DMA Publishes Retail E-mail Study

The Email Experience Council (EEC) of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has published its second annual "Retail Welcome Email Subscription Benchmark Study," which examines the welcome e-mails of 118 of the top online retailers tracked via RetailEmail.Blogspot, identifying a number of best practices and benchmarks in the areas of merchandising, relationship-building, deliverability, and CAN-SPAM compliance.

"Studies have shown that welcome e-mails have significantly higher open rates than regular e-mails,"” said Ramesh Lakshmi-Ratan, Ph.D., DMA’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. "That makes them worth extra attention and critical examination. All marketers should be reexamining their welcome e-mails on a regular basis."

This year, for the first time, the EEC also tracked the passage of time between subscriptions and the delivery of welcome e-mails. While the majority of retailers deliver their welcome e-mails within 10 minutes of sign-up, 19 percent take more than 24 hours to deliver — with nearly a third of those taking more than a week. In the world of digital communications, that’s an eternity to wait for a welcome e-mail.

Here are some other findings from the EEC’s Retail Welcome Email Benchmark Study:

· 58 percent of welcome e-mails were CAN-SPAM-compliant in terms of including both a mailing address and unsubscribe method, versus 52 percent last year. Not all welcome e-mails need to be compliant, but considering that these are welcome e-mails for promotional e-mails, the EEC believes that they should be.

· 62 percent of welcome e-mails asked the subscriber to whitelist them by adding an e-mail address to their address book, up from 49 percent last year.

· 79 percent of retailers sent out HTML welcome e-mails, up from 69 percent last. The remainder sent text-only welcome e-mails. That said, most of the HTML welcome e-mails were HTML "lite," making extensive use of HTML text.

· 75 percent of the welcome e-mails include the retailer’s brand name in their subject lines, on par with last year. Including branding here helps the subscriber recognize the e-mail as one that they requested.

· 32 percent of welcome e-mails include a discount, reward or incentive, down from 34 percent last year. That’s in line with the results of the EEC’s Retail Email Subscription Benchmark Study, which saw a move away from incentives during sign-up.

The new EEC study can be purchased for $179 by visiting the EEC’s Whitepaper Room.

Sanderson Buys Retail Business Solutions

Sanderson, a major UK provider of software and IT services to the multi-channel retail and commercial sectors, has acquired Retail Business Solutions Group Limited (RBS). Based in Milton Keynes, RBS provide front- and back-office EPOS systems, including Retail-J software, serving primarily the higher end of the retail marketplace, with over 200 customers throughout the UK and Ireland including Blacks Leisure, Slater Menswear, Wyevale Garden Centres, Harrods, and French Connection.

RBS complements Sanderson's Midas Front Office EPOS for the SME multi-channel market.

This acquisition follows the purchase of Elucid earlier in the year, serving the mail order and e-commerce markets.

Sigma Appoints New President

Sigma Micro LLC, Indianapolis, IN, vendor of the multi-channel SigmaCommerce suite of solutions, has announced that Matt Konkle, previously CFO for Sigma Micro, has been appointed president of the company.

Mr. Konkle has served as CFO for Sigma Micro for the past four years and takes the helm from Joe Swern, who recently stepped down from the position. As president of Sigma, Mr. Konkle will be responsible for leading the company’s strategic direction and overseeing all aspects of worldwide operations.

Mr. Konkle also served as CFO for Sigma Communications, LLC a Sigma Holdings portfolio company acquired by PlantCML in April 2007. Prior to Sigma, he most recently served as director of finance for Aprimo, Inc., an Indianapolis-based developer of enterprise marketing management software. Before Aprimo, he served as financial reporting manager for Lilly Industries, Inc., where he was responsible for all SEC reporting. Mr. Konkle began his career with Ernst & Young LLP as a member of the entrepreneurial services group, serving a client base of dynamic, high-growth technology companies.

Body Shop Founder Dies

Dame Anita Roddick, 64, founder of The Body Shop, died today after suffering a major brain hemorrhage, her family said in a statement to the UK Press Association.

The Body Shop, a major multi-channel success story, became an international mecca for "green" cosmetics as customers were becoming environmentally aware. She was also an outspoken and indefatigable campaigner for animal rights, human rights, fair trade and Community Trade, and founder of organizations like Children on the Edge.

See a message from Dame Anita Roddick.

PCI Compliance Webinar

Imperva, a global leader in data security and compliance solutions, is offering a Webinar on PCI Compliance. With PCI deadlines looming, organizations are not only struggling with the complexity of the PCI Data Security Standard but with how they can reach compliance with their current resources and budgets.

The Webinar will cover:
- Tracking and monitoring cardholder data
- Protecting stored card holder data
- Application Security

Attendees will not only learn the details on these specific mandates, but they will also learn how they need to address these requirements while effectively mitigating security risks.

“Roadmap to PCI Compliance: Navigating the Most Challenging PCI Requirements" will be presented twice.

Wednesday, Sep 19, 2007 at
9:00 AM Eastern and 2:00 PM Eastern

To register click HERE