Email marketing great 'from a measurement perspective'

Email marketing should be used to talk to customers and find out which information they want to receive and how often, according to an industry expert.

Email marketing is a "retention mechanism", which businesses should use to talk to customers, according to an industry expert.

Simon Bird, technical director at dotCommerce, recommended not sending a constant stream of emails to clients and instead asking the customer what information they want and how often.

He noted that it was often tempting for businesses to "bombard" customers with emails due to the perceived low cost, but he claimed that the best way to upsell to them is to listen to what they wanted.

"Those companies who get those things right will become market leaders," he said.

While Mr Bird pointed out that email marketing is effective for retaining customers, searches were needed for generating traffic and a website for consumers to make their purchases.

A study by dotCommerce showed that many big retailers are not taking advantage of the chance to develop longer relationships with visitors to their websites - only 30 per cent offer the option of an email newsletter during online checkout.

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