Bigfoot Interactive's Q1 2005 Benchmark Results and Research Highlights Invalid Email Addresses As One of the Leading Causes of Bouncebacks
Frequent Changes of ISPs and Rapid Adoption of Broadband Will Continue to Impact Delivery for the Foreseeable Future
NEW YORK - June 27, 2005 - Bigfoot Interactive, the leading provider of strategic, ROI-focused email communications solutions and marketing automation technologies, today announced the release of its quarterly vertical benchmark analysis for email communications campaigns launched and delivered in Q1 2005. Again overall delivery rates - total emails attempted minus all failures - across all major vertical markets remained high. The highest performing categories included Media editorial efforts (97.6%) and service messaging from Financial Services companies (96.8%).

One of the leading causes of non-deliverables continues to be the number of invalid addresses or hard bounces across client lists. While committed to keeping email lists clean and updated, marketers are faced with the challenge of managing customers' tendencies to frequently switch ISPs and their email addresses. In a recent, Bigfoot Interactive/Roper ASW study, more than13% of all recipients with at least one email address indicated they have switched ISPs or mailbox providers in the past six months and 9% are considering switching in the next 6 months. Cost and the rapid adoption of broadband appear to be having a substantial consequence on consumer loyalty as it relates to their ISP/mailbox provider and email addresses. According to Leichtman Research group, top broadband providers added 8.6 million net new subscribers in 2004, making broadband one of the fastest adopted products or services of all time.

"High delivery rates are often touted with little understanding of the underlying specifics surrounding non-deliverables," said Al DiGuido, CEO, Bigfoot Interactive. "In today's environment, marketers must work closely with email service providers to better understand bounces and to implement the necessary strategies and tactics to limit their occurrence. In the case of invalid email addresses, marketers have and should continue to encourage consumers to update their email addresses and customer profiles through the development of ongoing education efforts on subscription pages, reminders on ongoing messaging efforts and one-click access to robust email preference centers."

Performance Highlights Across Key Business Segments:

Financial Services - Online account service messaging such as bill payment/presentment and balance transfers continue as primary drivers of high success rates. In fact, Service messaging represented the second highest delivery rate across tracked industries, 96.8%, and had an average click-through rate of 22.8% (up 3.1% versus Q1 04 and 9.2% from Q4 04). Multi-card offers and year-end statements round out the quarter's top campaigns.

Retail - For the third consecutive quarter, retail and catalog marketers saw overall delivery rates between 94% and 95%. Marketers' campaigns elicited strong consumer interest and response at the inbox, with automated, well-crafted, messaging spurring healthy, overall click through rates comparable to Q4 04 (4.5%).

Media - Editorial newsletters brought the highest delivery rates of 97.6% (an improvement from both last quarter and the same period last year) and strong click-through rates averaging 11.6%. The continued strong performance of these campaigns were influenced in most part through the use of relevant dynamic content within existing newsletter efforts.

Automotive - Auto marketers kept a focus on service, newsletters and new promotional product launches and are doing an increasingly better job at being relevant, as evidenced by a 21.2% spike in overall click-throughs versus same period last year.

Methodology, Transparency Remains Key in Reporting
Bigfoot Interactive's transparent delivery reporting includes total emails attempted minus all failures (hard and soft). Findings from the Q1 2005 trend analysis were aggregated from Bigfoot Interactive's automated email technology platform, DREAMSM (Direct Response Email Application Manager) and were based on all retention-based mailings from January 1, 2005 through March 31, 2005. Individual campaign results can dramatically vary based on audience, creative, subject line/offer and more.

For further information on the Q1 2005 benchmark data or for an executive summary of Bigfoot Interactive's perception study on consumer attitudes and behaviors, please contact Mary Beth Keelty at mkeelty@epsiloninteractive.com.

About Epsilon
Epsilon is a leading provider of multi-channel marketing services, technologies and database solutions. Through its combination of client-centric marketing solutions, Epsilon helps leading companies understand, measure, manage and optimize their customer relationships. The organization's end-to-end suite of integrated services includes marketing strategy, creative, data, technology, analytics and distribution services to produce multi-channel marketing programs that generate measurable results throughout the customer lifecycle.

In September 2005 Epsilon acquired Bigfoot Interactive (now Epsilon Interactive), the leading provider of strategic, ROI-focused email communications solutions and marketing automation technologies. Epsilon Interactive now serves as Epsilon's key offering in the interactive marketing and communications space. Founded in 1969 Epsilon is an Alliance Data company.

For more information see www.epsilon.com.

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