Merkle Publishes 2008 'View from the Inbox' E-Mail Marketing Trends Study

Conducted in Conjunction with Harris Interactive, Report Provides
Insights into Consumer E-mail Activity
LANHAM, Md.--(Business Wire)--
Merkle (www.merkleinc.com), one of the nation's largest and
fastest growing database marketing agencies, today released its annual
e-mail marketing 'View from the Inbox'(TM) study. Conducted in
conjunction with national survey research firm Harris Interactive, the
study is designed to measure and track attitudes and behaviors toward
permission-based e-mail among U.S. consumers. Permission-based e-mail
marketing (PEM) is a marketing approach used to reach consumers who
voluntarily sign-up to receive updates, offers and information from
select organizations.

Now in its sixth year, the study points to several trends in
consumers' attitudes and use of permission-based e-mail marketing:

-- Consumers feel in control: Most consumers (88%) feel mostly or
completely in control of their inboxes - up nine points from
2004.

-- General attitudes toward corporate e-mail are positive: More
people (58%) believe e-mail is a great way for companies to
stay in touch - up from 45% three years ago.

-- E-mail is effective: Half of the respondents made an online
purchase in the previous year as a result of permission-based
marketing - up 3 percentage points from one year ago.

-- E-mail can influence decisioning: Half of respondents reported
that a company that does a good job with e-mail influenced
their decision to do business - up 6% points from last year.
However, e-mail can also close doors: About one-third (32%)
have stopped doing business with at least one company as a
result of poor e-mail marketing practices.

-- Relevancy is in the eye of the beholder: Consumers (41%)
consider transaction confirmation emails to be most relevant,
followed by account summary emails (18%).

For the '2008 View from the Inbox' report, Harris Interactive
surveyed 2,512 U.S. adults age 18 and over who check and/or send
e-mail at least once a week. The maximum margin of error for the study
is +/- 2.0% and the confidence level used to report comparisons
between sub-segments of respondents is 95%.

The report is available free of charge at
www.merkleinc.com/insight.

Lori Connolly, Director of Research and Analytics in Merkle's
Interactive Services group, said, "Merkle's 2008 'View from the Inbox'
study outlines interesting and important trends, while giving
marketers a firsthand look into how consumers perceive
permission-based e-mails. For example, we found there is a substantial
gap between what marketers believe is relevant to the consumer, and
what consumers rate as valuable. Traditionally, marketers believed
that relevancy meant pushing content that is based on stated
preferences or behavior, but the study shows that companies need to
update their view of what is relevant. By using consumer research to
guide strategy, marketers can close this gap."

About Merkle

Merkle is one of the nation's largest and fastest growing
providers of data-driven solutions that enable organizations to
maximize the results from their marketing investment. Merkle provides
strategic consulting, database services, content solutions, analytical
services, interactive services, creative services, and production
services to Fortune 1000 companies and leading nonprofit
organizations. With nearly 1,000 employees, the privately held
corporation is headquartered near Washington, D.C. in Lanham, Maryland
with additional locations in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia,
Seattle and Hagerstown, Maryland. For more information, contact Merkle
at 1-877-9-MERKLE or visit www.merkleinc.com.

Merkle Inc.
Kathryn Conway, 301-459-9700
KConway@merkleinc.com
or
Media Contact
DPR Group Inc.
Rachel Hunt, 240-686-1000
rhunt@dprgroup.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008