Price key to grabbing moms via e-mail

Even many of the top online retailers are missing significant opportunities to connect with moms when it comes to their newsletter subscription processes, according to a recent study by RetailEmail.Blogspot, a blog that tracks the e-mail marketing campaigns of the largest online retailers, and analysis by Lucid Marketing of Allentown, N.J., a marketing and media services company focused on moms.

For example, the Retail Email Subscription Benchmark study, completed in mid-August, which examined the subscription practices of 101 of the largest online retailers, found 26% make it cumbersome or intrusive to sign up for their newsletters by requiring lots of personal information. This group includes the 13% that required the consumer to create an account to receive a newsletter and 11% that required a mailing address and/or phone number.

"This is a definite turnoff for busy moms," said Lucid President Kevin Burke. "Being convenient, concise and clear are vital to successful e-mail marketing this group. Tell moms proudly who you are, make a compelling and relevant offer, and above all, respect their precious time."

"Moms are much more receptive to the one-click sign-up process offered by 50% of the top retailers, which allows customers to sign-up with just their e-mail address from the retailer's homepage," Burke said. "Mothers also appreciate the personalization offered by the 24% that provide a menu of newsletters or product focuses from which to choose. On average, this group of retailers offered 9.5 such options. The emerging best practice of offering subscribers some type of incentive or reward for signing up for a newsletter, like 10% off their next purchase, also gets a lot of traction with moms."

The study found that 27% of the top retailers offered subscribers some kind of incentive to subscribe or reward afterward. "Moms respond very positively to discounts and coupons," Burke said. "In fact, they are the reason why 87% of Moms sign up for e-mail newsletters."

Lucid Marketing, a marketing research firm based in Allentown, N.J., partnered with Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based BSM Media to survey 139 mothers between Aug. 15 and Sept. 8, 2004. Moms responding to the E-mail Marketing's Impact with Moms survey averaged having 1.8 children living in the household with the majority of children being between the ages of 2 and 5 years.

Lucid also collaborated with Menlo Park, Calif.-based EmailLabs, on the Effective Tactics for Email Marketing to Moms report, based on a survey of 695 moms with young children conducted in May 2005.

The Retail Email Subscription Benchmark study was a collaborative effort between Lucid Marketing and RetailEmail.Blogspot, a blog that tracks the e-mail marketing campaigns of the largest online retailers. The study examined the subscription practices of 101 of the largest online retailers. The retailers included in the study were selected from among the online retailers with the highest online sales as identified by Internet Retailer magazine.

The University of Southern California's Annenberg Digital Future Project has conducted the Digital Future Project since 2000. The project surveys more than 2,000 individuals across the United States, each year contacting the same households to explore how online technology affects the lives of Internet users and non-users. It also examines how changing technology, such as the shift from Internet access by modem to broadband, affects behavior. It also compares differences in behaviors of new users (one year or less of experience) and very experienced users.