered 11 percent of responses.
* These results did not distinguish between the type of email that respondents received from businesses, such
as promotional or transactional.
43.6%
39.9%
RARELY
NEVER
16.5% REGULARLY
0
10
20
30
40
50
0-25 percent
57.8%
25-50 percent
21%
50-75 percent
13.2%
8.1%
75-100 percent
10
20
30
40
50
60
30
25
25.9%
50-75 percent
23.7%
20
22.3%
21.5%
21.8%
19.6%
17.3%
15
10
10.3%
10.4%
8.3%
8.3%
7.2%
18-24 y/o
25-34 y/o
35-44 y/o
45-54 y/o
55-64 y/o
65+ y/o
These consumers compose the middle to late section of the millennial generation. Such
readers may be settling into their careers and likely have more disposable income than
their junior counterparts, which explains their greater interest in business news and
product offerings.
38.9%
News or
Updates
26.2%
Other
18.3%
Answers/
Support
11.4%
Educational
Content
5.2%
0
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
To Receive Promotions/Discounts
29.9%
Marketing Emails, By
46.7%
Gender
Male
10
20
To Receive News/Updates
30
Female
40
50
40
50
30.6%
22.5%
0
10
20
30
43.9%
13.1%
24.2%
23.9%
21.2%
0
10
20
30
40
50
10
Regardless of their propensity to use the inbox as a hub for business and
marketing emails, consumers will quickly grow irritated of marketers who abuse
their emailing permissions. Finding the right sending frequency is a relatively
simple task with current email marketing programs, and especially with
powerful marketing automation platforms.
Every day
49.1%
28.7%
Every week
9.1%
Every month
Every few
months
4.7%
8.4%
Never
0
10
20
30
40
50
11
12
10
20
18.6%
0
30
40
50
13
Summary
The results of our study are encouraging
and sobering.
The majority of American adults are open
to receiving emails from businesses,
and they read a fair amount of these
correspondences and offers. Most readers
are quite discerning about which emails
they open, which represents the proverbial
catch in the email marketing proposition.
The responsibility of capturing peoples
attention falls to email technicians who
must use their skills to engage a skeptical
readership.
Like anything in which they invest their
time, consumers expect businesses
to provide value in exchange for their
attention. This explains the 40 percent of
respondents who desired discounts and
promotions above all other types of emails.
But dont dismiss the value of news and
updates: curated, relevant information goes
a long way in building rapport between
businesses and their audiences.
CONSUMERS EXPECT
BUSINESSES TO PROVIDE VALUE
IN EXCHANGE FOR THIS TIME
In terms of improvement, sending time
and relevance are still the most important
factors. Email frequency in particular was
the most desired area of improvement (44
14
Sources
1. Radicati, Sara and Levenstein, Justin. Email Statistics Report, 2013-2017, The Radicati Group, Inc. April,
2013 http://www.radicati.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Email-Statistics-Report-2013-2017Executive-Summary.pdf
2. Aufreiter, Boudet, and Weng. Why Marketers Should Keep Sending You Emails, McKinsey & Company,
January 2014 ://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing_sales/why_marketers_should_keep_sending_
you_emails
3. Costello, Steve. Emerging Markets Set to Drive Smartphone Growth to 2018, Mobile World Live, May, 28,
2014. http://www.mobileworldlive.com/emerging-markets-set-drive-smartphone-growth-2018
4. ODell, J. 65% of All Email Gets Opened First on a Mobile Device And Thats Great News for Marketers,
Venturebeat, January, 22, 2014. http://venturebeat.com/2014/01/22/65-of-all-email-gets-opened-first-ona-mobile-device-and-thats-great-news-for-marketers/
5. 2015 State of Marketing, Salesforce, Accessed March 5, 2015. https://secure2.sfdcstatic.com/assets/pdf/
datasheets/mc_2015stateofmarketing.pdf
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8. Burstein, Daniel. Email Research Chart: How Often Customers Want to Receive Promotional Emails,
Marketingsherpa, February, 10, 2015. http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/chart/how-oftencustomers-want-promo-emails
9. 2015 State of Marketing, Salesforce, Accessed March 5, 2015. https://secure2.sfdcstatic.com/assets/pdf/
datasheets/mc_2015stateofmarketing.pdf
10. Marketing Automation has Plenty of Room for Growth, Emarketer, February 23, 2015.http://www.
emarketer.com/Article/Marketing-Automation-Has-Plenty-of-Room-Growth/1012092
11. Strohmetz, Rind, Fisher, and Lynn. Sweetening the Till: The Use of Candy to Increase Restaurant Tipping,
Journal of Applied Psychology, July 31, 2006. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2002.
tb00216.x/abstract
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