More research from Executive Summary Consulting and Quris on email marketing, this time about the effectiveness of email for building brand equity with customers. In a survey of more than 1,200 email users, the study concluded:

• Well-executed permission email positively affects brand attitudes. We asked respondents to think of one or more companies they believed conduct quality permission email programs: 67% like the companies they were thinking of; 58% regularly open messages from such firms, and 54% prefer such companies to competitors.






• Expectations are higher for email programs from well-known brands. We asked whether they expected permission email programs from companies with wellknown brands to adhere to a standard that was higher, lower or the same compared to smaller firms. Two thirds of the sample said that their expectations are higher for email from well-known firms.






• The quality of email programs impacts brand perceptions. Fifty-six percent of respondents believe that the quality of permission email programs influences their opinions, positively and negatively, about the companies sending them email. Less than 15% think email was “unimportant” to brand. (The remainder are "neutral.")






• Subscribers loyal to permission email programs are better customers. Respondents who have maintained permission email relationships longest with companies are much more likely to shop online, click on links in permission messages and feel that email impacts their perception of a company’s brand.






• Consumers especially value proactive customer service in email. Respondents' favorite types of permission email programs are those types that best foster customer satisfaction, repeat business and long-term loyalty (including transaction confirmations, account status update programs and customized newsletters); their least favorites were one-off promotional campaigns, contests and mail from rented third-party lists.

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