Customer Journey: The role of email in the buying process
E-mail is a central means of communication in all phases of the buying process and accompanies users right through to the final purchase decision. This is the result of the study "Customer Journey meets E-Mail".
This was conducted by the market research institute Interrogare on behalf of United Internet Media (UIM). E-mail portals thus offer numerous touchpoints for addressing target groups in the various phases of the purchase decision, both via small screen and big screen.
More than nine out of ten people use e-mail for purchase-related purposes during the customer journey. Around 80 percent use their e-mail address to register for newsletters or online stores. The number of registrations in online stores increases significantly once the customer has made a preliminary selection of the product or service. 66.4 percent of respondents communicate with retailers via electronic mail during the purchase phase. After purchasing a product, almost three quarters use their e-mail account as a "monitoring tool" to find out about the shipping status, for example.
According to the study, women and men behave differently in the various purchase phases: women generally register more frequently for newsletters or online stores and, at 75.4 percent, show greater transaction-related e-mail use in the post-purchase phase than men (69.8 percent). In contrast to women, men in turn communicate more by e-mail in the purchase phases to get in touch with retailers and service providers - for example, to obtain details about the product and delivery.
Email usage is similar across all age groups throughout the customer journey. However, in the post-purchase phase, both the youngest (18-29 years) and the oldest respondent group (50-64 years) use email services most frequently.
"The strong purchase-related email usage during the customer journey predestines email portals as an advertising environment. The large number of touchpoints in the various stages of the buying process offers advertisers the best opportunities to target consumers with advertising for brands, services and discount offers," says Rasmus Giese, CEO of United Internet Media.
Increased email usage among multi-device users
The study also shows that participants who use at least two screens several times a day increase their purchase-related e-mail use in all phases of the customer journey. Compared to other respondents, these multi-device users use e-mail more frequently both for registration in online stores and for newsletters, as well as in communication with retailers and to share information. This behavior is even more evident in multi-device use with TV combination: respondents who watch TV several times a day and use at least one other screen several times a day show even higher e-mail activity.
The increased purchase-related email usage of multi-device users also holds true in the post-purchase phase. Here, an average of 74 percent are active in terms of transactions via e-mail, and 44 percent use e-mail for merchant contact after the purchase. Thus, this target group can be reached particularly effectively with advertising in e-mail environments.
Smartphone most frequently used
Overall, the most intensive device use takes place at the beginning of the purchasing process. During the information and narrowing down phase, the smartphone is used significantly more frequently than other screens. The customer journey also shows the continued high relevance of desktop computers: "Consumers complete most of the purchase process via mobile devices, for example, when gathering information and comparing products. The resulting touchpoints offer high advertising potential in the various purchase phases. However, the transaction often takes place on the desktop, which has an advantage in terms of data input and connection quality. That's why desktop advertising will remain highly relevant in the final meters of the customer journey in 2017," says Rasmus Giese, CEO of United Internet Media.
