January 19, 2005

On December 28, 2004, Return Path surveyed 723 American consumers between the ages of 18 and 54, to find that 98.6 percent believed they received more e-mail messages during the holiday season than they normally do over the year.

Unfortunately for retailers who turned to e-mail more this holiday season, over 30% of respondents felt that the increase in e-mail that they received over the holidays was nothing but spam. In fact, 60.1% just deleted unwanted e-mails they received between October 31 and December 25, while 49.1% say they were indifferent to the unwanted rise in e-mail.

The results were better, however, for e-mail consumers received from retailers they are familiar with and trust, as Return Path found that though nearly 35% say e-mail had no impact on their shopping habits over the 2004 holiday season, over 31% say e-mail had a "small" influence.

Over 7% say e-mail had a significant influence over their shopping behavior this past holiday.

What's more, nearly 45% of consumers say that they took advantage of e-mail offers over the holidays, nearly 37% say they used e-mail to comparison shop and just under 30% say they used it for holiday gift ideas. If e-mail didn't directly influence holiday shopping, it seems it did convey strong marketing messages.

The main reason why consumers open e-mail? Return Path found over 59% say they choose to open e-mail messages from senders that they know and trust. Only 15.1% say the same about free shipping deals and under 18% say the same about a discount.

In 2003, Shop.org and BizRate.com surveyed 86 online retailers to find that 86% said their most successful promotion vehicle for the holidays was their own e-mail. By 2004, however, Nielsen//NetRatings and DoubleClick reported that only 16% of holiday shoppers said they used e-mail to find gifts to buy online, whereas search engines and product placement on a site fared better, each cited by over 30% of respondents.

Is spam increasingly affecting the success of e-mail? It would seem from the recent Return Path findings and the Nielsen/DoubleClick data that the ever increasing volume of spam in consumers' inboxes made it that more difficult for legitimate messages to get through this past holiday season. But as the Return Path findings highlight, "success" can be measured in different ways.

Source: eMarketer