Best And Worst Of Email Interaction Design, 2009

Forrester applied its Email Interaction Review to the email interactions of 16 firms: four each of the largest auto insurers, discount retailers, footwear manufacturers, and online travel agencies. Only one of the 15 companies that actually responded to our emails passed the evaluation: Nike. As a group, footwear manufacturers outperformed other industries, while discount retailers fell to the bottom of the list. We also found a number of best practices, such as Orbitz's in-context link to the privacy policy, Target's proactive explanation of potentially confusing terms, and Expedia's clear instructions for how to respond. To improve email interactions, firms should evaluate their own email experiences.