A couple months ago I wrote a post about how I unsubscribed from most of the email marketing lists I was on, save a few that would send mostly coupons. Turns out, my pickiness is pretty common.
According to Experian’s “The 2011 Digital Marketer: Benchmark and Trend Report,” consumers are more likely to open emails that contain promotions or coupons—especially emails containing “percentage off” or “dollars off” in the subject line—than any other type of content.
Given my own experience, none of that really surprised me, what did we surprise me was the surge in email’s importance. The report found that from 1Q 2009 through 4Q 2010, business revenue from email increases from 10% to 23%.
I asked Ashley Johnston, VP of marketing at Experian, about the jump, and she pointed to a couple possible factors. She said that since November 2009 there’s been a shift from social networking sites to email driving the largest percentage of traffic to group buying sites. She also said that Experian is also seeing an increase in conversion of in-store coupons that were delivered via email.
I can’t personally vouch for the in-store coupon bit, but the only time I ever check Groupon or LivingSocial deals are via email.
