Retailer newsletters in the UK are not having a good jaunt these days.
Now Practicology has released the findings from six months of research into various retailer email marketing campaigns.
The upshot? There’s a whole lot of room for improvement.
“One hundred well-known retailers were chosen, and of these Practicology was able to sign-up to receive email marketing from 91 of them without having to register for an account with the site,” explained ClickZ.
So what did the Practicology team discover?
“Fifteen percent never contacted Practicology once they had signed up for newsletters. These include Marks & Spencer, Majestic Wine, Bathstore, Halfords, Mothercare, Jigsaw, and Tesco F+F,” noted ClickZ.
About 67 percent followed up with a welcome email, but 63 percent sent the welcome email the same day as the sign-up.
Other retailers were over-eager (overbearing?), as 7 percent sent email on a daily basis (which Practicology only advises retailers to do this if they have genuine, engaging content to warrant such regular communication).
Sadly, only 48 percent “have sent emails which are fully responsive (change design to suit the size of screen on which they are displayed),” noted ClickZ. “Retailers who have responsive/mobile websites but sent emails which were not responsive include: Argos, Sports Direct, Lakeland, Ikea, Fat Face, Boohoo, Paperchase, Karen Millen, Bonmarche, and Boden.”
And this is nuts: only 47 percent acknowledged at least one of four key events that took place during the six months: Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Easter, and Wimbledon.
“It seems perverse that so many brands would ask for a customer’s email address and then do nothing with it,” said Practicology’s Head of Data & Analytics Will Dymott of the report’s findings. “But even for those brands that did begin to contact us, there are many improvements that could be made.”
