Report: Personalization Largely Remains Rudimentary

Forty-four percent of marketers include an element of personalization in every e-mail campaign they develop, according to research released jointly last week by Mintel International Group, Responsys, Vertis Communications and Winterberry Group. However, 80 percent of those marketers modify only the salutation and a few basic content elements, the report revealed. The firms, which represent the direct mail, e-mail, integrated communication, market research and consulting sectors, also offered the following data:

* 66 percent of direct mail is personalized, which remains relatively unchanged over the past three years;
* 71 percent of consumers read direct mail from retailers, more than any other vertical market; and
* 21 percent of direct mail responders visited a corresponding Web site within 30 days of mail receipt in 2005, up from 14 percent in 2003.