The Alchemy Worx Consumer Mailbox Index, a monthly survey of what email marketers are up to...
The AWCM Index [pronounced: aw-suh m], will regularly report on volumes, frequency, send days, from addresses, and spam folder messages received by the monitor.
The AWCM Index reveals a 13% increase in the total volume of emails received in March 2009 compared to February (up from 272 to 307). The March volume figure was also higher than in January (by 8%), but did not reach levels recorded in November and December 2008 (See Figure 1).
Figure 1: Monthly volume received
Following the low email volumes seen in the last two weeks of February (59 each), the number received showed consecutive volume increases, peaking at 79 in week 12, to again reach the levels seen in week 3 in January 2009. Week 13 saw the volume of emails fall back to 65, but showing signs of increase again in weeks 14 and 15 (see Figure 2).
Over the next 12 months, we will be looking to identify the extent to which these changes are attributable to seasonality, and the current economic climate.
Figure 2: Weekly volume received
The number of companies sending emails decreased in March, to 74 (69%) of the 107 companies on the AWCM Index, the third consecutive decrease in as many months. However, the number sending emails in March remained ahead of August-October 2008 (see Figure 3).
Figure 3: Number of Companies Mailing per Month
With a 4% drop in both the number of companies sending emails in March over February, but a 13% increase in the number of emails received, the average number of emails sent per active company increased to 4.00. These figures were almost identical to the average number of emails sent in November 2008 (see Figure 4) albeit with fewer active companies.
Figure 4: Average Frequency
Across the 28 weeks that the AWCM Index has been running, the majority of messages (91%) were received in the monitor on week days. Thursday and Friday were the most popular send days during the working week, accounting for 22% of mailings each, ahead of Wednesday (19%), Tuesday (15%) and Monday (13%) (Figure 5).
Figure 5: Average Day of the Week (Aug08 - Apr09)
The share of messages received on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays increased in Q2 2009 over Q1 2009, with Thursdays also increasing share in Q1 2009 vs Q4 2008. Monday lost share in each of the last two quarters, down from c15% to c11%, while Fridays showed the most significant share loss from c22% in each of the previous three quarters down to c12% in the latest quarter (Figure 6).
Figure 6: Day of the Week by Quarter
Methodology
The AWCM Index was started in July 2008 with a fixed number of subscriptions. The index is made up of subscriptions to over 100 free email newsletters or offer programs. The companies represented in the survey cover a broad range of consumer goods and services, including travel, retail, supermarket, comparison sites, DIY / furniture, fashion, health, jewelry, mobile phones, movies, music, photography and electrical goods. Please email us for a full list of companies.
Analysis has been undertaken by Alchemy Worx and the independent research agency BML.
