A study by Knox College, Illinois found that an author can come across as apathetic, annoyed, authoritative and even angry based on the style and content of their email.

One hundred and sixty undergraduates were asked to read email that had small grammatical and stylistic adjustments and then assessed the person’s identity. Here at send we know how important customer segmentation is, and getting the right message to the right people is key to marketing success.

Why is this useful to marketers? Understanding the judgements people make based on the way emails are written can help improve the content and style of your email marketing messages and the perception of your brand.

Some of the results are predictable enough – writers of error-filled emails were seen as apathetic while emails in the third person were perceived as too formal.

According to the study’s co-author Frank McAndrew, the more surprising results arose out of use of punctuation. Participants believed messages with excessive exclamation marks or question marks came from women or subordinates.

Similarly, messages with very little punctuation were thought to come from superiors.

Source: DMA (link)

Paul Anderson, chief executive of GPS and a former strategy director at Emailvision, said: “It’s kind of atoning for our sins because we have sent a lot of direct mail in our time.”

The service aims to help direct mailers improve their green credentials and reduce their CO2 output.

Consumers can register online at www.greenpreferenceservice.com and decide which pieces of direct mail they would like to continue receiving by post and which they prefer to receive by email, delivered to a personal “WebBox” allocated through the service.

Businesses are able to contact the service to find out which consumers have opted to receive their direct mail electronically, and adjust their services accordingly.

Anderson declined to reveal how many businesses have signed up, but said that since its launch a week ago, nearly 10,000 consumers had joined.

The service aims to get nearly two million people subscribed within two years, with a target of transferring 1.5 billion pieces of direct mail into digital mail. The company claims that this would reduce CO2 emissions by more than 6,000 tonnes a year.

Chris Combemale, executive director of the DMA, said: “The DMA welcomes new initiatives in our industry that improve targeting and reduce waste.

“This new service is designed to give consumers more choice in how companies communicate to them, while at the same time, it helps companies reduce costs and lower CO2 emissions. This appears to be a win-win scenario for both business and consumers.”

The DMA already offers the non-profit Mail Preference Service (MPS), which allows consumers to opt-out of receiving unregistered mail or make a complaint, through its website www.mpsonline.org.uk.

In August last year, direct marketers were reported to be working on a system to adapt Gmail’s Priority Inbox system, amid fears that the feature could lessen the impact of email marketing.

Anderson’s three fellow shareholders are John Robinson, formerly with Crawfords Computing; David Lunn, who has worked for SAS and Crawfords Computing, and Doug Scott, who is not from the industry.

Source: Brand Republic (link)

Marketing Week revealed last week that the postal operator was to include a “delivered by Royal Mail” mark on the top centre of addressed machine-sorted direct mail from September without any consultation with the industry.

Royal Mail, which has had a fractious relationship with postal unions for years, says the mark was in recognition of the “dedication” and “fantastic job” done by postal workers. It was to be introduced in September.

The plans, however, were slammed by the direct marketing industry. Comments left on MarketingWeek.co.uk accused Royal Mail of “effectively hijacking our mail pack to promote their services”, another senior direct marketer told Marketing Week that the move added “little or no value to the mailing process and will adversely affect any creative options, and potentially response rates from Direct Mail packs”.

The Direct Marketing Association made a formal complaint about the change, and the lack of a consultation, to the postal operator Postcomm.

It is thought that Postcomm contacted Royal Mail to relay the level of industry anger at the introduction of the mark and ask it to resolve the issues.

In an email sent to business customers, Royal Mail said it had “listened to your [customer] comments and, as a result, is committed to taking additional time to consider our plans for the introduction of the Royal Mail mark.”

In a separate statement, the postal operator says it “continues to listen to our customers and the industry”, adding it will “continue to discuss our plans and the timescales with customers”.

It does not, however, commit to pulling the plans all together, just to “give adequate time to use up existing stationery and, if necessary, make changes to the design of their envelopes.”

Alex Walsh, head of postal and environmental affairs at the DMA, says that although the association is “delighted” that Royal Mail has decided to talk to the industry before implementing any changes, the affair has raised an important question of ownership.

“A matter of principle needs to be agreed about who owns the envelope? Is the direct mailer or Royal Mail?”, he adds.

Source: Marketing Week (link)

Writing on uktalkmarketing.com, Luke Griffiths, vice-president of client services for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at e-Dialog said that although future lies in digital marketing, print is still extremely effective.

He went on to say that email marketing and other digital influences have encouraged advances in direct mail.

A recent Mail Media Centre report backs this up with some encouraging figures on how direct mail works with digital activity.

The report reveals that direct mail can help online search – 58% of people said they were more likely to click on a search link for a company if they’re received something in the post.

And 67% refer to physical mail when searching for a new product or service online.

One of the case studies in the report shows the role direct mail can play in integrated digital campaigns.

A direct mail and email campaign by Waitrose to celebrate its partnership with celebrity chefs Delia Smith and Heston Blumenthal, led to the upmarket supermarket selling 14 weeks worth of rhubarb in four days.

Created by Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw, the campaign targeted 500,000 members of the MyWaitrose food club. They each received a hamper with a recipe for rhubarb and ginger brulée – 50% of the recipients posted feedback on MyWaitrose.

Direct mail can also improve the performance of other channels. For example, the TV component of campaigns is 37% more effective when direct mail is in the media mix. In the report Tess Alps, chief executive of Thinkbox says: “Direct mail can satisfy those appetites that TV provokes.”

Direct mail has seen its ROI level rise steadily over the last three years, a trend credited to improved targeting.

Source: DMA (link)

Latest figures indicate that people are becoming less inclined to hand over their personal details in return for benefits such as discounts and samples, challenging marketers to step up their powers of persuasion.

Data may be the magic ingredient that allows marketers to fine tune their targeting, but research exclusive to Marketing Week shows that consumers have become significantly less willing to provide their details to brands.

According to the latest Data Tracker, conducted by consultancy fast.MAP and the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), incentives to provide data, such as store cards, discounts, money-off vouchers and free samples, are losing their appeal for increasingly critical consumers.

Data Tracker results for April 2011, compared with that of May 2010 and September 2010, show all these features are losing their attraction, with only free shipping increasing in appeal by just two percentage points to 20% of consumers.

Just 16% of people see store cards as a good incentive for parting with their details, down from 18% in September. Likewise, 24% think so for discounts, down from 28% in May 2010, and free samples, down to 28% from 30% in May.

Even having a clear privacy policy is losing its credibility just 33% of consumers say that this would prompt them to give their details to a brand, compared with 39% in May 2010.

Trusting a brand, however, remains constant. A steady 54% say this would prompt them to give their details across the May, September and April studies. But 18% say that they will not provide any data in any circumstance.

Fast.MAP managing director David Cole says there is a clear trend for shoppers being increasingly unwilling to swap their personal details for benefits of a low perceived value. This creates a problem for marketers who have become used to receiving their data through this value exchange, says DMA executive director Chris Combemale.

“In the new climate, that model is being reversed consumers increasingly expect brands to provide services or information without asking for personal data,” he observes. “Only once that initial engagement has taken place will it perhaps become possible for brands to start a real conversation and build more detailed information.”

Digging further into the data, it’s clear that consumers are willing to give certain key details away if they are clear about the benefit of what they are receiving. So while just 8% would give their phone number to create a social media account, 34% would do so to request a quote for services something that Andrew Dunkerley, marketing director at Be Wiser insurance, attests to (see Frontline, below).

People’s tolerance for marketing emails is also being tested: 47% say they would give an email address to receive a quote from a brand down from 68% in September 2010. Highlighting that people have even become more likely to turn down emails from charities, the survey shows that the number of those willing to give an email address if they have pledged support for a cause has dropped by over half from 40% in September to just 19% now.

“Digital marketing is challenged by these shifting attitudes just as much as direct marketing. Creating an online account to avoid the need for data entry in the future is no longer a persuasive argument half of consumers say they will only do this after several interactions with a site, while 23% say they never create online accounts,” the DMA’s Combemale explains.

Source: Marketing Week (link)