|
Sarah Stambler's |
|||
|
E-Tactics |
® | Letter | |
March 29, 2005 |
| ||
 |
Email’s woes: Blocking and Declining Open RatesISPs Block 22% of Permission-Based E-Mail: StudyA full 22% of all permission-based e-mail was blocked by the top Internet service providers (ISPs) during 2004, according to a Return Path study. Corporate e-mail mistakenly considered spam by ISPs is a growing problem, up 3.3% over the second half of 2003, noted Return Path. Return Path monitored 50,000 marketing and transactional campaigns through its Mailbox Monitor service between Jan. and Dec. 2004. Blocking for each campaign varied from a low of 1% to a high of 57%. In addition, blocking rates varied widely by ISP from a low of 5% to a high of 36%. Companies saw the best delivery success at Earthlink, BellSouth, and CompuServe, which blocked only 5%, 6% and 8%, respectively. The most blocking and filtering (36%) occurred at RoadRunner, followed by Mail.com (34%) and Comcast (31%). The ISPs monitored represent more than 80% of the mailing lists for most corporate mailers, said Return Path. (Direct Newsline 3/17/05) Are Open rates declining?A glance at open rates would give the impression that users are opening a lot less e-mails than they did one year ago. But DoubleClick , in their recent E-mail Trend Report, believes that the reason for the decline is less about a change in the number of clicks than the effect of image blocking technology used by many e-mail programs. Since DoubleClick measures open rates by tracking image calls in HTML-formatted e-mails, image blocking obviously affects this metric. However, the lowered rates may in fact be more representative of the truth, according to DoubleClick. Before image blocking, many e-mails may have registered as "opened" when they had merely shown up in an e-mail preview window as a user scrolled through e-mails or clicked on them before deleting. The relative stability of click and conversion rates supports this view.
Hot Technology from Japan: A Mobile Page TurnerAP, March 21, 2005 Your eyes probably hurt just thinking about it: Tens of thousands of Japanese cell phone owners are poring over full-length novels on their tiny screens. In this technology-enamored nation, the mobile phone has become so widespread as an entertainment and communication device that reading e-mail, news headlines and weather forecasts -- rather advanced mobile features by global standards -- is routine. Now, Japan's cell phone users are turning pages. - Read the whole story... Internet Poised To Surpass Newspapers For Shopping InfoCONSUMERS ARE INCREASINGLY TURNING TO the Internet for information about local products and services, at the expense of newspapers, according to a new study by The Kelsey Group and ConStat, Inc. The study, based on a February telephone survey of 500 U.S. adults, found that 70 percent of households use the Internet to hunt for local merchants and stores--up from 60 percent in October 2003. At the same time, the percentage of households seeking information about nearby stores and services from newspapers declined from 73 percent to 70 percent. The trending indicates that it's only a matter of time until the Internet surpasses newspapers for shopping research, according to The Kelsey Group. Online users are increasingly seeking information about local retailers or professionals from the search engine giants--engines such as Google. More than half of respondents--55 percent--said they used large search engines to research shopping, up from 47 percent in October 2003. But users have also turned away to a small extent from narrower sites, such as DoctorDirectory.com and MasterPlumber.com, as well as from local directory sites like Citysearch. The report also revealed that 74 percent of households now have Internet access at home, up from 67 percent in October 2003. Nearly eight out of 10 households--79 percent--have wireless phones, up from 71 percent 17 months ago. And almost one out of three households--31 percent--have Web access via wireless phone, up from 26 percent in October 2003. (Online Media Daily Mar 23,2005) 13 Million Small Businesses Will Embrace Pay-Per-CallTHE NASCENT PAY-PER-CALL ADVERTISING MARKET could draw as many as 13 million business owners who lack Web sites but want to advertise online, said Ingenio Chief Marketing Officer Mark Barach at the Search Engine Strategies conference in New York earlier this month. America Online's Executive Director for Search and Navigation, Brendan Benzing, added that AOL is "quite bullish" on pay-per-call ads. Ingenio signed a deal with AOL in January to provide technology for pay-per-call ads served on AOL's search pages, starting in April. "AOL's stepping up because we have a lot of confidence in the model," Benzing said. "At the end of the day, businesses know the value of a call, and they're willing to pay." As with pay-per-click ads, advertisers bid on keywords or categories and are listed alongside natural search results--but instead of a link to a Web site, the ad directs consumers to a telephone number. Pay-per-call often appeals to smaller, local businesses that don't have a Web site, and to service-based businesses that seek local customers who prefer to call rather than interact with a Web site. Businesses do have to pay quite a bit for pay-per-call--anywhere from twice as much to 10 times more than pay-per-click ads, according to the panel members. But conversion rates are much higher, FindWhat Senior Vice President for pay-per-call Michael Kearns said, because consumers who make a call are interested in making purchases immediately. "It's about using the power of the human voice to close business on the telephone," he said. FindWhat began to serve pay-per-call ads, also using Ingenio's technology, last year. "We think that pay-per-call is going to be one of the most fast-growing categories in the next five years," Kearns said. "It's a hybrid category that offers the best between direct response and search." (Online Media Daily Mar 2, 2005) PHIL BRADLEY'S FINDING INFORMATIONhttp://www.philb.com/whichengine.htm Phil Bradley's Finding Information (http://www.philb.com/whichengine.htm) not only has some recent additions to the search engine universe, it also tells you in plain English exactly how to use them. He helps you to define what you need ("I want an overview of a subject," "I want to see thumbnails of pages before visiting them," "I need access to academic resources," etc.). And he has dozens of search engines here, including several you many never have known about. (FITA 3/16/05) |
In This IssueEmail's woes: Blocking & Declining Open RatesISPs Block 22% of Permission-Based Email: StudyAre Open Rates Declining?Hot Technology from Japan: A Mobile Page TurnerInternet Poised to Surpass Newspapers for Shopping Info13 Million Small Businesses Will Embrace Pay-Per-CallPhil Bradley's Finding Information
Want to learn more about us? Please visit our
site at:
Or write: Phone: (212) 222-1713
Not reading your own copy? To change your e-mail status please click here. Back Issues: |
The E-TACTICS LETTER, (ISSN 1542-2623) is published by E-Tactics, Inc. a boutique e-marketing firm established in 1984 that specializes in the creative use of e-media in the design and implementation of customer driven marketing, research and publication strategies.
© 2005 E-Tactics, Inc. All rights reserved.
E-Tactics is registered in US Patent & Trademark office.
Permission is granted to reprint or distribute The E-TACTICS LETTER as long as
this full copyright notice is included together with the subscription
information.
E-Tactics, Inc. / 370 Central Park West, Suite 210 / New York, NY 10025