Opt-in, Out-out and Feedback Loops: eROI Releases Survey Results

eROI surveyed over 500 marketers about their subscribe/unsubscribe process and found that while these processes are improving, they have yet to reach what we would call exceptional.

Here are some of the main findings:

• only about 30% of email marketers use a confirmed opt-in method, where a confirmation e-mail including an activation web link (or requiring a reply email) is sent to verify the subscriber.
• Only 29% of email marketers reiterate the benefits of subscribing on the thank you page, 11% define the email frequency, 11% offer a promotion or coupon, 20% display whitelist instructions and 8% offer additional subscription options.
• When subscribers opt-in, about 30% of email marketers don’t pass them on to other sytems. When subscribers opt-out, about 65% of email marketers don’t pass them on to another system.
• After opting out, 90% of email marketers do not follow up with subscribers, leaving a huge opportunity for additional channel communication. Of those that do follow up, 5% use direct mail, 4% follow up via telephone.
• over three-quarters of marketers do not allow subscribers to adjust frequency settings as an alternative means of unsubscribing.
• Nearly one-quarter of email marketers don’t know what they currently do with abuse complaints, or how they are handled.

Read more here or download the survey results in eROI's resources section (Quarterly Studies tab) .

These are very interesting results and they definitely show that there's still a lot of room for improvement.

PS. Would you like to have your email marketing program audited and optimized? Let me know!

Comments

[John Gillett]

Thanks for posting the highlights of the survey results...although progress is slow, it appears that email marketers are moving in the right direction.

At the same time, there aere always new programs and managers learning the ropes...

Lots of room for improvement -- even seasoned vets are guilty of some of the problems pointed out in the survey.

[Peter Christofferson]

I think I may be misunderstanding one of the stats quoted here:

"After opting out, 90% of email marketers do not follow up with subscribers, leaving a huge opportunity for additional channel communication. Of those that do follow up, 5% use direct mail, 4% follow up via telephone."

Is this supposed to be a bad thing? Viewed from the customer's perspective, if I opt out of your list, I don't want to hear from you again. In any way. Ever. If I change my mind, I'll contact you.

I expect to see an acknowledgement on the opt-out results page; maybe even an offer there for some other things I might be interested in. But I certainly don't want any "Gee, we want you back" emails. And anyone who actually called me on the telephone to ask why I unsubscribed had better be prepared for an expletive-filled tirade.

I look forward to hearing other people's thoughts on this issue.

[Jeff Kempf]

In response to Peter, I completely agree about not wanting to be contacted after opting out; however, I wouldn't mind a quick survey included in an opt-out confirmation email. After the opt-out confirmation, I wouldn't want to hear from them, but I wouldn't mind some form of communication during the confirmation stage as long as it's not intrusive. If they called me on the phone, I'd be pretty aggrevated too.

Jeff Kempf, marketing intern at eROI