SEARCH ENGINE PREFERENCE TIED TO INFLUENCE OF E-MAIL MARKETING

E-mail marketing's influence on consumers is tied to their search engine preference, according to a survey from online marketing and intelligence firm BIGresearch, whose clients include several top 10 pharmas. For example, Yahoo! users are the "most susceptible group to e-mail marketing," Joe Pilotta, vice president of research for online marketing and intelligence firm BIGresearch, tells ePharmaceuticals. Although more than 20% of Yahoo! users say their electronic purchases are influenced by e-mails about those products, only 5.7% of those users are influenced by pharma e-mail messages. An online survey of 14,000 respondents found that pharmaceutical e-mail messages had the least influence over consumers when compared with other industries. Pharma messages were most effective among Ask Jeeves users, with 6.8% reporting that such e-mails influenced them, but least effective with MSN users, with 3.6% reporting being influenced. Search engine preference can also indicate users' age and from which diseases they suffer. MSN users are generally older and tend to suffer more from high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and arthritis. To read more, including tips from Pilotta for improving the effectiveness of e-mail marketing, click the link below.