Response One Group research finds an opportunity for extending the insert market with online order confirmations

New research commissioned by the Response One Group into the attitudes of UK consumers towards email order confirmations has found that just over half of the population are happy to see third party adverts on their online order confirmations, and declare themselves likely to click through such advertising links to the advertisers’ web page.

Online order confirmations are the latest form of customer communication to be converted into an advertising medium for third parties, in a trend which analysts have christened ‘Digital Inserts’. The big question however, is whether consumers closely scrutinise these order confirmations, or even print them out and file them.

In order to evaluate the advertising potential of e-commerce order confirmations, Response One commissioned a research study which aimed first to understand opening rates for email and online order confirmations, as well as subsequent print frequencies.

The key findings are:
• Four out of five people ordering goods or services online open their order confirmation to check the details are correct
• Two fifths of UK consumers also print out those order confirmations
• Around half of the population are happy to see third party adverts on their online order confirmations and declare themselves likely to click through such advertising link to the advertisers’ web page.

The research found that across Britain, 82% of consumers open and check their order confirmation nine times out of ten with the propensity to check increasing with age. The advertising opportunity or ‘impact’ is greatly extended if someone also prints out the order confirmation. Overall, two fifths of the population said they printed out their online order confirmations for filing.

To put the potential of this advertising “blank space” to the test the research specifically asked respondents how likely they would be to seriously consider clicking through on adverts inserted into their email confirmations and whether they would find it acceptable for advertising to come through from associated third parties. 53% of respondents stated they would be likely to click through an advertisement on their confirmations and 43% were not averse to the inclusion of third party advertising.

Damian Coverdale, Media Sales Director at Response One Group, comments:
“These research results provide a strong indication that digital inserts could lead the way to the further development of transpromo and affinity marketing opportunities. Order confirmations, whether online or emailed, present a significant opportunity for the issuers of those confirmations to monetise this customer contact, and for third party companies to have access to a touchpoint with consumers which offers powerful open rates and attention levels.

“Marketers need to be aware that third party advertisers cannot be accepted indiscriminately; they need to be appropriate and relevant to the recipient. The same disciplines that are applied to the third party insert market need to be imposed with order confirmation advertising. Furthermore, the web experience that a consumer encounters when they do click through remains absolutely critical to the conversion of response into actual sales. It is vital therefore for marketers to ensure they have the skills and infrastructure at hand to manage digital insert programmes in order to reap the benefits of this relatively virgin territory.”

-ENDS-

Methodology
A sample of over 2,000 UK adults, representative in terms of age, gender, region and social class was surveyed during June 2008. Respondents were asked to state whether they read their online order confirmation nine times out of ten and whether these were printed and filed by them nine times out of ten. They were also asked whether they would find it acceptable to receive apt third party advertising within the online order confirmation and whether they would be likely to click through an advertisement.

About Response One
The Response One Group is a new breed of data solution providers with a unique integrated full service offering including: list and media planning, data intelligence, direct solutions and media sales. Our premise is simple really; excellence in all data disciplines balanced with a passion for what we do and an almost unhealthy dedication not just to get the job done but to take our clients further. Our knowledge, expertise and our people set us apart from any other data solutions specialist. We consistently deliver on our promise: to maximise the potential of your marketing. For more information, please visit their website, www.responseone.co.uk [1].