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20% of marketing emails missing inboxes: survey

Email deliverability is still an issue for companies, with an average of just 79.3% of permission-based commercial emails reaching inboxes in Canada and the US.

This statistic comes from a Return Path Deliverability benchmark report, and suggests that a significant proportion of marketing budgets are being wasted.

by Graham Charlton 22 July 2009 10:22am 1 comment

Making the most of mobile advertising

More than half of respondents to a recent survey said they find mobile an easy-to-use platform with which to communicate with their favourite brands, and agreed that they would be willing to pass on offers to their family and friends.

The research, endorsed by the Internet Advertising Bureau and the Mobile Marketing Association, shows 54% of the people questioned would be willing to use mobile to interact with "brands of their preference".

by Kevin Gibbons 14 July 2009 10:53am 1 comment

Council websites could improve usability: study

While the average usability score for local council websites has improved over last year, there is still plenty of work to be done to improve the user experience, according to a new report.

Webcredible's Local Council Websites report (registration required) gave an average score of 59.9% for usability, an improvement on last year's average of 56.6%.

by Graham Charlton 08 July 2009 09:01am 3 comments

C'mon. Admit it. You really want an iPhone

iphone love iPhone users are happier. Their phones are smarter. And BlackBerry users have a serious case of iPhone envy.

Research firm Crowd Science learned, in a survey conducted over the past month that iPhone have a satisfaction score of 73% with their devices, compared wtih Blackberry owners (52%) and other smartphone users (41%). Even more iPhone owners say they're loyal to the brand (82%).

by Rebecca Lieb 23 June 2009 17:06pm 12 comments

Elderly and low-income homes drop phone and cable for broadband

In the midst of a severe recession, Americans are cutting their monthly bills to the bone. Landline phones and cable television are now nice-to-haves rather than must-have. But a broadband internet connection? Non-negotiable.

We've come a long way since the dial-up era, when usability best practices cautioned against using slow-to-load graphics on Web sites and in email. The Pew Internet & American Life project's Home Broadband Adoption 2009 report indicates home broadband penetration is holding steady at 54-57 percent of households, a healthy 63 percent of adult Americans. But adoption among senior citizens (65 and older) jumped from 19 percent last May to 30 percent in April of this year.

by Rebecca Lieb 18 June 2009 17:20pm 1 comment

Marketers should design emails for mobiles: survey

While there is a recent trend for subscribers to view emails on their phones, marketers are still designing image laden-messages for desktop users which often render poorly on mobile devices.

According to stats quoted in the MailerMailer Email Marketing Metrics Report (pdf), 64% of key decision makers are using mobiles to view emails, yet less than 50% of marketers are making sure that their messages are accessible to these users.

by Graham Charlton 17 June 2009 09:30am 0 comments

Reserve and collect works for Halfords and Argos

Allowing customers to reserve items online for instore pick up is working well for retailers, with both Argos and Halfords posting impressive improvements in multichannel revenues.

In both cases, reserve and collect services were responsible for driving significant numbers of offline sales.

by Graham Charlton 16 June 2009 14:57pm 2 comments

Consumers want online content on their TVs - survey

The majority of consumers want to be able to watch online content through their TVs. While 17% already can do this, a further 58% say they would like to be able to do this.

The Digital Entertainment Survey, from Entertainment Media Research and Wiggin, reveals a demand for on-demand programming delivered online, though not many people want to actually pay for it. People would consider paying for movies, adult content, and music and sporting events, but little else.

by Graham Charlton 11 June 2009 10:36am 1 comment

What do customers want to buy on their mobiles?

While mobile commerce is still in its infancy in the US, and even more so in the UK, there are signs that users are coming round to the idea, with 71% saying they feel it is safe to make a purchase on their mobiles.

An eMarketer round up of recent mobile commerce stats also reveals some interesting information about the kinds of products people want to buy from their phones.

by Graham Charlton 10 June 2009 12:03pm 0 comments

Retailers should be emailing checkout dropouts

Though the majority of companies in the UK are failing to send emails to customers who have abandoned their shopping baskets, yet 46% of consumers say they would be likely to complete a purchase if they received a reminder.

An e-Dialog survey revealed the latter statistic, while our Email Marketing Census earlier this year found that 67% of companies were not employing this tactic to attempt to revive abandoned sales.

The email survey also revealed some useful stats about email's effectiveness as a direct marketing channel, and the potential for driving offline sales. Some highlights after the jump...

by Graham Charlton 05 June 2009 12:10pm 4 comments