Benchmark Study of Email Database Services
-- Email Appending and ECOA Match Rates Revealed --
FreshAddress, Inc., a leading email services provider, released the industry's first benchmark data on email appending and ECOA (Email Change of Address) solutions. Based on an analysis of nearly 75 million customer records processed for its clients over the six months ending September 30, 2004, the study found the following:
* The average email append match rate for commercial clients was 15.1%, with a range from 9.5% to 24.3%.
* The average email append match rate for nonprofits was 10.3%, with a range from 5.5% to 15.4%.
* Regular quarterly append processing resulted in more than doubling the above figures on an annual basis.
The research found that the discrepancy between match rates forcommercial clients versus those for nonprofits was directly correlated with the age of the underlying customer base. Nonprofits with younger donor bases performed in the higher range while commercial clients with older customer bases performed in the lower range.
For ECOA processing, the study found the following:
* The average ECOA update rate for bounce lists for both commercial clients and nonprofits was 10.2%, with a range from 5.7% to 24.2%.
* Regular quarterly ECOA processing resulted in more than doubling of the above figures on an annual basis.
The research found that the update rate for bouncing email addresses for individuals who are already online bore no correlation with the age of the underlying population.
"This study provides companies and nonprofits alike with the missing data necessary to evaluate the ROI of the critical email services for multi-channel marketing," said Bill Kaplan, CEO of FreshAddress, Inc. "Research has shown that multi-channel customers spend more money. We are pleased to see the email industry mature to the point where updating one's email database is now considered as essential as NCOA services are to direct mail."
FreshAddress, Inc. is the original developer of Email Change of Address services and was recently granted a U.S. Patent on its ECOA service for clients and the underlying consumer technology. Through its partnerships with the major database providers including Acxiom, Equifax, and InfoUSA, FreshAddress's appending services cover the universe of available opt-in data with over 200 million records, providing clients with the industry's highest match rates of guaranteed deliverable email addresses.