There are many companies today that miss out on potential sales because of poor email marketing practices. Many people feel frustrated by irrelevant newsletters they receive in their inboxes. Once a newsletter ends up in a separate, dedicated mailbox, its chances of being opened are slim, as only 17% of people who have a separate, newsletter-only email address had fewer than 10 emails unread.
Sounds grim, right?
Storydoc team did an in-depth study about the current state of email marketing in the US. They surveyed 1,173 Americans and asked them to share their thoughts about companies interacting with them through emails and how they treat the newsletters they subscribe to.
Some key findings:
– 40% of US email account holders had more than 50 unread emails in their inbox at the time of taking the survey and 10% admitted to having more than 1000 emails “waiting” to be opened;
– 36% of Americans seem to be following the inbox-zero approach, having fewer than 10 unread emails; 45% of people who use one inbox for all emails had fewer than 10 unread messages;
– 17% of people who have a separate, newsletter-only email address had fewer than 10 emails unread;
– 74% of those with dedicated newsletter inboxes said newsletters were a good means of communication with customers; only 46% of those who get newsletters to their main inbox said so.
Email habits – a quick overview
The number of American subscribers to newsletters is really high with 90% subscribing to at least 1 newsletter, 74% subscribing to at least 10 and 16% subscribing to 11 or more newsletters.
This data is sufficient to show just how powerful a marketing tool email is.
Email plays a big role in everyone’s life today and that’s no different for the Americans:
- 97% of Americans check their email inbox at least once a day.
- 56% do it at least three times a day.
33% of respondents had a dedicated email account for newsletters only. This practice is very common among those people who are working in the Software/IT industry: 54% of IT people have separate inboxes for newsletters.
Personalization is the key to email marketing
Interestingly, the newsletter subscribers are more common among younger generations: 95% of Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X each subscribe to newsletters when compared to “only” 84% of Baby Boomers.
When enquired if automated email campaigns are a good way for brands to communicate with their customers, 55% of respondents agreed. This included 64% Millennials, 60% Gen X, and 44% Baby Boomers.
Younger, tech-savvy generations are more likely to enjoy receiving newsletters than older people. However, the most significant difference was displayed between people with and without dedicated newsletter-only inboxes:
- 74% of those with dedicated newsletter inboxes said that newsletters were a good means of communication with customers,
- Only 46% of those who get newsletters to their main inbox said so.
55% of the survey respondents said that they thought automated email campaigns were designed into tricking customers into spending more money – 59% men and 50% women.
In general, 57% of Americans claimed that the newsletters are ‘manipulative’. A point to note again is that more people (74%) with dedicated newsletter inboxes would consider newsletters manipulative than those receiving newsletters to their main email account (49%).
A vast majority of US email account holders believed that they received more automated emails than they agreed to. 75% of Americans claimed that they received unsolicited email correspondence from various brands and businesses. This view is particularly expressed by the older generations – 84% Baby Boomers, 76% Gen X, and 69% Millennials shared this opinion.
Top reasons for subscribing to the newsletters
In the US, the most common reasons people subscribe to a newsletter are for:
- Receiving discounts (39%)
- Reading current news (21%)
- Learning more about something of their interest (18%)
- To get access to exclusive content (16%)
- To receive product updates and announcements (5%)
Get the latest updates on the cloud, digital transformation and advanced technologies like AI, ML, IoT, Big Data, 3D printing delivered straight in your inbox. Subscribe to Wire19 Newsletter!
Naturally, younger generations and women were driven by discounts and exclusive offers more than men and older generations. 48% of women vs. 31% of men cited discounts and promotions as the main reason for subscribing to a newsletter. 45% of Gen Z and Millennials combined were mostly into newsletters with discounts as compared to 34% of Gen X and Baby Boomers.
Top reasons for unsubscribing from the newsletters
The most common reasons for people to unsubscribe from a newsletter are:
- Getting too many emails (52%)
- Emails that don’t feel relevant (24%)
- Emails that aren’t personalized (11%)
- Emails that are too salesy (9%)
- Being concerned about the company selling your data to third parties (4%).
A surprising number of Americans, over 80%, admit that they were being concerned that some companies sell their data to third parties.
What are your thoughts on receiving newsletters? How many have you subscribed to? Do let us know in the comments section.
Source: Newsletter Readers Explain How to Do Newsletters [2021 Study]
Get the latest updates on the cloud, digital transformation and advanced technologies like AI, ML, IoT, Big Data, 3D printing delivered straight in your inbox. Subscribe to Wire19 Newsletter!
