Email Marketing in Financial Services - US - March 2008

Table of Contents

• Scope and Themes
• What you need to know
• Scope of this report
• Abbreviations and terms
• Executive Summary
• Key highlights
• Security and trust are the most important issues for consumers
• Companies are responding to consumer fears
• Reputation, social networks matter
• Gender affects online behavior
• Older Americans are more fearful online
• Hispanic consumers represent a significant opportunity
• Consumers respond differently to different types of companies and brands
• Emerging trends may shift the playing field
• Overview of Demographic Trends and Online Reach
• Key points
• The online population
  • Figure 6: Projected population of the U.S., by age, 2010-50
  • Figure 7: Estimated percentage of adults online, by location where accessed from, 1995-2007
  • Figure 8: Estimated number of adults who are online, 1995-2007
• Most effective advertising channels for online users
• Key Points:
  • Figure 9: Percentage of consumers who have responded to various types of advertisements in past year, January 2008
  • Figure 10: U.S. adult online presence, by age, gender, race/ethnicity, educational attainment and household income, 2007
• The Email Gender Gap and other Usage Differences
• Key points
  • Figure 11: Population, by gender and age, 2007
  • Figure 12: Percentage of men and women who go online, by age, educational attainment, race/ethnicity, household income and marital status, 2005
• Different uses of email
• Key points
  • Figure 13: Functions of the Internet: How men and women use it as a tool to communication, transact, get information and entertain themselves, December 2005
• Women use email to develop relationships; men use it to find information
  • Figure 14: Why online men and women value their email contact with their favorite groups, December 2005
  • Figure 15: Importance of known sender to consumer opening email, by gender, December 2007
• Gender differences in navigating the Internet
• Different levels of concern about email
  • Figure 16: Share of online men and women who are concerned about various online security threats, December 2005
  • Figure 17: Concern about handling of responses to financial services email solications, by gender, January 2008
  • Figure 18: Non-response to financial services emails due to concerns about companies sharing information, by gender, January 2008
  • Figure 19: Response to email advertisements for various financial products, by gender, January 2008
• Older Consumers--Online Activity and Response to Online Financial Marketing
• Key points
  • Figure 20: Internet use, by age, February-March 2007
• Older Americans are more wary when they are online
  • Figure 21: Response to email advertisements for various financial products, by age, January 2008
  • Figure 22: Response to email advertisements for various financial products, by employment status, January 2008
  • Figure 23: Concern about handling of responses to financial services email solications, by age, January 2008
  • Figure 24: Non-response to financial services emails due to security concerns, by age, January 2008
  • Figure 25: Change in likelihood of opening financial services emails, by age, January 2008
  • Figure 26: Change in likelihood of opening any type of email solicitation, by age, January 2008
  • Figure 27: Importance of known sender to consumer opening email, by age, December 2007
• Hispanics--Online Activity and Response to Online Financial Marketing
• Key points
• Demographics
  • Figure 28: Population, by race and Hispanic origin, 2002-12
  • Figure 29: Household income distribution for all households and Hispanic households, 2006
• Hispanic consumers are more engaged online
  • Figure 30: Internet use, by Hispanic origin, February-March 2007
• Hispanic consumers are more open to receiving communication from companies
  • Figure 31: Consumer preference for receiving relevant product offers, by Hispanic origin, December 2007
  • Figure 32: Likelihood of consumer opening email from a bank, by Hispanic origin, January 2008
  • Figure 33: Response to email advertisements for various financial products, by Hispanic origin, January 2008
• Hispanic consumers are more open to sharing information with companies
  • Figure 34: Information consumers would be willing to disclose to unknown companies, by Hispanic origin, December 2007
  • Figure 35: Number of financial services accounts managed online, by Hispanic origin, December 2007
• The Demographics of Education and Wealth, and Response to Online Financial Marketing
• Key points:
• Demographics
  • Figure 36: Household income distribution, 2006
  • Figure 37: U.S. educational attainment, population aged 18+, 2007
• Less educated, poorer people are online less
  • Figure 38: Internet use, by educational attainment, February-March 2007
  • Figure 39: Internet use, by income, February-March 2007
• Less educated, poorer people are less trusting
  • Figure 40: Increase in concern about online security in last five years, by income, January 2008
  • Figure 41: Increase in concern about online security in last five years, by educational attainment, January 2008
• Less educated, poorer people are more likely to respond to financial services solicitations
  • Figure 42: Response to email advertisements for various financial products, by income, January 2008
  • Figure 43: Response to email advertisements for various financial products, by educational attainment, January 2008
• Less educated, poorer people are less likely to have online accounts
  • Figure 44: Number of financial services accounts managed online, by income, December 2007
• Online Financial Marketing Responses by Marital Status and U.S. Regions
• Unmarried couples are much more receptive to credit card offers
  • Figure 45: Response to email advertisements for various financial products, by marital status, January 2008
• U.S. regional differences
  • Figure 46: Consumer preference for receiving relevant product offers, by region, December 2007
  • Figure 47: Importance of known sender to consumer opening email, by region, December 2007
• Consumer Concern about Security is Increasing; Trust is Weak
• Key points
• Consumers think security is a problem
  • Figure 48: Increase in concern about online security in last five years, January 2008
  • Figure 49: Increase in concern about online security in last five years, by gender, January 2008
  • Figure 50: Increase in concern about online security in last five years, by age, January 2008
• Consumers don' t trust companies to safeguard their personal information
  • Figure 51: Consumer beliefs about sharing of personal information, January 2008
  • Figure 52: Consumer beliefs about sharing of personal information, by Hispanic origin, January 2008
• Consumers are overwhelmed by inbox overload: Spam
  • Figure 53: Change in amount of spam received, January 2008
  • Figure 54: Change in amount of spam received, by age, January 2008
  • Figure 55: Unwanted solicitations from unfamiliar companies, January 2008
  • Figure 56: Unwanted solicitations from unfamiliar companies, by age, January 2008
• Consumers' Fears Inhibit Their Engagement with Companies
• Key points
• Consumers are reluctant to even open emails
  • Figure 57: Percent of business emails opened by consumers, December 2007
  • Figure 58: Percent of business emails opened by consumers, by age, December 2007
  • Figure 59: Change in likelihood of opening any type of email solicitation, January 2008
  • Figure 60: Change in likelihood of opening any type of email solicitation, by race/ethnicity, January 2008
  • Figure 61: Change in likelihood of opening financial services email solicitation, January 2008
  • Figure 62: Change in likelihood of opening financial services email solicitation, by gender, January 2008
• Consumers are unwilling to share important information with companies
• Key points:
  • Figure 63: Information consumers would disclose to unknown companies, December 2007
  • Figure 64: Information consumers would disclose to unknown companies, by gender, December 2007
  • Figure 65: Information consumers would disclose to unknown companies, by age, December 2007
• Companies are Responding to Trust and Security Concerns
• Working on the consumer experience
• Key points
• Technical solutions
• Credible format
• Opting in or out
• Separate URLs
• Personalized data in emails
• Email newsletters
• Affinity partnerships
• Critical elements: Reputation and social networks
• Key points
  • Figure 66: Factors affecting consumers' decisions to open emails, January 2008
  • Figure 67: Factors affecting consumers' decisions to open emails, by gender, January 2008
  • Figure 68: Factors affecting consumers' decisions to open emails, by age, January 2008
  • Figure 69: Factors affecting consumers' decisions to open emails, by income, January 2008
  • Figure 70: Factors affecting consumers' decisions to open emails, by race, January 2008
• Reputation: The Value of Brand Quantified
• Whose emails get opened?
• Key points
• Consumer response
  • Figure 71: Consumers' likelihood of opening emails, by type of financial institution, January 2008
  • Figure 72: Consumer likelihood of opening email from leading financial services companies, January 2008
• Banks
  • Figure 73: Consumer likelihood of opening email from generic and well-known banks, January 2008
• Insurers
  • Figure 74: Consumers' likelihood of opening emails from generic and well-known insurers, January 2008
• Credit card issuers
  • Figure 75: Consumers' likelihood of opening emails from generic and well-known credit card issuers, January 2008
• Mutual funds
  • Figure 76: Consumers' likelihood of opening emails from generic and well-known mutual funds, January 2008
• Brokerage firms
  • Figure 77: Consumers' likelihood of opening emails from generic and well-known brokerage firms, January 2008
• Acquisition vs. retention
• Key points
• Consumer response
  • Figure 78: Importance of various factors to consumer decision to open email from known and unknown sender, December 2007
• Frequency of customer contact
  • Figure 79: Consumer preferences for various types of email communication, frequency from known companies, December 2007
  • Figure 80: Consumer preference for receiving relevant product offers, by gender, December 2007
  • Figure 81: Consumer preference for receiving relevant product offers, by age, December 2007
• Appendix: Advertising and Promotion
  • Figure 95: A financial services email advertisement targeting a niche demographic market, 2007
  • Figure 96: An email advertisement embedded in an outside non-business newsletter, 2007
  • Figure 97: Example of an email advertisement featuring affinity partnerhsip offer incentive, 2007
  • Figure 98: Example of an email advertisement featuring affinity partnerhsip offer incentive, 2008
  • Figure 99: A financial services email advertisement attached to a message from an affinity partner, 2007
  • Figure 100: An example of an email advertisement including account information, from American Express, 2007
  • Figure 101: Citi Card security newsletter, 2008
  • Figure 102: An example of an email advertisement designed to get consumers to go paperless, 2007
  • Figure 103: Example of an email advertisement featuring green marketing, 2007
  • Figure 104: Green cause marketing, 2008