News

New RSR report finds the potential in retail emails

May 14, 2014

In a new report available today, “Retail’s Email Moment: How Personalization Can Revitalize Retailers’ Email Strategy,” RSR Research analysts Nikki Baird and Steve Rowen explore email’s omnichannel opportunity. Sponsored by CQuotient, the report examines email’s ability to serve as a bridge across all customer touchpoints, how far retailers have come in taking advantage of these opportunities and what gets in the way of them doing more. The report includes actionable advice for retailers looking to deliver personalized emails that incent shoppers and engender loyalty.

“Retailers need to get out of the mindset that email is a mass media tool used to reach a shopper’s desktop. When done right, email can play a strong role in connecting with individual customers across all touchpoints,” said Nikki Baird, managing partner at RSR Research and keynote speaker at this year′s CONNECT Mobile Innovation Summit. “For retailers looking to create personalized communications with customers, email poses a much greater opportunity than many give it credit for. And those who are not thinking about email as both a personalization tool and as a bridge between digital and physical are leaving an enormous opportunity on the table.”

Key findings from the report include:

• Retailers know that customers want personalized communications that are synchronized across all channels (100 percent say they have future plans to achieve this). But they have been too timid in their approach to date (only 11 percent feel they are doing so today)
• The more data retailers collect from their customers, the less confident they feel about how to use that information and the problem is only getting worse. Forty-nine percent of retailers say they can’t keep up with the new ways consumers are using technology
• Email tops the list for consumers in terms of desired communications from retailers, and plays a strong role in connecting omnichannel touchpoints
• Consumers are demanding that retailer be more personalized, and will reward those who do (like Amazon!)

A full copy of “Retail’s Email Moment” can be downloaded from the CQuotient website.