February 2005
Performance results recently released by leading database provider Thomson Directories show the telecommunications industry as the largest sector user of email marketing services in 2004.

More than half of the emails sent out by Thomson Directories 'email Marketing Solutions for Business' were commissioned by companies in the telecommunications sector, outstripping by 71% the number of emails sent out by Thomson Directories on behalf of financial companies – traditionally one of the prime sectors for direct marketing campaigns.

The same research from Thomson Directories also underlines the fact that companies opting for email marketing can look forward to a high level of potential sales leads as, on average, 45% of emails received are being opened and just 3% are bouncing back.

"This is an excellent response rate and one which is encouraging 75% of our customers to undertake follow up campaigns to capitalise on this sales potential", says Jane Byrne, Product Manager at Thomson Directories.

The Thomson Directories' B2B database of opt-in email addresses currently numbers a record 370,000, and now represents one of the largest database of its kind in the UK.

"Email details are notoriously hard to obtain and the rigorous process we have always adopted to ensure they are all opt-in addresses obviously lengthens the verification process”, says Byrne. “This does mean we can now offer the best selection of B2B email data currently available, and users will benefit from the increased flexibility of data and the potential it provides for more targeted prospecting”.

Delivery and tracking is fully managed from start to finish, and emails are sent no more frequently than once a week to an individual address. The service is conducted in-house with no email addresses given to third parties, so maintaining control of the data.

Email addresses are collected during the 10,000 verification calls made every day by Thomson to ensure the accuracy of its data. Opt-in is hugely important to the Thomson offering. Every call that is made from their outbound call centre adheres to a strict script that complies with the Data Protection Act and ensures that the email collection falls under the banner of ‘best practice'. Once the data has been collected an additional communication is emailed to confirm the information held and to give an opportunity to opt out, before being added to the email database. Thereafter with every email sent out there is the option to ‘opt out', thus maintaining the integrity and value of the data.

For further information please contact our press office.