More frequent email shots equal greater opt-outs

by Daniel Farey-Jones, Brand Republic 05-Dec-06, 07:00

LONDON - Clients could be annoying their customers into opting out of receiving marketing emails by sending them out too frequently, according to the latest DMA Email Benchmarking Survey.

The survey found that the average opt-out rate among people contacted once a month with retention activity was less than 1% but the average rate among people contacted weekly was 2.5%. Click-through rates also decreased as the frequency of contact increased.

During the April-June quarter, almost a quarter of email service providers reported seeing opt-out rates of more than 1%. A year earlier, only 6% of email service providers were seeing such a high rate.

However, two-thirds of ESPs experienced opt-out rates of less than 0.5%, compared with 44% a year earlier. The report's authors suggested that increasing personalisation was having a positive effect on open and click-through rates.

Richard Gibson, chair of the DMA Email Marketing Council's benchmarking hub, said: "ESPs, and indeed clients, need to find the right balance between maintaining current relationships while not irritating with over-contact.

"One solution is to let the customer choose. Providing customers with options regarding content and frequency of contact could ensure high click-through rates are maintained and less customers are likely to opt out."

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