2016 Consumer Adoption and Usage Study

2016 Adestra Consumer
Adoption & Usage Study

A comprehensive survey of consumers across
the U.S. on their digital usage
75%
25%
58
55
67%
27
39%
10%
14
2016 Adestra Consumer Adoption & Usage Study
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Introduction
Section One: Its About Everyday Life
Finding 1: Email is the universal channel.
Finding 2: Age rules device choice and use.
Finding 3: Calls and email are top uses on
smartphones.
Finding 4: Mobile can make or break your
email.
Finding 5: Google rules among email
providers.
Section Two: Digital Behavior
Finding 6: More than half lie or leave when
websites ask for email addresses.
Finding 7: Message checking is part of the
morning routine.
Finding 8: Consumers check email at random
all day long.
Finding 9: Checking personal email at work:
everybody does it.
Finding 10: Recipients don't open emails they
want to save for later reading.
Finding 11: Ugly emails get deleted on
mobile.
Finding 12: Recipients really do unsubscribe
from unwanted email.
Finding 13: Teens check social media all day
long, even at work.
Finding 14: "Share to social?" Users say "meh."
Section Three: Message Preferences By
Content Type
Finding 15: Discounts drive opt-ins and
purchasing decisions.
Finding 16: Percentage discounts, free
shipping lead customer discount requests.
moreinfo@adestra.com
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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36
38
40
41
43
45
47
Section Four: Privacy

Finding 17: Boomers more cautious than
teens about privacy and online shopping.
Finding 18: Gender beats email address as
shareable personal information.
Finding 19: Social media use raises privacy
concerns.
Section Five: What They Want
Finding 20: Too much, not enough, or just
enough email?
Finding 21: Millennials, not teens or Boomers,
want text messages.
Finding 22: Boomers call and email each
other; teens and Millennials text.
Finding 23: What's on their mind? Fewer
emails.
Finding 24: One channel to rule them all:
Email!
49
Conclusion
50
Appendix
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Introduction
What happens to your email campaigns as soon as you hit "send?" Do you know
who's reading? What devices are they using? Do they even read your messages
at all?
Email marketers are like big-game hunters. We're always trying to track where
our customers are going and what they're doing. We scroll through spreadsheets
of statistics but we're usually mystified by a lot of them.
What we really want to know is how consumers interact with, and think about,
the email messages they receive. So, we asked 1,200 of them, from teens to Baby
Boomers, living all over the United States.
Their answers and our analysis and advice are here in this report for you.
What Did Consumers Say?

Below are two highlights from our extensive survey.
1. Teens use email.
A few years ago, it was widely speculated that email would die out because
teens didn't use it that's not happening. Teens are active email users for specific
kinds of messages and not just because their parents set up their accounts for
them.
2. Email is the preferred communication channel for communicating with
brands and companies.
All age groups see email as a part of everyday life. And these consumers are in
their inboxes all day long, especially when they're bored.
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What else will you learn?

We've seen a resurgence in email's popularity as a communication channel over
the last two years or so, tied to its use in identifying the customer so we can
extend the conversation beyond just email.
This report will help you understand what your customers are doing with your
email messages and how you can tailor your messaging to certain
demographics, based on what you've learned about their preferences.
About our study participants.

Most studies break down trends and events by generations, such as: teens,
Millennials, Generation X and Baby Boomers.
With this study, we examined the generations at opposite ends of the
demographic scale: teens moving into adulthood (ages 14-18 and 19-34, the
most native of the Digital Natives) and older users who are first-generation email
users (ages 56-67). The full breakdown of the audience survey is in the appendix
of this report.
Email's premature death has been hyped ad nauseum. This study puts it to
rest once and for all, or at least until the Zombie Apocalypse. Right now, that's
about the only thing that can kill it.
Ryan Phelan
VP of Marketing Insights, Adestra
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Section One:
IT'S ABOUT EVERYDAY LIFE

Finding 1: Email is the universal channel.
I have an email address because... (Check all that apply)
All
Respondents
Age of Respondent
14 to 18
19 to 24
Everyday life
74%
73%
77%
Buy things online
51%
49%
59%
Communicative with friends/ family
45%
44%
47%
Work
41%
39%
48%
My parents got me one
11%
13%
5%
I dont know, I rarely use it
5%
5%
3%
Here's confirmation that email use spans generations, even teens, who
supposedly have spurned it for texting and Snapchatting: 74% recognize they
need email in their everyday lives.
We combined Millennials with Boomers in order to focus on teens for this
question, although their attitudes meshed for the most part.
A slightly larger proportion of teens said their parents set up their email
accounts for them, but 50% set up and run their own email accounts, making
email more than just something their parents make them do.
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Marketer takeaway
Add teens to the mix.

If teens constitute any part of your target audience, keep their interests
and preferences in line when you create your email strategies and
messages.
That doesn't mean translating your content into, like, total teen-speak:
"OMG, that would be bonkers!!!" Instead, take the time to make your email
more mobile-friendly. Teens do read email on their mobiles and will
delete odd-looking or non-functional messages instead of trying to figure
them out. (See next finding.)
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Finding 2: Age rules device choice and use.

Which of the following devices do you own and use?
14 to 18
19 to 34
56 to 67
92%
%
83
67%
62
51%
65%
64%
46%
87%
22%
15% 16
Mobile Phone
other than
Smartphone
47
30%
84
56%
43%
30%
LandLine
Telephone
Tablet
(such as iPad)
Desktop
Computer
Laptop
Computer
Smartphone
This graphic shows how various digital devices have penetrated the three
different age groups we studied.
Although smartphones and laptops have the highest use among all recipients,
the picture changes in the age breakdown. Tablets, laptops and smartphones
dominate among younger users, while older users are more likely to use feature
phones, landline telephones and desktop computers.
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What type of smart phone do you have?

14 to 18
19 to 34
56 to 67
63%
61%
57%
47%
43%
36%
4%
iPhone
Android Operated
Device
6%
3%
Other
Although smartphone use is nearly universal among younger users and taken up
by a strong majority of Boomers, we also detected a distinct age-related split
between device types.
Teens were the most likely to own iPhones (61%), while Android devices rule
among Boomers (63%).
Internet of Things (IoT) on the rise.
Although not represented in the graphic, our study did identify the small but
growing market for the Internet of Things, which includes wearables like
smartwatches and fitness trackers as well as Internet- or WiFi-connected
appliances (refrigerators, home security systems, thermostats, light switches,
etc.).
At 9% of users, teens are least likely to own wearables. Their older brothers and
sisters (ages 19-34) are the most likely (19%). However, teens (20%) are the most
active IoT users, probably because their Generation X parents bought them for
family use.
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Which type of tablet(s) do you own?

14 to 18
19 to 34
56 to 67
63%
53%
49%
37%
44%
45%
8%
Apple Device
Android Device
12%
6%
Microsoft Tablet
9%
4%
5%
1%
Kindle, Kindle Fire
0%
4%
Other
Kindle bubble.
Apple and Android devices also dominate among tablet owners, but among the
also-rans, note the higher uptake of Kindles among teens.
Marketer takeaways
1. Mobile rules.
With smartphones dominating mobile phone use among all age groups, and
tablet adoption hovering around 50% across all age groups, you're far
behind the curve if you haven't made your digital presence email, landing
pages, your entire website mobile-responsive.
The Marketer's Takeaways in each of the next findings will give you more
reasons why you need to do this today.
2. So do plain text versions for IoT.
Although the IoT is still relatively small, it's definitely a growth area. One
caution: These devices generally don't render HTML email messages. So, it's a
"Back to the Future" moment for text email. Be sure you have a text version
of your HTML email that delivers the punch without the pretty pictures.
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Finding 3: Calls and email are top uses on smartphones.

Which of the following activities do you use your smartphone for?
(Check all that apply)
Age of Respondent
All
Respondents
14 to 18
19 to 34
56 to 67
Personal telephone calls
95%
92%
95%
98%
Business telephone calls
41%
30%
52%
39%
Personal email
86%
90%
91%
75%
Business email
34%
32%
44%
24%
Social media (Facebook, Twiiter, Pinterest)
79%
91%
87%
54%
Send & receive texts
92%
94%
90%
91%
Social media (Facebook, Twiiter, Pinterest)
88%
96%
90%
75%
Linking to business services (finance, travel, retail, etc.)
26%
21%
32%
24%
Daily deal sites
25%
18%
35%
19%
Chatting with friends
60%
81%
62%
32%
Apps
76%
88%
81%
55%
This time, it's personal.

Personal use, that is. Our findings show people use their smartphones for
personal communications calls, texting, browsing, email and social media
over business calls and email.
Want more proof that email isn't dying among younger users? Look at the
personal email use broken out by age groups: 90% for teens, and 91% for older
Millennials.
Marketer takeaway
Strong email performance among all age groups even desktop-loving

Boomers points to the need to keep your email messages relevant, interesting
and, most importantly, attractive and easy to act on in any environment.
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Finding 4: Mobile can make or break your email.

Do you use your mobile device to sort though your emails before you read them
on your desktop?
14 to 18
47%
40
19 to 34
56 to 67
55%
52%
35%
29
27%
18%
8%
Always
Sometimes
Never
Today, more than 50% of email messages are read on mobile devices. That has
spurred the phenomenon we call "inbox triaging," where users scan their inboxes
quickly, deciding what they'll read now, read later, delete and ignore.
Although 44% of Boomers use this system, it's primarily a tactic for teens (73%)
and Millennials (81%) to manage their inboxes
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Marketer takeaway
Expand testing subjects.

Most marketers who test aspects of their email program focus on finding
the subject lines that will get the most opens. Although the subject line is
important, it's not the only metric you should be looking at. Conversions
are the gold standard. The click-to-open rate, which measures how many
openers also clicked on your links, is another reliable indicator.
Test something other than the subject line because you need more than a
good subject line to drive results. After all, you get paid on purchases, not
on opens.
Just because you can't tie an open to a specific email address, that doesn't
mean the recipient didn't see your email. Maybe he didn't like how your
email looked like on his phone. (See Finding 12.) Or, she blocks image
downloads so the open doesn't get recorded.
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Finding 5: Google rules among email providers.

What email provider do you primarily use?
All
Respondents
Age of Respondent
14 to 18
19 to 34
56 to 67
Google (Gmail)
53%
74%
61%
28%
Yahoo
18%
12%
19%
23%
Outlook (Hotmail)
14%
7%
14%
20%
AOL
8%
2%
3%
17%
Other
4%
2%
1%
9%
iCloud
2%
3%
0%
1%
Comcast
1%
1%
1%
2%
There's no other way to say it: Gmail is far and away the top email client among
users today. Teens who sign up for their own email accounts choose it over
competing clients. The assumption that Boomers are all on AOL is wrong.
Unlike teen and Millennials, Boomers present a more varied picture. A majority
still clings to its decades-old legacy accounts on Yahoo, Hotmail or AOL.
However, at 28%, the largest individual segment has migrated over to Gmail.
Marketer takeaways
1. Check your domains.

Don't ignore deliverability issues, especially with Gmail. Also, don't
assume that your older customers are all on AOL. Run a domain report to
find the most popular domains in your email database.
2. Study your deliverability statistics.
To see how well you deliver to those domains. This will help you assess
the impact when ISPs like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft change their
filtering practices or introduce new products.
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Section Two:
DIGITAL BEHAVIOR
Finding 6: More than half lie or leave when websites ask for email
addresses
When you come to a website that asks for an email address before you can access
the website, what do you do?
All
Respondents
Age of Respondent
14 to 18
19 to 34
56 to 67
Give a real email address
43%
38%
40%
51%
Leave the site
39%
35%
40%
43%
Give an old email addresss
12%
22%
14%
3%
Give an incorrect email address
5%
6%
7%
2%
Almost six of every 10 potential customers give you outdated or phony email
addresses or leave your site rather than share a legit address with you.
Only your older customers (51%) are more likely to tell you the truth. But, they're
also your most skittish bunch, with 43% leaving instead of sharing their email
addresses.
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12
Marketer takeaway
Rethink that interstitial.

These findings should prompt you to take a long, hard look at using
interstitials for acquisition. Many marketers use these web forms also
called pop-overs to collect addresses from browsers who don't buy but
still want to hear from the brand.
What's the cost, though? Knowing 60% of your visitors might lie to you on
the email form, what's the quality of those email addresses you get by
using this tactic? Sure, it's a large number. But, is it a valid, deliverable and
profitable number?
That 39% abandonment rate is pretty alarming, too. You're wasting brand
equity if you use an interstitial that drives people away or collects fake
addresses.
Despite these concerns, interstitials can be a useful tactic, but you need a
plan and a different set of KPIs from those you use for your regular email
program, such as these:
Profitability
Time to first sale
Deliverability
Buying on first purchase
Incentive versus non-incentive acquisition
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Finding 7: Message checking is part of the morning routine.

How early do you check email, text messages, social media, and voice mail after
you wake up in the morning?
Age of Respondent
All
Respondents
14 to 18
19 to 34
56 to 67
First thing, before anything else
39%
48%
44%
26%
After coffee, before breakfast
22%
12%
19%
34%
After breakfast, before leaving for work
20%
20%
20%
19%
On the way to work
4%
7%
5%
1%
At work
8%
7%
10%
7%
It varies, randomly
3%
3%
1%
5%
Later in the day
3%
3%
1%
6%
Other
1%
1%
1%
2%
Generally, the younger you are, the more likely you are to be among the 48% of
teens and 44% of Millennials who reach for their smartphones to check
messages right after turning off the alarm clock (also on the smartphone).
Older users generally prefer to clear the cobwebs with a shot of caffeine before
firing up their desktop or laptop computers and seeing what happened
overnight. (See Section One for details on device ownership and usage.)
Besides knowing when your users are more likely to start checking messages,
this information is also a helpful reminder that email isn't the only thing on your
customers' minds in the morning.
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14
Marketer takeaway
Tie messages to time of day.

Think about the kind of messages you're sending as you're looking for the
best times to send them. Are you promoting a product your customers
might be willing to research while they're still in bed? Or, does your email
attempt to drive a direct action they might not be awake enough to
consider?
A credit-card offer is one example. Sending it first thing in the morning
might get you to the top of the inbox, but your prospects might not be in
the mindset to think about it. If they do flag your email for later reading, it
will be buried under all of the other email they'll get during the day.
Even if you don't drive a sale first thing in the morning, you can try several
tactics to maximize the opportunity for an action while they're on their
lunch hour or when they knock off work later in the day. Resending the
email to non-openers, or those who opened but didn't click, might be
worth testing. (Review Findings 9 and 11 to learn more.)
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Finding 8: Consumers check email at random all day long.

During what events during your day do you read email?
All
Respondents
Age of Respondent
14 to 18
19 to 34
56 to 67
Randomly throughout the day
84%
85%
82%
86%
When I am bored
50%
67%
56%
29%
At my desk
40%
34%
53%
34%
In bed
36%
51%
46%
15%
When I am at lunch
29%
32%
37%
17%
When I am in the bathroom
22%
29%
32%
6%
To and from home
20%
26%
26%
9%
When I am waiting for a meeting
19%
19%
28%
11%
When I am trying to avoid someone
11%
18%
14%
1%
Yes, across the board, people check email at random throughout the day.
Whenever they need a break, when they're standing in line at the checkout,
waiting for the food to come at a restaurantwhenever the mood strikes them,
in other words.
This means they aren't settling in for a nice, long session of email reading. Even
the 40% who read email at their desks are probably multi-tasking throughout
their day.
All of this is problematic if you're trying to do send-time optimization (STO),
which relies on recipients' consistency. Throwing mobile into the mix, which
ratchets up random viewing, makes email reading less consistent and STO less
reliable.
Now, note the second most popular response: "When I'm bored" (50%). In other
words, when nothing more important has grabbed their attention.
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What these stats imply for your email marketing program is a little ominous.
Your customers aren't always looking for your particular messages, or even for
anybody's emails. That means they aren't necessarily in the mindset to act.
Instead, they're triaging their inboxes, sorting through messages, deleting what
doesnt interest them and flagging what they want to read later. If they're bored
when they see your email, and if it doesn't stop them scrolling, your email might
be history.
Marketer takeaways
1. Add zing to your inbox presence.

Work harder to capture attention. Use a clear and consistent "from" name
that includes your brand or another clear identifier. Tell recipients what's
in the email and what they should do about it in the subject line. Add
preheader text that gives them even more information to open or save
your email.
2. Consider time of day.
Although random email reading throws a wrench into STO, you can still
shoot for optimal times to send by thinking about the results you want
and how your customers will react when they see your email.
Retail tries to get into the inbox early in the day but that doesn't mean
everybody should. Your industry vertical and type of customer should
inform your decisions about the best time to send.
Test sending your broadcast campaigns at different times throughout the
day and compare the results.
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Finding 9: Checking personal email at work: everybody does it.

Checking personal email at work: everyboday does it.
All
Respondents
Age of Respondent
14 to 18
19 to 34
56 to 67
Never
39%
31%
25%
59%
1 to 3
35%
43%
38%
26%
3 to 5
14%
15%
20%
8%
5 to 9
6%
6%
7%
5%
10 or more
6%
5%
10%
3%
Email users blur the lines between work and home, with 61% reporting that they
check email at least a couple times a day, although it's driven by age. Boomers
are more likely to stay on task, with 59% claiming they never check personal
email on the job.
Once again, this messes with send-time optimization. When people aren't tied to
home or work desktop computers, you can no longer predict that someone will
open your emails at the same time every day. In fact, they might be opening
your emails at a time when they are least able to act on it. Make sure your
message is relevant enough to be read later and not deleted.
Marketer takeaway
Any message, any time, anywhere.

Say goodbye to the "right message, at the right time, to the right person"
mantra. If you can't predict when your recipients will open your message,
don't guess. Send at different times and compare results. Or, test
resending the same message in a different day part. (See Finding 10.)
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Finding 10: Recipients don't open emails they want to save for later
reading.
Which of the following devices do you own and use?
56 to 67
19 to 34
14 to 18
71%
53% 53%
40%
30%
%
20
25%
24%
13%
7%
18% 15%
2%
Leave it
unread
Star it
Gmail
Mark it as
unread
Flag it
2%
Other
1%
2%
2%
1%
Move to a
folder
It seems logical that people leave emails unopened if they want to save them for
reading later. But the picture is more complex than that.
Boomers let unread email pile up in their inboxes over the day, while Millennials
are more likely to flag it or read it but mark it as unread. Teens use Gmail's star
function to ID messages they want to save.
This suggests you should look at your total open rate for specific messages, not
just unique opens. What's the ratio of unique to total, and how does that track
by discount percentage, day of send, type of offer, etc.?
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19
Marketer takeaway
Try resending.
The email that somebody saved for later can get lost in the crowd even if
it survives multiple inbox purges during the day. Resending your email
later in the day to recipients who didn't open or click on it can put your
message back on top in the inbox.
Watch your results carefully to see if you're getting the ones you desire.
Don't use this strategy on every campaign. Hold out a specific segment of
customers to see how they behaved without the resend. Look at the lift to
see whether it justifies this strategy.
Track the numbers, too, to see if you can predict results based on
resending certain kinds of campaigns once or twice during the month
and how results vary for different verticals and different times of the year
(Christmas versus midsummer, for example).
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20
Finding 11: Ugly emails get deleted on mobile.

If you get a mobile email that doesnt look god, what do you do?
(Check all that apply )
56 to 67
19 to 34
14 to 18
79%
68% 68%
25%
29%
18%
16% 15%
12
10%
8%
I delete it
I unsubcribe
Read it anyway,
even though it
doesnt look good
I look at it on
my computer
13%
5%
6%
None of
these
5%
%
2%
I file it
Mobile email viewers are an unforgiving bunch. If your message renders funny,
or not at all, they trash it.
Beyond that, 25% to 29% of younger mobile users will opt out of your email if it
doesn't look good on their phones. They might not be your demographic today,
but if you lose them now, you won't be on their radars when they move into
your market.
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21
Marketer takeaway
Optimize for mobile now.

Teens are your growth market. Don't reduce your ability to reach them as
they grow up because you don't make your emails look and work well on
mobile devices.
We know a lot more today about what works and what doesn't, whether
it's responsive email and web design, mobile-optimized or mobile-first. If
you haven't made any changes in the last three to four years, you
probably need a complete redesign.
If that's not in the cards, begin with some easy fixes, such as moving to a
one-column format, increasing point size, reducing clutter and adding
white space around links to avoid fat-finger tapping mistakes.
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Finding 12: Recipients really do unsubscribe from unwanted email.

If youre getting emails from companies that youre no longer interested in, do
you...
All
Respondents
Age of Respondent
14 to 18
19 to 34
56 to 67
Unsubscribe
67%
58%
70%
71%
Delete the email each time
14%
14%
15%
13%
Hit the spam button
7%
6%
6%
9%
Ignore it
6%
14%
3%
3%
Keep deleting the email until I have a need for it
4%
6%
3%
4%
Set up a rule to sweep the email into a folder
2%
1%
3%
1%
Good news! Email users seem to have gotten over their fear of the unsubscribe
link. Instead of worrying that clicking the link will validate their email addresses
to sketchy senders, 67% of users will use it.
Although 7% of users still rely on the spam button, assuming it will stop
unwanted email, most of them treat it passively, either deleting it or ignoring it.
(Although this makes us wonder if those ignored emails just keep piling up in
the inbox.)
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Marketer takeaways
1. Make unsubscribing easy.

Make it obvious, too. Don't hide it at the bottom of the page or
camouflage it with a link color that blends in with the background.
The daily-deal email website Woot!, which sends daily emails, puts the
unsubscribe link at the top of each email. You might not need to be that
obvious, as long as you make the unsubscribe stand out with a
contrasting color and eye-catching point size. Consider using a button
instead of a link for added visibility.
2. Offer opt-down.
People unsubscribe for many reasons. For the 67% of users who think
they get too much email (see Finding 20), give them the option to receive
fewer emails or to refine their email preferences.
Also, include an address change form on your unsubscribe or opt-down
page. This will retain customers who are just changing email addresses.
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Finding 13: Teens check social media all day long, even at work.
How often each day do you check social sites for personal reasons while at work
(e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.)?
All
Respondents
Age of Respondent
14 to 18
19 to 34
56 to 67
Never
35%
22%
21%
59%
1-3
33%
32%
39%
29%
3-5
12%
15%
16%
6%
5-9
7%
10%
11%
2%
10+
12%
20%
14%
4%
Although checking email is a random all-day activity for all users, visiting social
sites for personal reasons is something younger users are more likely to do while
at work.
Teens are into social media nearly all day long, with 20% saying they check out
social media 10 or more times a day. Boomers, on the other hand, claim to
discipline themselves while at work; 88% say they either avoid social media
altogether or limit themselves to three or fewer visits a day.
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Marketer takeaway
Visits and shopping mindset.

Your customers might be checking in all day long, or at least once an
hour, but does that mean they're in the mood to shop. If they're checking
it from work, they're probably looking for updates and information rather
than direct appeals to buy.
Keep that in mind when crafting social media updates during the
workday. It doesn't mean you shouldn't post promotional messages.
Instead, consider how popular your various posts are and how long it
might be before your messages pop up in their news feeds, Twitter
streams, Snapchat message lists, etc.
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Finding 14: "Share to social?" Users say "meh."

How likely are you to share messages from marketing/ advertising emails on your
social networks?
Age of Respondent
All
Respondents
14 to 18
19 to 34
56 to 67
Very likely
5%
4%
10%
2%
Somewhat likely
12%
10%
15%
11%
Neutral/ No option
18%
17%
20%
15%
Less likely
14%
15%
18%
9%
Not likely
52%
54%
37%
62%
Is it any surprise that "share to social" doesn't get much uptake? Two-thirds of
recipients say they are either less likely or unlikely to share your email content to
their social networks, and another 18% had no opinion.
But even though there isn't a groundswell of action, 17% of email users
expressed some intention to share, with a higher propensity (25%) among
Millennials.
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Marketer takeaway
ID your influencers.
Even though "share to social" isn't a hot activity, you likely do have some
active users who love your email and want to share the wealth with your
friends. Tag people who click your "share to social" links as influencers
and put them into a separate category for special treatment.
Play to channel strengths.
Your email-and-social strategy should focus on building up the strengths
of each channel rather than trying to duplicate messaging across
channels.
That was the big challenge for marketers back in email's early days not
recognizing what made email different from print ads and direct mail.
We're getting past that but sometimes are guilty of repeating that
behavior when we treat texting or social like email.
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28
Section Three:
MESSAGE PREFERENCES BY
CONTENT TYPE
Finding 15: Discounts drive opt-ins and purchasing decisions.
Please tell us how much each of the following media influences your purchasing
decisions.
Age of Respondent
All
Respondents
14 to 18
19 to 34
56 to 67
Emails that have discounts
4.15
3.83
4.61
4.01
Emails that have content (information) about a

product or service that I am interested in
4.10
3.90
4.23
4.14
Review websites
4.08
3.80
4.53
3.89
Coupon websites
3.62
3.24
4.01
3.56
Facebook posts from friends about products
3.14
2.90
3.73
2.80
Text messages from companies that I have opted into
2.93
2.80
3.25
2.74
Facebook posts from companies
2.51
2.24
3.14
2.16
Banner ads/ Online ads
2.48
2.46
2.74
2.27
Brand names and subject line of emails I dont open
2.43
2.34
2.69
2.26
Getting an email from a company but not opening it
2.26
2.04
2.66
2.07
Tweets
2.18
2.39
2.53
1.66
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29
Which of the following are your most important reasons for signing up to receive
emails from companies seeking your business? What else?
Age of Respondent
All
Respondents
14 to 18
19 to 34
56 to 67
To receive discounts
85%
84%
87%
92%
To get product/ services updates
41%
41%
38%
44%
If I love the brand
38%
47%
38%
30%
To participate in product research
27%
25%
23%
36%
To access information (e.g. reports, whitepapers, etc.)
13%
13%
13%
14%
Other
2%
1%
2%
2%
Why are these results so unsurprising? Because email marketers have taught
consumers that email messages have to have discounts. So, at 4.15 on a scale of
1 (meaning minimal influence) to 7 (a driving force), customers across the board
rated discounts in email highest for driving purchase decisions.
But that's not all they want. "Emails that have content about a product" came in
at 4.1 on the scale. Your customers are telling you that they want more from your
emails, such as information about a product, because that also influences their
decision to buy.
So, it's no surprise that 85% of your customers are signing up to get discounts.
But note that the next largest segment (41%) wants information and update
about your products. In other words, content. Are you delivering on their
expectations?
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Marketer takeaway
Add more content.

Focusing copy on a discount, incentive or other offer means you aren't
giving your readers enough information to propel them to buy. Add
supporting content such as product information, customer reviews,
photos and other images where appropriate.
Also, add content-forward messages to your messaging program. These
messages are designed to inform or entertain as much as drive an action
like a purchase, registration or download.
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31
Finding 16: Percentage discounts, free shipping lead customer

discount requests.
What type of offers do you most prefer from companies in marketing emails?
Age of Respondent
All
Respondents
14 to 18
19 to 34
56 to 67
Percentage off
35%
42%
87%
22%
Free Shipping
20%
19%
38%
26%
Free Trial
14%
15%
38%
16%
Dollar off
14%
8%
23%
13%
Buy One Get One (BOGO)
13%
13%
13%
13%
None
2%
0%
2%
5%
All of these
2%
13%
1%
3%
Other
1%
1%
1%
1%
About those discounts we've been discussing your customers really like
percentage discounts, free shipping and free trials, and that's what they want to
see in your emails. But age drives preferences within these areas, too.
Cash-strapped teens gravitate toward free shipping, free trials and BOGO, while
Millennials, who are probably balancing school loans and entry-level wages,
want cash discounts and free shipping.
Boomers, on the other hand, who presumably have more disposable income,
like free shipping more than anything, although percentage discounts and free
trials are attractive too.
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32
Marketer takeaway
Mix it up.
As long as customers expect discounts and other special offers, make sure
you include them in your emails. Even content-focused messages should
give your customers a reason to click to your website, browse around and
either buy something or otherwise engage with your brand, such as filling
out preferences, answering surveys, signing up for a loyalty program or
checking out videos or other information.
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33
Section Four:
PRIVACY
Finding 17: Boomers more cautious than teens about privacy and
online shopping.
How much do you worry about your privacy because of online shopping?
Age of Respondent
All
Respondents
14 to 18
19 to 34
56 to 67
Very worried
15%
12%
13%
19%
Somewhat worried
41%
35%
41%
47%
Neutral/ No opinion
25%
28%
26%
22%
Less worried
11%
13%
12%
8%
Not worreid
8%
12%
8%
4%
These numbers bear out other studies that show teens don't have the same
privacy concerns that make their elders more cautious about shopping online.
While 63% of Boomers and 54% of Millennials have concerns, 53% of teens are
neutral to not worried.
We can't determine whether this relatively blas attitude happens because teens
don't expect privacy or haven't been schooled in privacy protection by their
parents. That's not a license to take advantage of the teen market, however.
Although teens and Millennials might not understand or be concerned about
privacy implications, responsible companies not just talk about privacy policies
and updates but also explain to all consumers why they are important.
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Marketer takeaways
1. Understand how privacy affects your business.

Beyond the laws and best practices, understand your customers' concerns
about privacy and address them openly. Privacy policies can be a welter
of legal jargon.
Translate them into plain language and post them wherever you ask for
personally identifying information, such as email and postal addresses,
but make your legal staff happy by linking to the full version elsewhere on
your website.
Also, check on procedures for dealing with a data breach and have an
emergency plan ready to go if it happens to you.
2. Bone up on privacy laws and guidelines.
Teens might not worry about their privacy, but everybody else does,
whether they're consumers, governments, trade associations or consumer
activists. Strict new laws from the European Union will affect how
marketers around the world protect and transfer data.
Privacy and data regulation also are hot topics within the United States.
Know the privacy guidelines in your industry. Conduct internal and
external training in privacy protection.
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Finding 18: Gender beats email address as shareable personal

information.
How comfortable would you be in providing each of these elements of personal
information to a company that has products or services that you are considering
purchasing?
Age of Respondent
All
Respondents
14 to 18
19 to 34
56 to 67
Gender
5.17
5.27
5.31
4.19
Age
4.64
4.47
4.97
4.47
Email address
4.63
4.73
4.66
4.51
Name
4.38
4.30
4.50
4.35
Birthday
4.16
4.19
4.50
3.80
Phone number
3.10
3.07
3.23
3.00
Physical address
2.89
2.48
3.09
3.08
Income
2.85
2.62
3.19
2.72
Although we didn't ask specifically about disclosing information to opt in to

email, the findings above show you how comfortable people are disclosing
personal information to a third party.
Gender (5.17 on a scale of 1 to 7) and age (4.64) rank higher than email address
(4.63), probably because they don't involve the possibility of personal contact.
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Marketer takeaway
Data now, data later.

Testing will show you how much information your particular customer
niche is willing to give up at opt-in. Many marketers just stop at collecting
an email address but you should see how much additional information
(gender, age (age ranges rather than specific year), name, birthday
(month/date) you can secure to use for segmentation.
Note: whatever you ask for should be relevant to your brand and your
products and services. Think about how you would use the information
and what your customers would think about giving it up.
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37
Finding 19: Social media use raises privacy concerns.

Check all that apply as it relates to your social media use:
Age of Respondent
All
Respondents
14 to 18
19 to 34
56 to 67
I am friends with other people that I have not

met in person
47%
56%
44%
41%
I post pictures of myself at least twice a month
32%
44%
41%
12%
I post my relationship status
26%
25%
35%
18%
I post my contact information
14%
14%
15%
14%
I post the address of where I live
5%
3%
8%
2%
None of these
23%
14%
19%
33%
We were, frankly, astounded at the lack of concern over privacy in social media
use.
Older users are more circumspect about adding people they haven't met in
person to their social circles, posting selfies and touting their relationships. But
19% of all respondents post personally identifying information contact
information and home address on their profiles, with Millennials being the
most open at 23%.
Although this issue is outside of email marketing, it should be a wakeup call to
parents and schools to teach younger people more about privacy and social
media.
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38
Marketer takeaway
Privacy expectations.
Our study doesn't attempt to determine whether this relative lack of
concern about digital privacy among younger users is related to the low
privacy expectations other studies have uncovered, but it points in that
direction.
If you integrate social media into your digital marketing program,
consider adding content that addresses these privacy practices and
shows parents what to do to help their children (and themselves) be safer
online.
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39
Section Five:
WHAT THEY WANT

Finding 20: Too much, not enough, or just enough email?
Is the amount of promotional email communications too little, too much or about
right for you?
All
Respondents
Age of Respondent
14 to 18 19 to 34 56 to 67
Gender
Male
Female
Too little promtional email
4.4%
6.5%
4.5%
2.5%
5.8%
3.1%
Too much promotional email
60.4%
57.3%
58.2%
65.2%
57.0%
63.3%
About the right amount of

promotional email
35.2%
36.3%
37.2%
32.4%
37.1%
33.5%
19%
33%
Total
N = 1250
N = 386 N = 419 N = 445
Six of every 10 users say they get too much email, especially older people. That
sounds depressing but remember that this statistic and all of the data reported
in this study is self-reported. How overwhelmed are our email users and how
much have we, the media or other users conditioned them to think they are?
Marketer takeaway
Check your stats.

Because this data is self-reported, look beyond it to behavior to get a
more accurate and usable picture. Check your engagement statistics. Are
opt-ins, unsubscribes, opens, clicks and conversions going up or down?
Take note of what people are saying but use it more as guidance than an
absolute in assessing your own email program's performance.
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40
Finding 21: Millennials, not teens or Boomers, want text messages.

What type of businesses do you sign up for text messages from
All
Respondents
Age of Respondent
14 to 18
19 to 34
56 to 67
I dont sign up for text messages
50%
52%
40%
59%
National retailers (i.e. Amazon, LL Bean, Zappos)
27%
26%
33%
23%
Local retailers
25%
22%
32%
21%
Restaurants
24%
19%
33%
20%
Contests
16%
16%
22%
11%
Airline/ travel
11%
4%
15%
13%
Financial institutions
11%
3%
15%
13%
Other
3%
3%
3%
3%
Text messaging from brands is an outlier behavior for teen and Boomers. For
teens, texting is what you do with your friends, and for Boomers it's barely on
their radar.
However, the opportunity is still there with Millennials. Sixty percent of
Millennials sign up for text messages from brands, preferring messages from
national retailers and restaurants (33% each) and local retailers (32%).
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Marketer takeaway
Develop a text strategy.

Even though 50% of respondents don't sign up for brand texts, you still
have 50% who do. Across the board, retail is a major interest (27% for
national brands; 25% for local retailers) as are restaurants (24%).
These numbers indicate a channel preference rather than a messaging
preference. Having a text messaging strategy can help you get your
message across when you need to send bulletins flash sales, travel or
credit-card alerts instead of full emails.
Along with social media, you need to find where your customer hangs out
the most. Signing up in one channel no longer implies that they'll always
use only that channel to communicate with you.
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42
Finding 22: Boomers call and email each other; teens and
Millennials text.
What is your primary method for communicating with friends?
(Check all that apply )
56 to 67
54%
19 to 34
14 to 18
57%
39%
20%
18%
6%
0
Text
22%
%
14
20%
10%
Chat Apps
(Snapchat, Burn
Noter, WhatsApp,
etic.)
Facebook
7%
3%
5%
Personal visits
8%
4%
Phone calls
6%
3%
0%
Email
0%
2%
Other
Although smartphones dominate among mobile devices, which part of the

phone gets used most often to communicate depends largely on the user's age.
Teens and Millennials rely on SMS and chat apps like Snapchat and WhatsApp to
talk to their friends. Only 20% of Boomers use texting more than any other
communication method, and they're barely a blip on the app radar.
However, Boomers, who grew up sharing the family phone, are far more likely to
call their friends instead of pinging them on Facebook Messenger or texting
them (39%, to single digits for Millennials and teens).
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Marketer takeaway
Relationship selling.
When you think about how to message Baby Boomers, remember that
they have spent half their lives on the phone, whether at home or at work,
and not on impersonal media like texting apps.
This tends to make them more relationship-focused than younger users,
who would rather click a keyboard than make conversation with
non-friends. Test whether changing your message style and content to
emphasize relationship-style selling rather than promotional selling.
This approach focused on expressed preference or interest and derived
preference or interest. Use different messaging to appeal to different
customer groups.
A study by data company Acxiom once showed that in the fashion
vertical, offering discounts did not influence purchase in the top defiles.
Instead, branding and content exerted more influence.
Knowing this distinction of your data and subscribers can fundamentally
change your message archetype.
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44
Finding 23: What's on their mind? Fewer emails.

What would you like to tell retailers about the email that you receive?
All
Respondents
Age of Respondent
14 to 18
19 to 34
56 to 67
No answer
37%
31%
45%
34%
Dont send as many emails
23%
22%
21%
27%
Stop sending emails
9%
11%
6%
9%
Send more sales, discounts, coupons, etc.
8%
10%
8%
7%
Im not interested in them
8%
9%
7%
8%
Only send emails relevant to us
4%
5%
4%
4%
Dont send them unless we request them
4%
2%
3%
6%
Other
4%
4%
3%
4%
They are annoying
3%
6%
2%
1%
Dont send spam/ junk emails
3%
4%
3%
1%
They are helpful
3%
3%
3%
2%
Make them shorter
2%
2%
2%
2%
Improve their overall appearance
2%
3%
2%
1%
Make it easy to unsubscribe
2%
1%
2%
3%
Dont share my information
1%
1%
0%
1%
Be honest
1%
1%
0%
1%
Improve the subject line
1%
1%
1%
1%
Thanks for sending them
1%
2%
Send only for important events
0%
1%
The study gave respondents a chance to share their opinions about the emails
they receive. So, what did they say? The biggest segment 37% had no
opinion. The next largest group 32% either said they received too many
emails or wanted marketers to stop sending emails (another reminder to
optimize your unsubscribe).
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Marketer takeaway
Start segmenting.
With so many comments revolving around sending fewer or more
relevant emails, that should be your signal to start segmenting your
database.
Use the information you have on your customers already, and solicit more
information using progressive profiling.
Consider, too, that your customers might be getting bored with the same
old email content every time. Change up your messaging and your focus.
Look for new and fun things you can do with your email anything that is
within your brand image.
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Finding 24: One channel to rule them all: Email!

If you could select a communication preference from a business which would you
choose?
Age of Respondent
All
Respondents
Gender
14 to 18
19 to 34
56 to 67
Male
Female
Email
72.2%
67.6%
73.1%
75.3%
72.6%
71.9%
Direct mail
9.6%
4.9%
5.7%
17.3%
9.3%
9.9%
Email and SMS (both)
9.5%
13.5%
11.9%
3.8%
9.1%
9.9%
SMS
4.2%
6.5%
5.5%
1.1%
4.5%
4.0%
App (push messages)
3.5%
7.0%
3.3%
.7%
3.8%
3.3%
Other
.5%
.5%
.5%
.4%
.3%
.6%
None
.5%
1.3%
.5%
.4%
Total
N = 1251
N = 386
N = 420
N = 445
N = 583
N = 668
Let's be clear on this once and for all. Email is neither dead nor dying. Social
media didn't kill it. Texting and Snapchat didn't kill it.
On the contrary, email is the "killer app" that marketers have been searching for.
Why? Because all ages in our study want to use it in order to communicate with
brands.
It's true that teens don't use email chat with their friends. But, that's okay. When
they want to get messages from brands, they prefer email more than four to one
to their next most popular choice, an email-SMS hybrid.
Millennials prefer email in even bigger numbers. There's your growth market.
Boomers, too, prefer email to everything else. They're also the last generation to
look kindly on direct mail.
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Marketer takeaway
Be bold.
These numbers validate email as the primary channel for communicating
with your customers. They really do want your emails, as long as you're
smart about what you do with your email program.
Take this encouraging news to heart and start thinking about what you
can do to take your email program to a higher level and to make your
customers and subscribers fall even more deeply in love with the
messages you send.
Don't just send more email. Send better email messages that your
readers want to anticipate, read, save and act on.
Beyond your subscribers, find new ways to make email more useful in
your company and to prove its value to your executives.
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48
Conclusion
This study presents convincing evidence that email is enjoying renewed
popularity as marketers incorporate big data concepts and the linkage that
email has to the addressable consumer.
Email marketers who are on a constant quest to do email better can take credit
for much of this newfound good feeling toward email. They fought back against
spammers and fraudsters and seek out ways to connect better with customers
and add value to the relationship.
On top of that, marketers are working harder to show everyone from co-workers
to executives how email contributes to their companies' prosperity and growth.
Challenges remain making the mobile email experience reliable and fruitful,
finding the right balance of commerce, content and frequency but marketers
are busy finding answers.
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49
Appendix
Employment Status
Age of Respondent
All
Respondents
Gender
14 to 18
19 to 34
56 to 67
Male
Female
Work full time as employee or self-employed
32.9%
3.1%
55.7%
37.1%
39.6%
26.9%
Part time Employee
13.8%
16.1%
15.0%
10.8%
11.8%
15.6%
Unemployed student
24.5%
64.8%
13.6%
20.4%
28.1%
Not employed at this time
9.0%
10.6%
8.6%
7.9%
9.1%
8.8%
Retired from work
12.9%
.2%
36.0%
14.9%
11.1%
Gull time homemaker
3.8%
.3%
6.2%
4.7%
.7%
6.6%
Other
3.1%
5.2%
.7%
3.6%
3.4%
2.8%
Total
N = 1251
N = 386
N = 420
N = 445
N = 583
N = 668
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50
Income
Age of Respondent
All
Respondents
Gender
14 to 18
19 to 34
56 to 67
Male
Female
Under $15,000
17.6%
31.9%
14.3%
8.3%
16.1%
18.9%
$15,000 to $19,999
7.0%
6.5%
7.6%
6.8%
7.7%
6.3%
$20,000 to $34,999
15.9%
14.2%
15.0%
18.2%
14.4%
17.2%
$35,000 to $49,999
14.9%
10.9%
17.1%
16.2%
14.1%
15.6%
$50,000 to $74,999
20.6%
14.8%
21.9%
24.3%
20.9%
20.2%
$75,000 to $99,999
11.7%
9.1%
12.9%
12.8%
12.3%
11.1%
$100,000 or greater
12.4%
12.7%
11.2%
13.3%
14.4%
10.6%
N = 1250
N = 386
N = 420
N = 444
N = 583
N = 667
Total
All
Respondents
Environment
Region
Urban
Suburban
East
Midwest West/ Pacific
South
Under $15,000
17.6%
22.1%
13.9%
17.8%
15.4%
19.7%
17.4%
$15,000 to $19,999
7.0%
8.1%
6.0%
6.5%
7.0%
6.0%
8.4%
$20,000 to $34,999
15.9%
19.1%
13.3%
17.3%
13.8%
15.8%
16.4%
$35,000 to $49,999
14.9%
15.2%
14.6%
14.6%
15.1%
15.5%
14.4%
$50,000 to $74,999
20.6%
18.6%
22.2%
15.4%
23.2%
20.4%
24.5%
$75,000 to $99,999
11.7%
8.0%
14.7%
15.1%
10.7%
11.3%
8.7%
$100,000 or greater
12.4%
8.8%
15.3%
13.2%
14.8%
11.3%
10.1%
N = 1250
N = 565
N = 685
N = 370
N = 298
N = 284
N = 298
Total
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Email Takes More Than

Technology
In today's hectic world, you need more than just technology to achieve your
goals. You need award winning proactive customer support.
For more than a decade we have been providing marketers with powerful email
technology that connects with their wider technology ecosystem; helping them
engage with their customers and deliver fantastic return on marketing investment.
We help our digital partners deliver personalized messages based on their customers
unique traits, behaviors and current needs.
Were not just a Software as a Service,
were Software AND a Service!
Contact us:
1-855-835-0471 (toll free)

moreinfo@adestra.com (email)
Were not just a Software as a Service,

were Software AND a Service!
Adestra is a leading global provider of one-to-one
email and lifecycle marketing solutions for global
and growing brands alike. The company's industry
leading digital marketing platform provides
marketers with a powerful infrastructure that helps
them communicate more effectively with their
customers and subscribers by providing
hyper-relevant context. This proprietary
technology also allows for automated messaging
and incorporates enterprise-class native
functionality, which reduces implementations.
Along with a superior platform to execute
marketing automation, Adestra was founded on
the principle that marketing success takes more
than technology, which is why customer service is
at the heart of our business. Adestra was a winner
of the 2014 Customer Focus Award from the
Customer Service Institute, and we continue to
maintain one of the highest customer retention
rates in the industry.
Established in 2004, Adestra's US operations are
based in Dallas, with offices worldwide.
www.adestra.com
1-855-835-0471 (toll free)
moreinfo@adestra.com (email)
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2016 Consumer Adoption and Usage Study

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2016 Adestra Consumer

Adoption & Usage Study

2016 Adestra Consumer Adoption & Usage Study

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2016 Adestra Consumer Adoption & Usage Study

Section Four: Privacy

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2016 Adestra Consumer Adoption & Usage Study

What Did Consumers Say?

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2016 Adestra Consumer Adoption & Usage Study

What else will you learn?

About our study participants.

VP of Marketing Insights, Adestra

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2016 Adestra Consumer Adoption & Usage Study

IT'S ABOUT EVERYDAY LIFE

Buy things online

Communicative with friends/ family

My parents got me one

I dont know, I rarely use it

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2016 Adestra Consumer Adoption & Usage Study

Add teens to the mix.

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2016 Adestra Consumer Adoption & Usage Study

Finding 2: Age rules device choice and use.

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2016 Adestra Consumer Adoption & Usage Study

What type of smart phone do you have?

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2016 Adestra Consumer Adoption & Usage Study

Which type of tablet(s) do you own?

Kindle, Kindle Fire

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2016 Adestra Consumer Adoption & Usage Study

Finding 3: Calls and email are top uses on smartphones.

Personal telephone calls

Business telephone calls

Social media (Facebook, Twiiter, Pinterest)

Send & receive texts

Social media (Facebook, Twiiter, Pinterest)

Linking to business services (finance, travel, retail, etc.)

Daily deal sites

Chatting with friends

This time, it's personal.

Strong email performance among all age groups even desktop-loving

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2016 Adestra Consumer Adoption & Usage Study

Finding 4: Mobile can make or break your email.

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2016 Adestra Consumer Adoption & Usage Study

Expand testing subjects.

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2016 Adestra Consumer Adoption & Usage Study

Finding 5: Google rules among email providers.

1. Check your domains.

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2016 Adestra Consumer Adoption & Usage Study

Give a real email address

Leave the site

Give an old email addresss

Give an incorrect email address

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