DACH study shows relevance of newsletters

For the study, 800 people were surveyed in each of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The resulting findings show the relevance of corporate news in everyday life and its role in the buying process.

The high level of use in the DACH region shows that newsletters are relevant: around 70 percent of respondents have registered for newsletters, and almost three quarters of them also read them. Around 70 percent of respondents from all three countries prefer to read newsletters on their smartphones.

In the DACH region, most company news is requested from the fashion (D: 69 percent, A: 61 percent, CH: 65 percent) and travel/tourism (D: 66 percent, A: 69 percent, CH: 68 percent) sectors. A country comparison shows that Germans are more likely to receive newsletters on finance or insurance (53 percent) than Austrians (39 percent) and Swiss (46 percent). Newsletters from the automotive sector are also more likely to be subscribed to in Germany (D: 39 percent, A: 31 percent, CH: 30 percent). The Swiss, on the other hand, are more likely to receive information from their clubs and associations via electronic newsletters (D: 34 percent, A: 35 percent, CH: 35 percent).

Newsletters also have a corresponding sales potential: the proportion of respondents who use company news during the purchasing process is comparatively high (D: 70 percent, A: 70 percent, CH: 62 percent). More than a third of respondents also stated that they had already purchased a newsletter offer directly. Offers or discounts that are provided exclusively to newsletter subscribers seem to play a particular role here (D: 34 percent, A: 36 percent, CH: 25 percent).

However, it also depends on different aspects in the conception of the content and the design of the mailing. In the various phases of the customer journey, there are different emphases in device use: in the inspiration phase, messages tend to be used on mobile devices (75 percent), while shortly before the order is placed and when the purchase is concluded, they are used more on stationary devices such as laptops and desktop PCs (circa 65 percent). "The study provides important insights into how senders can improve their mailings: For example, adapting them to the mailing date and end device. To inspire and whet the appetite, so to speak, newsletters should be optimized for mobile devices. When it comes to the actual purchase, the visuals and content must exploit the strengths of the large screen," says Rasmus Giese, CEO of United Internet Media. Last but not least, it's about country-specific adaptation: "Admittedly, there are many similarities. But if you want to turn the fine adjustment screws, you should adapt your campaigns for each country," says Giese.

Newsletter readers in Germany (61 percent), Austria (66 percent) and Switzerland (52 percent) develop great interest when newsletters contain special offers or discounts. In addition, information about new products and offers from the sender makes the content attractive. This is the opinion of 55 percent of Germans, 64 percent of Austrians and 53 percent of Swiss newsletter readers. In third place are invitations and information about events. Austrians in particular (38 percent) like to receive these.

With regard to the expectations of a good newsletter, it is clear that, at over 60 percent, understandable wording is most important in all three countries. The subject line has the greatest influence on the decision to read a newsletter: a clear description of the content is named as the most important criterion across the DACH region (D: 63 percent, A: 66 percent, CH: 57 percent). In addition, the subject line should be completely legible and not cut off, say an average of 40 percent of respondents. Just under a quarter of German newsletter readers also want a personal salutation in the subject line. That is more than in Austria and Switzerland (15 percent each). In a country comparison, Austrians are more in favor of eye-catching elements such as emojis (11 percent) in the subject line than German readers (6 percent).

Newsletter readers prefer a more formal form of address: 42 percent of Germans and 39 percent of Austrians expect to be addressed formally, while the figure for the Swiss is slightly lower at 30 percent. Only around 15 percent of newsletter readers in all three countries prefer to be addressed as "Du". The remaining respondents do not care how the sender addresses them.

The overview in the inbox can also be optimized. More than one in two newsletter recipients in the DACH region do not filter or sort their newsletters, one in five does manual sorting and 15 percent use automatic filtering rules. Intelligent mailboxes that sort e-mails into categories can be used to ensure order.