Companies 'should understand consumers' email profiles'

It can be beneficial for online marketers to understand what their recipients' "email profiles" are, one sector specialist has suggested, as this can help them take advantage of HTML electronic newsletters.

Most people who receive emails have a way of organising them, such as having separate folders in their inbox or mentally organising them, DM News reported in a recent article.

However, a lot of companies do not know if their emails are read or sent to the junk folder.

"Unless you know their profile settings, you can only cross your fingers and hope," the website stated.

It advises businesses to establish each of their consumers' email profile to find out what they actually read and what content prompts them to make a purchase.

Customers can be asked to explain how they wish to be communicated with – including how many times a week or month they want to receive emails.

Behaviour can also be analysed to find out about email profiles. DM News suggests looking at how often emails are opened and which emails are responded to.

According to the Retail Email Blog, last week each retailer sent out on average nearly four emails and the retail email index saw a peak for 391 weeks.