E-Mail’s Popularity with Consumers Grows.

While e-mail is rising in popularity among consumers, spam continues to be a persistent problem and source of complaints.

DoubleClick announced the results of its “Fifth Annual Consumer Email Study” at the DMA Annual Conference in New Orleans last week. Summarizing its findings, the company noted that their “study reveals the continued popularity of e-mail for consumers and an increasing acknowledgment of e-mail as a legitimate and relied-upon marketing channel.”

Demonstrating the growing marketing power of e-mail, DoubleClick finds that consumers are increasingly likely to make purchases, both online and offline, as a result of receiving a permission-based e-mail. In fact, according to the study, permission-based e-mail is increasingly welcomed by consumers as a replacement for telemarketing, direct mail and even bills and statements.

“This year’s study shows how consumers have embraced e-mail as a marketing vehicle,” says Eric Kirby of DoubleClick.

On the other hand, the study finds that spam still comprises the largest proportion of e-mail that consumers receive, and that is a problem that no one has any idea how to overcome.

Delving deeper into the numbers behind the assertions, the study finds that e-mail usage rose over the past year, with 81% of consumers saying they go online to send and receive e-mail multiple times daily, and 33% reporting constant usage. This group of constant e-mailers jumped considerably (up from 20%) over 2003 levels.

The average consumer receives 308 e-mails per week, a 16% increase from 2003. Unfortunately, nearly two-thirds (62%) of this volume is considered spam, versus 56% in 2003, so the bad messages are on the rise, too. Consumers are consistent in what they feel constitutes spam: deceptiveness (96%), unknown senders (93%) and offensive subject matters (93%) are the most commonly cited definitions of spam. Even when permission to mail is granted, frequency (58%) and irrelevancy (57%) can cause consumers to consider e-mail as spam. When asked about how they deal with spam, the majority of consumers (72%) simply delete these emails — only 28% attempt to unsubscribe.

Permission based e-mail accounts for 8% of e-mails received, and two-thirds (67%) of respondents report opening at least 6 out of every 10 permission-based e-mails.

Not surprisingly, the study finds that consumers are not only using e-mail more, they are becoming more sophisticated in their usage. As a result, a significant proportion of consumers consider e-mail to be a replacement for telemarketing (49%) and direct mail to their home address (45%). When asked what they would like e-mail to replace, 54% said telemarketing, 45% said in-person sales calls and 40% said direct mail to postal address. An additional 33% of respondents would prefer to see e-mail replacing retail offers and coupons, and 28% are in favor of e-mailed bills and statements.

Across the board, consumers expect e-mails to confirm transactions and shipping (95% and 90% respectively), and many are open to the ideas of promotional e-mails being used to promote ancillary offers, with 52% saying they are interested in offers for related products, 47% in information about membership rewards programs and 41% displaying an interest in sweepstakes.

Perhaps of most importance to marketers, the study finds that 32% of the respondents have made an immediate purchase online as a result of receiving an e-mail — up from 28% in 2003 — and 30% have clicked on an e-mail to find more information, then returned later to purchase online. An additional 12% clicked on an e-mail to find more information and then later purchased the item offline. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of consumers have redeemed an online coupon during an online purchase, while 59% have redeemed an online coupon offline.

DoubleClick finds little difference between categories when it comes to driving purchases through e-mail. A host of categories demonstrate high rates, between 71% and 80% of respondents, that purchased a product as a result of an e-mail, including travel, hardware/software, electronics, apparel, food, home furnishings, gifts/flowers and sporting goods. Within these product sectors, however, catalogers are most successful at driving purchases, most likely reflecting their innate multi-channel and direct marketing expertise.

To view charts CLICK above on ‘More Images’.