Business Day
07/09/2006

AFTER years of overexuberant use of e-mail, smart companies are trying to refine its use by sending out less e-mail but making it a better quality~ Instead of buying massive databases of addresses and spamming the anonymous thousands on the list, the average bulk e-mail sent by a company now targets just 500 chosen users.

If the trend continues, eventually our in-boxes will no longer be clogged with mindless, irrelevant rubbish, and e-mail could again become the useful business and social tool it ought to be.

The first thing most employees do when they get to work is check their e-mail. It has become the dominant method of communication for businesses, but it has also become an intrusion because companies abuse it. That is beginning to change, says Cameron Hulett, the CEO of Rocketseed.

There is a big trend to send better e-mail, not more, he says. _{The average bulk mall is now 500, not thousands. People are not buying databases like they did two or thr~e years ago; they are sticking to their own databases. They are trying to maintain relationships and communicate with prospect}-rather than sell them anything. Rocketseed specialises in intelligent business e-mail, so all e-mail sent from a company carries corporate branding at the top and the necessary disclaimers at the bottom. It also embeds interactive links that can connect recipients to special offers, more information, or short corporate video clips. Clicking through to streaming video clips does not work well in SA yet, as the limited bandwidth makes even lowresolution videos jitter and stall.

The e-mail can also contain a link to a customer satisfaction survey. When that link comes In an e~mail generated because a customer has contacted a call centre or a website, the company can see how well its agents are performing or receive feedback on the quality of its website.

Rocketseed was founded in Cape Town by Hulett, who is now based in its UK office. lie finds that SA lags behind in its attitude to e-commerce, believing it purely refers to selling goods online.

European companies have a more holistic view of c-commerce, seeing it as an essential part of the marketing mix and the relationship with customers.
Although the return on investment is difficult to calculate, the amount that companies spend on electronic marketing initiatives is growing steadily. In 2004, the average company spent 3,8% of its marketing budget on ecommerce. That has risen to 11%, with Hulett predicting an increase in the coming year.

SIxteen percent of European businesses spend at least 20% of their marketing budget on electronic activities, he says.
The new trend is to send better e-mail, not more.