The Email Experience Council Debuts Refer A Friend Benchmark Study
Thursday, 08 February 2007
The Email Experience Council (EEC), an organization of global professionals that define e-mail marketing and communications, today announced the debut of its Refer-A-Friend Benchmark Study. The study, conducted by the EEC in conjunction with its newly integrated partner, RetailEmail.Blogspot, probes best practices, addresses some areas of concern, and presents cases studies of three retailers that use refer-a-friend (RAF) programs.
The study marks the third installment of the EEC’s original content Whitepaper and Research Forum, launched this month. The Whitepaper and Research Forum is an ongoing effort designed to educate marketers about powerful e-mail marketing tools.
"Refer-a-friend programs are the less popular cousins of send-to-a-friend programs, which are another customer acquisition tool," said Chad White, the EEC's director of retail insights, editor-at-large and founder of RetailEmail.Blogspot. "But unlike send to a friend, whose functionality can be largely replicated by using the forward button on your e-mail client, refer a friend is a unique opportunity to have a satisfied subscriber share a retailer's brand with a friend."
The EEC reviewed several e-mail newsletters each from 103 of the top online retailers tracked via RetailEmail.Blogspot to see which included a RAF links in their e-mail. Only three did: jewelry retailer Blue Nile, pet supplies retailer and pharmacy Drs. Foster & Smith, and computer and electronics retailer TigerDirect. The study examines how each of these retailers use their RAF programs and also explores several areas of concerns with these programs – namely, a lack of attention to privacy issues, ease-of-use problems, limited integration into e-mail campaigns, and concerns with adherence to the JumpStart ruling.
“The Refer-a-Friend Benchmark Study again demonstrates the broader applicability of retail e-mail practices,” says Jeanniey Mullen, founder of the EEC and partner, senior director of e-mail Marketing at OgilvyOne Worldwide, a global leader in customer relationship management. “This is just the beginning of an important series of whitepapers designed by the EEC to help our members better understand the powerful e-mail marketing options available.”
For more information on this study, EEC programs and membership, visit www.emailexperience.org.