Investments in e-mail will overtake investments in direct mail for the first time this year as retailers shift more marketing to electronic channels, says a survey of 6,000 retailers by CRM systems vendor Blue Martini Software Inc. Blue Martini’s annual poll of retail executives shows that 43% plan to invest more in e-mail this year than in direct mail. "The results are an indication of a growing investment in electronic marketing designed to drive in-store traffic, and on retailers’ increasing success in using targeted e-mails to drive revenue both online and offline," Blue Martini reports.
The retailers in the poll also plan to invest more in technology to improve their understanding of their customers and to boost customer loyalty, the survey reports. Nearly 25% of survey respondents cited "understanding customers" as most important for improving customer relationships. Further, of retailers who said customer loyalty will be critical, 71% plan to invest high to moderate amounts in a loyalty program.
Retailers still have some way to go to making e-mail marketing effective, Blue Martini reports. In the poll, 60% of respondents said they leverage customer data in e-mail campaigns, compared to 71% who leverage data for direct mail.
Retailers’ ability to recognize those customers has improved in the past year, the poll says. Nearly 60% of respondents stated they now identify their most valuable customers using a data warehouse, and 61% match point of sale transactions to unique customer identifiers. These levels grew by 50% since the previous poll, when only 40% of respondents could identify their most valued customers. The ability to identify most valuable customers improves a retailers’ ability to target these customers across every channel of customer interaction at POS systems and kiosks, on web sites, at the call center, through e-mail and direct mail.
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