U.K. marketers step up customer interactivity with e-mail campaigns

U.K. marketers are stepping up their use of e-mail campaigns to engage consumers with targeted messages based on personal shopping interests, delivery status of orders, and efforts to reach inactive customers, e-mail marketing services provider Experian CheetahMail says.

Experian CheetahMail based those conclusions on a study of e-mail marketing campaigns conducted last year by its clients, which include retailers Borders Books, Discovery Communications and Sears Holdings Corp. Comparing campaigns conducted in the second half of 2007 with those conducted in the first half, it found a 220% increase in the number of marketing campaigns targeting individuals and groups of consumers with dynamic content such as the latest data on customer buying activity and personal interests.

Expecting this and other trends to continue in 2008, Experian CheetahMail projects exponential growth in the number of campaigns using dynamic content to provide total content relevance, says Steve Lomax, European managing director for Experian CheetahMail. “Dynamic content will be at the top of the e-mail marketer’s agenda in 2008 as brands look to interact with their customers on a true one-to-one level,” he says.

Experian CheetahMail also noted a 75% increase in the number of e-mail re-marketing campaigns with messages tailored to re-engage customers who have been inactive or who recently abandoned an online shopping session. “Remarketing techniques will also come of age,” Lomax says. “Brands will be really focused on reducing customer churn and maintaining e-mail volumes and remarketing will prove invaluable. Brands will be missing a major trick if they fail to try and re-engage with lapsed customers as market competition increases.”

The study also found a 66% increase in the number of brands e-mailing order confirmations and delivery status messages-a message category that has often been overlooked by marketers, Experian CheetahMail says. “We think brands will use these messages as a matter of course as part of their customer relationship management strategy,” Lomax says. “It’s a small but highly significant way for brands to show their customers that they’re on top of everything.”