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Welcome Emails on the Rise from Top Retailers

Seventy-two percent of major online retailers are regularly sending out welcome emails this year, up from 66 percent last year, according to a new study by the Email Experience Council (via DM News).

Most retailers deliver their welcome emails within 10 minutes of sign-up; 19 percent send welcome emails after more than 24 hours have gone by, and nearly a third take more than a week.

The study also found that:

• 58 percent of emails were CAN-SPAM compliant, including both a mailing address and unsubscribe method (compared to 52 percent last year)
• 62 percent of welcome emails asked subscribers to add the emailer’s address to their address book (compared to 49 percent last year)
• 79 percent of retailers’ welcome emails were in HTML format (up from 69 percent last year)
• 75 percent of the emails include the retailer’s brand name in the subject line (on par with last year)
• Only 32 percent of welcome emails include a discount or other offer, down from 34 percent last year.

About the study: the Email Experience Council is the Direct Marketing Association’s group that focuses on the email marketing industry. The second annual Retail Welcome Email Subscription Benchmark Study looked at the welcome emails of 118 top online retailers, tracked via RetailEmail.Blogspot.