Study: Consumers Like E-mail Newsletters

By: Ann M. Mack (Adweek IQ) People experience a greater connection and loyalty to companies through e-mail newsletters than is possible through Web sites, according to a recent study.

"Newsletters feel personal because they arrive in your e-mail inbox, and you have an ongoing relationship with them. In contrast, Web sites are things you glance at when you need to find an answer to a specific question," said Jakob Nielsen, principal of Nielsen Norman Group, a Freemont, Calif., research group that conducted the study. Nielsen Norman Group focuses on all aspects of consumers' interaction with a company.

Despite consumers' high affinity towards e-mail newsletters, Nielsen cautioned that a poorly presented newsletter will have a more damaging impact on a company's relationship with a consumer than a bad Web site.

The research also found that e-mail newsletters are seen as time savers because they pinpoint specific content or provide shortcuts to larger amounts of information. Therefore, newsletters should be conducive to scanning. In the study, 23% of the newsletters were read thoroughly, 50% were skimmed or partly read, and the remaining 27% were never opened.

While e-mail newsletters are enjoying some success, they are in danger of being associated with spam, or junk e-mail, according to the study. Nielsen recommended that companies avoid words like "free" and "debt" in their subject lines to distinguish their newsletters from spam.