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Most top-brand online retail marketers ignore signs of inactivity among their email subscribers, and continue to send email messages at steady and frequent rates, despite their subscribers' lack of response (no opens, clicks, or purchases), according to a study by Return Path.

That finding is based on an analysis of 40 online retailers that sent email messages to non-responsive subscribers—one-time buyers, who after their initial purchases, did not open, click, or buy again during a 19-month study period.

Email Frequency High and Climbing

During the first three months after signing up for email, subscribers received an average of 10 emails per month from each company included in the study. Thereafter, the average level ranged from 9 to 11 emails per month—despite no responses from subscribers.

There were exceptions to that pattern: The Container Store, though continuing to send email, slowly and consistently decreased frequency with each passing month, presumably recognizing the growing gap in time since the subscriber's last action.

But more commonly, retailers ignored subscribers' inaction: Neiman Marcus, for example, sent more than one email per day in the first three months (almost eight per week), decreased to five to six per week for six months, and then increased to one per day again—all with no response from the subscriber.

Moreover, throughout the study period, none of the online retailers studied explicitly offered the option to change preferences for content or frequency.

Below, other findings from Return Path's study, The One-Way Conversation: Email Marketing to the Non-Responsive Subscriber.

Win-Back Efforts the Exception

Only 12.5% of online retailers (5 out of 40) sent at least one win-back message to a lapsed subscriber. Among those win-back efforts:

  • A total of 14 messages were sent over 18 months, of which seven were from one company.
  • Only one of the five companies sent emails asking for permission to continue sending email, and none asked for email preferences.
  • None of the win-back messages were customized based on the subscriber's previous purchase.

Looking for solid, substantiated information about email from the industry's best resources? The 67-page Email Marketing Factbook featuring 39 charts tells you about email usage, what captures users' attention, and how organizations are using email to reach customers. This email factbook consists of chapters 1 & 2 from the larger Digital Marketing Factbook a 144-page compilation of data and 110 charts that also covers search engine marketing and social media.


Among the online retailers studied, Bed Bath & Beyond had the most complete email win-back strategy, in which they identified inactive subscribers on file and decreased the frequency of emails to those subscribers over time (from seven emails per month down to roughly five per month, and eventually to less than one).

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E-tailers Sending High Volumes of Email to Inactive Subscribers

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