| Email Marketing & Publishing | April 2004 |
Consumer Research
Message to Direct Marketers
As anyone who has received that unsolicited dinnertime call can attest, consumers find certain forms of direct marketing objectionable. Some recent North American surveys shed light on actual levels of annoyance and where they are most directed. The good news? Email - conducted properly - is by far the least obtrusive.
According to a survey from Valentine Radford, 74% of US consumers consider pop-ups annoying - sentiments generally confirmed in a Canadian survey by Prophis Research. Here, telemarketing and spam join pop ups as the top three offenders earning average annoyance scores of 4.5 out of 5. Other forms of DM such as direct mail, normal banner ads and promotional email drew average scores of 3.5.
Least offensive of all is legitimate email marketing (permission-based). With a score of 2.8 it is in a similar league as non-direct media such as radio and TV commercials, print ads and billboards.
We can hazard several guesses why this is the case. First, the recipient of permission email exercises absolute control. No chance of interrupted meals there. Second, by virtue of having to earn that permission, content is far more likely to be of use.
As marketing guru Seth Godin says, online content must adhere to three criteria: it must be expected, valuable and relevant.
