Permission-Based E-Mail Marketing
E- mail has been available since the Internet began, and is 'not
subject to some of the technical changes that might force people to update their
Web browsers every three months. [2] As a result, e-mail can be considered as both stable
and reliable. For many people e-mail is their main reason for being on the
Internet, as it is cheap and convenient, and companies have come to recognize
it. The commercial e-mail market is predicted by Jupiter to rise to an estimated
US $7.3 billion in 2005, cannibalizing direct mail revenues by 13 per cent.
[3] Numerous companies have
been impressed by the high rate of response obtained when sending e-mails, and a
recent Forrester report found that 10 per cent of e-mail recipients click
through to the sender's Web page, and about 2.5 per cent of those recipients
make a purchase during the visit. [4] However, not all e-mails are equally effective.
Forrester stresses the important role of e-mail in opening a
dialogue with customers and gradually building a relationship that will
eventually allow more personal information to be gained. However, many
organizations are using it indiscriminately to aggressively market products and
bombard consumers with unsolicited e-mails. The potential to develop better
customer relationships is being eroded by unreflective practice. Consumers are
discerning and have experienced aggressive direct marketing through unsolicited
'snail mail' and telemarketing, and they are not prepared to accept 'spamming'
on the Internet. Organizations need to adopt better practice if they are to
acquire and retain customers, and one way could be through permission-based
e-mail marketing. Meta Group defines a permission e-mail as 'A promotional
e-mail whose recipients consent to receive commercial messages from the sender,
typically by signing up at the company's Web site'. [5]
This new form of direct marketing is well established in the
United States and is beginning to develop in Europe. It enables companies to
achieve higher response rates because consumers give their own details freely.
In this respect, e-mail marketing uses what is called 'push technology' in order
to deliver targeted messages, and it is consumers who define what interests them
(often by filling out online questionnaires) and as a result are only sent
relevant information or messages. Compared with other online marketing vehicles,
such as Web banner ads, permission e-mail marketing delivers superior
performance and more measurable business impact and when approached responsibly
and in an ethical manner can achieve good results. Unlike Web banners,
permission-based e-mail puts the marketer back in control of what messages
consumers receive and when they receive them. In addition, cost per message sent
for permission e-mail allows marketers to improve their marketing economies by
five times or more compared with direct mail, and by as much as 20 times
compared with Web banners.
As more marketing is done on the Internet and e-mail marketing is
studied further, it is possible to understand more about the buying behaviour of
the consumers who respond to e-mail offers. For example, Cross and Nassef
[6] have identified two
specific categories. The first are the 'hot clickers' who are quick responders
and usually act on an e-mail promotion within 24 hours. If they like the offer,
they will even act as advocates, forwarding the message to friends and relatives
who might also be interested in the offer. However, such behaviour is difficult
to predict and there is no consistent buying pattern.
The 'warm clickers' will think about a specific offer they
receive, often taking up to three days to respond. They also like to receive
more information about products and services before making commitments. However,
these buyers make up for their slower response time by being predictable
long-term performers, and it is possible to predict their annual buying patterns
within 5 per cent.
Permission-based e-mail marketing is a relatively recent
phenomenon, and much of the literature on the subject and considered best
practice has emerged from the United States. However, practice from the United
States does not necessarily translate directly into Europe, and it is the
purpose of the next
section to compare a sample of US companies using permission-based e-mail
marketing with a sample from France, and examine whether there is any notable
difference in their approach, and how this contributes to our understanding of
ethical best practice in a European context.
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