Retailers not making best use of customer data, report finds

Overall email marketing effectiveness on the decline, experts warn, as savvy shops cash in

Overall decline in the potential effectiveness of retailer’s e-marketing campaigns

UK retailers are failing to exploit the data they collect from customers and prospects in their email marketing campaigns, according to a recent study.

Few even bother to personalise emails and all but a forward-thinking minority are ignoring social media in their campaigns, says the report.

Hitting the Mark, a benchmark annual study by marketing agency dotMailer, reveals an overall decline in the potential effectiveness of retailer’s e-marketing campaigns: 73 per cent of retailers studied in 2009 achieved lower scores in 2010 and the average effectiveness score was flat at 67 per cent, still down on 2008’s 71 per cent.

“Just three of the 36 campaigns we studied used any kind of personalisation at all in their salutation,” said Tink Taylor, dotMailer’s managing director. “What’s more, although 33 per cent of the retailers collected extra data when we signed up to receive their emails - on gender and interests for example - only four of them actually used this data to tailor the email.”

The report evaluates emails sent from 36 UK retailers in April 2010 against 16 criteria known to drive traffic and sales drawn up by dotMailer based on the Direct Marketing Association’s Best Practice Guidelines. Each retailer is awarded a total score out of 100.

Two new categories – social media and mobile – were added to the study in 2010 to reflect behavioural changes in the audience. But only 17 per cent of email campaigns studied included any social network elements.

Low average scores in the categories of rendering and coding in the report indicate that retailers are not taking the relatively straightforward steps needed to avoid being mistaken for spam, say the report’s authors. Their research shows that 19 per cent of recipients will not read an email that they think is spam, and a further 19 per cent will perceive an email as spam if it’s blank when the images are turned off.

“All too often, poor quality information management can lead to inaccurate or irrelevant correspondence damaging customer relationships and overall brand reputation," said Peter Walker, UK manager of business intelligence firm Information Builders. "By prioritising the cleansing of data errors and duplications, marketers can ensure they reach the right customers with tailored messaging at the right time.”

The report also shows that very simple traffic-enhancing tricks are missed by lots of the retailers. For example, only half included a ‘forward to a friend’ link in their marketing email.

The study shows significant movement among the 36 retailers surveyed: HMV and Republic knocked Marks & Spencer off the top spot; New Look jumped straight in at joint number two while Figleaves and Harrods and Early Learning Centre scores plummeted.