Tag Archives: email

Customer Experience, News

Disney first interactive email wordsearch for Encanto campaign

Disney is sending its first ever interactive word search email this week in celebration of its latest hit, Encanto. Armadillo, the Bristol-based CRM agency, created the in-email word search. Previous interactive email examples from Armadillo and Disney include quizzes, games, and unique carousels – word searches never seen in Disney emails before now.  

With the knowledge that Disney fans enjoy taking part in quizzes, polls and other ways to show they know the films inside out, users are asked if they have a ‘gift for word searches’ and upon completion of the word search, are warmly welcomed into the magical family Madrigal. Armadillo achieved interactivity in email using pure HTML and CSS. Inputs, labels and animation are the key elements to making this work.  

The word searches were achieved using a table-based grid to display the content. All the correct letters in the table could be clicked on turning the cell grey. Once all correct letters for the word are selected the whole word is then highlighted. At the same time, a strike-through and highlight appears on the question. This provided a great user experience as it’s clear which questions have already been answered. 

Steve Brailey, Lead Developer at Armadillo says: “we wanted to try something new that we haven’t seen before in an email; something that would provide an engaging and fun experience for the recipient. I’ve been prototyping a few ideas in this vein recently, and it not only worked really well, but the client – and now their audience – really reacted to the feeling of magic it brought.” 

Rob Pellow, Innovation Director at Armadillo comments: “Interactivity in email is a huge opportunity to reduce the engagement barriers with your audience. Whether that’s allowing them to more easily explore your product, better understand your content, or just giving them something fun to play with. It also allows you to get a better picture of what content they find valuable or interesting. Our Development team at Armadillo don’t believe in “can’t” when it comes to email and are constantly proving that there are no real limits to what is achievable within this channel.” 

Armadillo is able to track the engagement by using tracking pixels that get activated when a letter is selected, and when all correct words have been found. 

Cybersecurity, News

Threats Exploiting Employees a Concern For Microsoft 365 Users

Egress Report Cites Cyber Security Experts, Offers Recommendations to CISOs Representing the 1 Million Companies Deploying Microsoft 365

LONDON, UK – 21st June 2022 – Egress, the leading provider of intelligent email security, has today issued a report identifying a number of security risks facing users of Microsoft 365, which along with its suite of tools, is expected to be relied upon by more than one million companies and over 250 million users[1].

Click here to read the full report: https://pages.egress.com/Whitepaper-EmailRisksInMS365-06-22_2021-Landing-PAGE-eBook.html

The threat analysis has been compiled by leading experts in cyber security. Lisa Forte is the co-founder of Red Goat Cyber Security LLP, Robin Bell is the Chief Information Security Officer, (CISO) at Egress, and Jack Chapman is the VP of Threat Intelligence at Egress. Their collective insights provide both the context associated with perceived risks as well as recommendations for CISOs to reduce both inbound and outbound risk, protecting their people, organization and customers.

Overall, the expert panel felt Microsoft 365’s native security capabilities offered good, basic email protection from phishing, and data loss prevention (DLP) tools for dealing with outbound data loss. However, the group also believes that there remain issues requiring enhanced protection from highly advanced inbound phishing threats, outbound data loss, and exfiltration events that cannot be reduced by static DLP.

“Microsoft’s protection now rivals Secure Email Gateways (SEGs), but there remain substantial gaps in its email security. Both Microsoft and SEGs struggle to detect the most sophisticated social engineering attacks,” said Jack Chapman, Egress VP of Threat Intelligence. “Topping the list are threats that target and exploit individuals such as phishing attacks, and outbound risks such as data loss caused by human error or intentional exfiltration. CISOs must evaluate their level of protection and augment their existing email security with additional layers of technology where required, to protect their employees and their data.”

Snapshot of Email Risks in Microsoft 365

  • Phishing: credential theft, leakage of sensitive/regulated data, navigating users to malicious URLs, requesting multi-factor authentication (MFA) codes, and ransomware.
  • Human Error: autocomplete of the incorrect email recipient, complex, manual management of customizations and settings.
  • Deliberate acts of data exfiltration for as yet unknown use cases that are not covered by policies.
  • Reporting is limited when seeking to understand the level of risk from phishing emails.

Microsoft 365 – CISO Security Recommendations

To CISO’s responsible for the safe deployment and use of Microsoft 365, the Egress report offers a number of key recommendations, beginning with a question – how much do I understand? Framing this guidance is that any tool or service is more easily deployed when it is user-friendly and frictionless.

Understanding begins with CISO’s who must analyze the risks their organization faces in order to prioritize the right layers of security across people, technology, and processes. Further, they must understand the limits of Microsoft 365 and seek to avoid a cookie-cutter cyber approach. A comprehensive, holistic view of the risk is invaluable to identify the products that will complement and seamlessly integrate into your business environment to manage and reduce risks.

This approach must also extend to employees. To reduce human-activated risk, businesses need to reinforce widespread staff training and back it up with intelligent email security tools to catch moments when employees are prone to making mistakes.

According to the 2022 Egress report, Fighting Phishing: The IT Leader’s View, over the past 12 months, 85% of organizations were victims of phishing, 60% of organizations were hit by ransomware, and 40% of organizations had credentials stolen.

[1] Statista: Number of Office 365 company users worldwide as of June 2022, by leading country

For more information and interview requests, contact Jordan Brackenbury at PR@Egress.com

News, Security

Egress Mid-Year Threat Report Details Scams Affecting Cryptocurrency-based Ukraine Donations, Job Seekers, Electronic Voters, and More

LONDON, UK – 18th May 2022 – Egress, the leading provider of intelligent email security, today issued its mid-year 2022 threat report offering details of emerging vulnerabilities along with insights, from the Egress threat intelligence team, about protecting employees, customers, and businesses from these specific cyberattacks.

The full report, available here: http://www.egress.com/resources/cybersecurity-information/threat-report-launch, provides comprehensive details about threats associated with scam cryptocurrency donations to war-torn Ukraine, email phishing attacks using LinkedIn to target jobseekers, a rise in sextortion phishing emails and zero-day exploits circulating on the dark web, targeting electronic voters as well as Facebook and Gmail users.

Scams Exploit Cryptocurrency-Based Ukraine Donations

Egress analysts have observed a surge in phishing attacks exploiting the war in Ukraine. Targeting individuals and organisations across the U.S. and the U.K., the emails impersonate display names and email addresses of well-known Ukrainian bodies. Examples include emails impersonating the Ukrainian Government asking for cryptocurrency donations to assist their war effort. Egress has located other emails impersonating the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, the Aid for Ukraine charity, The United Nations, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“To succeed, these attacks must bypass email defences and get a person to act, which relies on engendering emotional reactions to the needs of refugees and children,” explained Jack Chapman, Vice President of Threat Intelligence at Egress. “If you choose to donate cryptocurrency to a cause, use a reputable source to verify its authenticity and only use publicly available cryptocurrency addresses.”

LinkedIn Impersonation Targets Jobseekers

This email attack targets individuals and organisations in the U.S. and the U.K. using spoofed LinkedIn branding. It encourages targets to click on phishing links and enter credentials onto fraudulent websites, which are scraped when the victim believes they are logging in. Once the scam is completed, the victim is redirected to the real LinkedIn site, so they have no idea their credentials have been stolen and do not take remedial action such as changing their password.

“Current employment trends such as The Great Resignation help to make this attack more convincing by flattering jobseekers into believing their profile is being viewed and expertise is needed,” said Chapman. “We advise organisations to examine their current anti-phishing security stack to ensure they have intelligent controls that engage and warn the user of the threat. Meanwhile, individuals should take extreme caution when reading notification emails that request them to click on a hyperlink, particularly on mobile devices.”

Sextortion Phishing on the Rise

Egress researchers observed a 334% increase in sextortion attacks since March 2022. In these cases, sextortion-oriented phishing emails are targeting individuals and organisations across the U.S. and the U.K. through a variety of subject lines coercing victims to panic and click through for more information. Emails use emotive, threatening language to socially engineer their victim to extort payment. For example, one email states “I don’t think this kind of content would be very good for your reputation”. The attacks follow a similar format by stating the problem, threat, ‘solution’, the deadline to comply, and futility of reporting the incident.

“Phishing attacks like these try to use our own psychology – especially shame, panic, and fear – against us,” explained Chapman. “By providing a specific deadline, cybercriminals apply pressure on victims to comply quickly. Related to these scams our advice is simple – don’t pay the ransom.”

New Threats Target Electronic Voters, Facebook, and Gmail Users

This threat is targeting electronic voters as well as Facebook and Gmail users through zero-day exploits posted to Empire Market, a DarkWeb marketplace where exploits, phishing tools, and templates are available to purchase. Egress analysts found an electronic voting exploit for sale, which allows malicious software to be loaded onto voting machines. Another offers a way to take over a Facebook account through a password reset vulnerability to harvest victim information and make further phishing attacks more believable. A third exploit targets Gmail accounts remotely via a code injection allowing attackers to access accounts, regardless of two-factor authentication.

“New zero-day exploits are being discovered all the time,” added Chapman. “Social media accounts contain a host of information about people, such as date of birth, geographic locations, mother’s surname, and more. Our advice is to stay on top of the latest threats by keeping up with advice from your threat intelligence network.”

News, Security

3 in 5 Organizations Experienced Accidental Data Loss Over Email in the Past Year

New report from Tessian and the Ponemon Institute reveals that email has become the riskiest channel for data security in today’s organizations

SAN FRANCISCO – May 18, 2022 – New research from email security company Tessian and the Ponemon Institute reveals that nearly 60% of organizations experienced data loss or exfiltration caused by an employee mistake on email in the last 12 months. Email was revealed as the riskiest channel for data loss in organizations, as stated by 65% of IT security practitioners. This was closely followed by cloud file-sharing services (62%) and instant messaging platforms (57%).

The Ponemon Institute surveyed 614 IT security practitioners to also reveal that:

  • Employee negligence, because of not following policies, is the leading cause of data loss incidents (40%)
  • Over a quarter (27%) of data loss incidents are caused by malicious insiders
  • It takes up to three days for security and risk management teams to detect and remediate a data loss and exfiltration incident caused by a malicious insider on email
  • Almost one in four (23%) organizations experience up to 30 security incidents involving employees’ use of email every month (for example, email was sent to an unintended recipient)

The most common types of confidential and sensitive information lost or intentionally stolen include: customer information (61%); intellectual property (56%); and consumer information (47%). User-created data (sensitive email content, text files, M&A documents), regulated data (credit card data, Social Security numbers, national ID numbers, employee data), and intellectual property were identified as the three types of data that are most difficult to protect from data loss.

The top two consequences for data loss incidents were revealed as non-compliance with data protection regulations (57%) and damage to an organization’s reputation (52%). Furthermore, a previous study from Tessian found that almost one-third (29%) of businesses lost a client or customer because of an employee sending an email to the wrong person.

Lack of visibility creates data loss challenges

Organizations cannot protect what they can’t see. A lack of visibility of sensitive data that employees transferred from the network to personal email was cited as the most common barrier (54%) to preventing data loss. Further, over half of respondents (52%) report being unable to identify legitimate data loss incidents and standard employee data handling behaviors.

As a result, it takes security teams 72 hours, on average, to detect and remediate a data loss and exfiltration incident caused by a malicious insider on email, and almost 48 hours to detect and remediate an incident caused by a negligent employee.

Greater education required for employees

The majority of organizations (73%) are concerned that employees do not understand the sensitivity or confidentiality of data they share through email. In addition, marketing and public relations departments are most likely to put data at risk when using email (61%), closely followed by production/manufacturing (58%) and operations (57%).

Despite these risks, organizations do not have adequate training in place. While 61% have security awareness training, only about half of IT security leaders say their programs properly address the sensitivity and confidentiality of the data that employees can access on email.

“This study showcases the severity of data loss on email and the implications it has for modern enterprises,” said Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of Ponemon Institute. “Our findings prove the lack of visibility organizations have into sensitive data, how risky employee behavior can be on email and why enterprises should view data loss prevention as a top business priority.”

Tessian Chief Information Security Officer Josh Yavor said, “Most security awareness training programs focus on inbound threats, yet fail to adequately address the handling of sensitive data internally. But data loss – whether accidental or intentional – is a major threat and should be treated as a top priority.

“To create awareness and mitigate data loss incidents, organizations need to be proactive in delivering effective data loss prevention training while also gaining greater visibility into how employees handle company data. Security awareness training that directly addresses common types of data loss – including what’s okay to share with personal accounts and what’s not okay to take with you when you leave a company – and a culture that builds trust and confidence among employees will improve security behaviors and limit the amount of data that flows out of the organization.”

News, Security

Egress Protect recognized by Expert Insights for industry-leading email encryption

Expert Insights names Egress Protect the ‘top email encryption solution for Office 365’.

London – 5th April 2022 – Egress Protect has been selected for the Expert Insights’ Best-Of Award for Encryption for the second year running. The leading provider of intelligent email security, Egress was recognised for its enterprise-grade encryption and seamless integration with Microsoft 365.

By being selected for this award, Egress Protect is championed for its use of secure, certified encryption to guard against data breaches. Used by major banks, leading law firms, global healthcare providers and governments, Egress Protect integrates seamlessly with Microsoft 365 to offer frictionless email encryption for both sender and recipient. Protect provides automatic encryption and user prompts for zero-user interaction in partnership with Egress Prevent. It also offers the option to empower users to initiate end-to-end encryption, using a low-friction Outlook add-in. Protect forms part of the Intelligent Email Security suite, reducing human activated risks caused by human error, malicious insiders, and inbound phishing attacks.

Best-Of award winners are chosen by Expert Insights’ editors, based on extensive research into each solution’s merits as a solution provider, customer reviews, and how they compare to their competitors. All recipients of these awards were specifically selected for their impressive features, strong capabilities, and positive user experiences. Expert Insights also takes into consideration pricing, target markets and the deployment process when selecting the top vendors.

“In today’s heightened threat environment, email encryption is a vital element of every organisation’s security stack,” explains Egress CEO Tony Pepper. “By making encryption easy for both senders and recipients, Protect provides that level of security organisations need to keep digital communications safe. We’re proud that Egress Protect has been recognised by Expert Insights for offering the highest level of protection.”

Learn more about Expert Insights’ Best-Of Awards here: https://expertinsights.com/insights/the-top-email-encryption-platforms/

For further information, please contact Jordan Brackenbury at PR@Egress.com

News

eM Client announces general release of Version 9

eM Client, a fully-featured email client for Windows and macOS with a clean and easy-to-use interface, has announced a launch of version 9 of the software. eM Client is a best-in-class solution for anyone seeking a modern and feature-rich email assistant. What sets it apart from other applications is the focus on compatibility and security while giving users vast customisation options.

Various enhancements have been made for both enterprise and home users. With eM Client 9.0, macOS users will benefit from native support for Apple M1 processors, which will boost the responsiveness and efficiency of eM Client to a new level. The integration with both Gmail and Exchange/Office 365 is now even more insightful. Rules, Signatures and Tags (Labels on Gmail and Categories on Exchange) created in eM Client are now fully synchronised with the server.

eM Client 9.0 features a range of new functions including:

  • Email tracking detection – New, unique engine protects users’ privacy by detecting and blocking annoying tracking pixels that are nowadays embedded into many emails to detect email opening.
  • Undo Send – Take further control over your outgoing messages, this function lets you cancel any message that you might have sent accidentally
  • Thread View – Quick access to any message within a conversation is an alternative to conversation view seen in previous versions
  • Notes for emails – Superbly useful function, especially for corporate use. You can now add a note to any of your emails without changing its structure.
  • Modern message list – The message list now includes avatars and message preview for even more effective work with emails. There are a lot of other improvements such as quick RSVP for meeting invitations.
  • Additional online meeting providers – WebEx by Cisco, GoToMeeting, IceWarp and Meetn have been integrated as provider options for online meetings. Easily manage or plan online meetings or start one instantly from inside eM Client directly.
  • Tasks – A brand new design of the whole task view, inspired by the “Get Things Done” methodology.

“The list of new functions is endless, but even that does not show the work and dedication that has been put into this new release. eM Client has matured and even though most of the work is not visible at first glance, the subtle changes can be seen almost everywhere. People familiar with the software will feel right at home and yet there are a lot of new options to explore. We aim to provide quality software that will not only make your life easier but also increase your productivity.” said Michal Bürger, CEO of eM Client.

Price and availability

eM Client 9.0 is available now with a Pro license costing £44.95, with a significant drop of price per device in case of multi-licenses for companies. You can also opt for a Free version with limited functionality. eM Client also offers a 30-day trial to test the application for free. The full information about the new release can be accessed here.

About eM Client

Founded in 2006, eM Client’s goal is to develop a complex email program with a modern and simple interface that is also full of different features like calendar, contacts, notes and chat packed in one, easy to use application. The desktop version supports all major email providers and more than 1.5 million worldwide, with many notable customers such as McDonald’s, Avis or DPD, relying on eM Client to manage their email.

News

Check Point Software Technologies Acquires Avanan, the fastest growing cloud email and collaboration security company, to redefine security for cloud email

With email threat landscape becoming wider every year, the integrated Check Point Software and Avanan offering will deliver best-of-breed cloud e-mail malware protection and expand security to SaaS collaboration suites

Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP), a leading provider of cyber security solutions to corporate enterprises and governments globally, today announced the acquisition of Avanan, the fastest growing cloud email security company. Avanan technology provides the highest level of security for emails and SaaS collaboration suites. Avanan will integrate into the Check Point Infinity consolidated architecture to deliver the world’s most secure email security offering. Utilizing patented technology designed and built for cloud email environments, this will be the only unified solution in the market to protect remote workforce from malicious files, URLs and Phishing across email, collaboration suites, web, network, and endpoint.

Email technologies have evolved and transitioned from on premise solutions to the cloud. With 95% of cyber-attacks targeting enterprise networks are caused by successful spear phishing, the cloud email threat landscape has never been wider. The amount of phishing attacks doubled in 2020, with every Microsoft Office 365 user in the world attacked at least once.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the move to remote work continue to fuel the adoption of cloud office systems and the use of other collaboration suites beyond email (e.g. Teams, Slack, OneDrive), expanding users’ exposure to cyber-attacks even more. This expanded threat landscape requires a new approach to email security since conventional solutions built for on-premises email have failed to adapt for the cloud. Legacy email solutions (SEG) impair native security tools, are blind to cloud threats, and cannot protect collaboration suites.

Avanan, founded in 2015, is the world’s fastest growing cloud-email security vendor. The company developed a patented application-programming interface (API) solution to stop email threats before arriving to the inbox (inline), for both internal and external emails using AI based engines. With over 100 employees, it protects more than 5000 customers and over 2.5 million inboxes. The solution deploys in minutes like an app and is configured in a few clicks.

“More and more businesses are moving to cloud-email platforms and with email becoming a major channel to launch devastating cyber-attacks, this acquisition represents a huge potential as organizations are looking for a new approach to email and collaboration suite security,” said Dr. Dorit Dor, Check Point’s Chief Product Officer. “By integrating Avanan into Check Point Infinity, organizations will be able to modernize legacy solutions with email security as-a-service and protect cloud email and collaboration suites from the most sophisticated attacks.  We’ve been using the Avanan technology as an OEM for the last 3 years and I am confident that with this new addition, customers will enjoy the best email security with the best cyber security capabilities.”

“Avanan’s journey to reinvent email security is starting a whole new chapter. By merging with Check Point Software, we are combining Avanan’s best in class A.I. that catches the sophisticated email-borne attacks everyone else misses, with Check Point Software’s unparalleled security capabilities and threat intelligence,” says Gil Friedrich, CEO and co-founder of Avanan. “With Check Point Software’s global organization, we plan to bring our joint solution to all organizations, of all sizes and geographies, to anyone that needs better security for their email and collaboration suite”.

Check Point Software entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Avanan and the transaction is expected to close imminently.

Check Point Infinity is the industry’s first consolidated security architecture, providing the highest level of threat prevention against both known and unknown cyber-threats. The integration of Avanan technology into the Check Point Infinity architecture is set-to deliver the highest level of security to remote workforces worldwide, providing the only unified solution that will protect from malicious files, URLs and phishing across email, collaborations apps, web, network, and endpoint. The unified solution will allow organizations to:

  • Modernize legacy solutions (SEG) with email security as a service and protect cloud email in less than 5 minutes.
  • Stop 30% more infected emails than any conventional email security solution with best of breed malware protection and no impact in productivity: preventing phishing attacks and malicious files from landing in the inbox, eliminate hazardous clicks on emails with click time URL protection and prevent attack expansion before any damage is evident with automatic post attack remediation.
  • Protect email data loss (internal and external) with the most secure and flexible solution: security admins have multiple response actions to protect data before it leaves the organization.
  • Protect SAAS collaboration suites such as OneDrive, Google Drive, Teams, Share Point, Slack, Box and more, from Malicious URLs, infected files, and data loss prevention (DLP).

 

About Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (www.checkpoint.com) is a leading provider of cyber security solutions to corporate enterprises and governments globally.  Check Point Infinity´s portfolio of solutions protects enterprises and public organizations from 5th generation cyber-attacks with an industry leading catch rate of malware, ransomware and other threats. Infinity comprises three core pillars delivering uncompromised security and generation V threat prevention across enterprise environments: Check Point Harmony, for remote users; Check Point CloudGuard, to automatically secure clouds; and Check Point Quantum, to protect network perimeters and datacenters, all controlled by the industry’s most comprehensive, intuitive unified security management. Check Point protects over 100,000 organizations of all sizes.

 

About Avanan

Avanan has defined the cutting edge of email security with its patented inline protection and innovative machine learning since its founding in 2015. Avanan is committed to continuous innovation and to define the future of email and collaboration security. Over 5,000 customers use Avanan technology. Industry reviews like Gartner, position Avanan a leader in email security.

News

Exclaimer is proud to announce the launch of a new product: Exclaimer Cloud – Mail Archiver

Exclaimer, provider of world-class email signature management solutions, has launched Exclaimer Cloud – Mail Archiver, which is to be added to the company’s portfolio of solutions.

By 2023, the number of active email users is expected to reach nearly 5 billion, with 347 billion emails being sent daily. The role of email remains critical and has grown in importance since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has required most businesses to adopt remote working practices.

Email data needs to be preserved, protected, and easy to search in order for companies to be able to respond quickly and accurately to legal disputes and investigations. Exclaimer Cloud – Mail Archiver is a new corporate email archiving solution for Cloud customers, enabling highly efficient email archiving for Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) and Google Workspace (formerly G Suite).

Benefits of Exclaimer Cloud – Mail Archiver include:

• Fast and Efficient E-discovery
Exclaimer Cloud – Mail Archiver has a rapid e-Discovery search capability across both email and attachments, meaning time is not lost looking for correspondence or by reducing staff productivity. It is essentially a ‘black-box flight recorder’ for email.

This is particularly important when electronic data (including email) needs to be sought, located, secured, and searched with the intent of using it as evidence in a civil or criminal legal case or for audits, internal investigations or regulatory compliance. Exclaimer Cloud – Mail Archiver ensures that only certain users can search their colleagues’ email, for instance as part of an eDiscovery process, and having done, so an audit report of their activity is shared ensuring full transparency and accountability.

• Keeping email information secure
Research shows 32 percent of organizations have no policies in place to prevent employees from deleting important content and 74 percent of organizations have been asked to produce employee email as part of legal action.
With Exclaimer Cloud – Mail Archiver, historical email data can be thoroughly secured and locked away for when it might be needed again. It maintains a tamper-evident audit trail that is admissible as evidence in court and means companies will be able to respond quickly to legal disputes and investigations.

• Meeting compliance needs
The back-up functions in many mainstream email platforms are not reliable archiving tools. Exclaimer Cloud – Mail Archiver supports increasing regulatory compliance that requires business email data to be retained.

Speaking about its latest product offering, Ben Manning, Head of Product Management at Exclaimer said:

“We are pleased to announce the launch of our distinctive email archiving solution Exclaimer Cloud – Mail Archiver. It’s a unique proposition, which not only provides staff with quick access to all historical email data, but also protects and preserves important business information. Our latest offering capitalizes on Exclaimer’s enviable reputation for value, excellent service, and world-class support.”

Marketing, PR and SEO

Marketers and consumers agree on email’s importance across the customer lifecycle

According to the latest insights from the Data & Marketing Association (DMA), most marketers believe ‘Discounts and offers’ (49%) and ‘Advice, information or tutorials’ (45%) are the types of email content that help achieve their campaign goals.

The figures come from the ‘Marketer Email Tracker 2020’, part of the DMA’s annual series of studies into the channel, in partnership with Pure360. They reveal email’s multi-faceted role in communicating with consumers across all stages of the customer lifecycle – not just as a transactional channel, but one that can be used to inform and build long-lasting relationships.

“The importance of email to a business cannot be understated. It remains the primary channel that both marketers and consumers prefer across all stages of the customer lifecycle. It’s able to assist brands to enhance customer experience across each stage of this journey like no other channel”, said Tim Bond, Head of Insight at the DMA.

“During these challenging times for many people, we are seeing email used as a key medium for organisations to communicate with their customers. Brands are using email as the primary way to provide customers with advice, reassurance and updates.”

Comparing consumer preferences with what marketers believe is the most effective email content reveals both influence and opportunity. Emails influence as a means to share engaging content and the latest information with customers is clear, moving it far beyond simply a channel to share ‘Discounts and offers’. However, there remain potentially missed opportunities for brands in ‘Email receipts’ and ‘Access to other benefits’, with both having a significant disparity between consumers liking this information in emails and marketers seeing them as effective.

What types of email message/content helps you to achieve this email campaign objective? (Select all) & [Consumer] How much do you like or dislike the following in emails you receive brands? [Sorted by difference]

Email’s role across the customer journey

This year’s figures also reveal that email continues to lead all other channels for most marketers, across the contexts and touchpoints that the DMA queried. Although, notably, social media is being increasingly used to inform customers of for ‘New products or services’ (61%), ‘Discounts, offers or sales’ (54%), and ‘Advice, information or tutorials’ (52%).

Meanwhile, phone calls are still seen as useful for ‘Customer Service’ (53%) and online ads offer opportunities when it comes to ‘New products or services’ (40%), and ‘Discounts, offers or sales’ (38%).

Mark Ash, CEO at Pure360, added:

“Email continues to evolve to meet the challenge of an integrated digital world by providing a more diverse range of messages than ever before and delivers impact across every stage of the customer lifecycle. With customer experience now being the driving force behind marketing effectiveness, email marketers need to focus their energies on understanding how we can properly maximise its effectiveness in the right way to add value to the customer experience.”

Which of these does your organisation use for the following types of content/message when contacting customers? (Select all)


To read more about the DMA’s new research, visit the DMA website: https://dma.org.uk/research/marketer-email-tracker-2020

Marketing, PR and SEO

Twice as many consumers prefer email over any other marketing channel

Email is still the most popular marketing channel, according to consumers surveyed in the ‘Consumer Email Tracker 2020’ report released today.

The research, conducted by the DMA and supported by Pure360, delves into consumers’ perceptions, preferences and dislikes when it comes to email. The survey asked over 2,000 consumers their opinion about the email addresses they have, how they use them and the emails they receive from brands.

The data reveals that email remains the best channel across a range of contexts and the number of people that prefer email is almost twice as much as any other channel: 46% stated this compared to 26% for post, and 24% for either text or face-to-face.

In late 2019, consumers estimated the number of emails they receive, on average, as 54.9 per week to their personal inboxes, down from 73.3 in 2017. Around half of respondents (56%) also believe more than half of these emails are marketing messages from brands.

However, despite the importance and preference for the channel, just 13% of people said that over half the emails they receive are useful to them. The most cited reason for unsubscribing from a brand also remains receiving too many emails (57%).

“It’s clear from our findings that email remains at the heart of brands’ ability to communicate with customers, but they also highlight key areas where marketers can improve, such as relevancy and frequency of contact,” said Tim Bond, Head of Insight at the DMA.

“Whether they’re considering a purchase, have just made one or need some help, our latest findings showcase email’s ability to help brands engage across the customer journey.”

Komal Helyer, VP of Marketing, Pure360, said:

“What’s clear is that email marketing remains core to the multi-channel experiences available to brands. These latest figures highlight how consumers believe email to be the best channel in a range of different contexts, and as a marketing communications channel, it continues to provide brands with a unique opportunity to create valuable and meaningful experiences for consumers.”

What do consumers want from brand emails?

Content-wise customers like a clear transactional link behind the marketing emails they receive, such as discounts or offers (65%), email receipts (59%) and advanced notice of new products/services or sales (43%). In other words, customers are looking for practical content that’s able to facilitate their interaction with brands.

The main reasons given for signing up to receive emails from a brand echo this, with ‘Discounts & offers’ (48%) coming top. However, loyalty also clearly plays a role, as simply being a regular customer already (43%), being sent email receipts (40%), or joining some form of loyalty programme (40%) are also key drivers.

Helyer concludes:

“Offering recipients more control on top of balancing frequency and relevance could be a trend we see growing over the next few years, further cementing email’s position as a powerful communication channel that has a variety of applications when it comes to customer engagement.”

To read more about the DMA and Pure360’s research, including the full ‘Consumer Email Tracker 2020’ report, visit: https://dma.org.uk/research/consumer-email-tracker-2020