Email marketers are hungry, sometimes starving, for subscribers’ personal information. But the question must be asked: how much is too much on a demographic form? And how/when do you ask subscribers for more information in a way that they will actually respond positively?

I recently saw a great example from Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill showing how to request a boatload of subscriber information in a seemingly unobtrusive and gentle fashion. The key is to make your subscribers feel needed, appreciated, and welcomed when they read your emails and when they divulge their personal secrets. In the case of Rubio’s, they did not even have to give me a coupon or discount to encourage my participation. (I would note that offering a discount can be helpful in other situations, though.)

Rubio’s sent me an email asking me to join an exclusive panel where I could share my opinions and advise the restaurant on what they are doing right, what they are doing wrong, and what they need to be doing better. This in itself is a great idea and goes well beyond the typical subscriber survey.

Once I clicked through the email I was sent to a page where I updated my demographics, answered a bunch of questions, and joined the panel. The questions went well beyond the typical demographics such as date of birth, gender, and location. They also asked my marital status, eating habits, education level, how many kids I have, how large my bank account is, plus much more. In other words, they asked me enough questions to make the US Census jealous!

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Today’s consumers are more connected to their electronic devices and gadgets than ever before. To provide insight on the demographic traits and behavioral tendencies of the consumers that purchase electronics in America, Experian Simmons analyzed relevant information from its 2009 National Consumer Study and New Media Study. Key findings include:

• Seventy-one percent of new TV buyers in 2009 reported purchasing either an LCD or plasma TV, more than double the rate in 2006
• Nearly half of all TV buyers reported that the screen size of their most recent purchase was 40 inches or larger
• Between 2006 and 2009, ownership of VCRs among US households dropped 13% to 79%. Meanwhile, DVR ownership doubled
• The most popular mobile function today is taking pictures, which 70% of mobile phone owners do each month
• Video gaming among adults grew a relative 9% between 2007 and 2009, with half of almost all adults now saying they own or play games

Travel tends to peak during the holiday season and late winter months.  But given the state of our economy and financial changes that have occured over the last year, how have American’s travel habits shifted? A review from the Experian Simmons Summer 2009 and Summer 2008 full-year National Consumer Studies shows that domestic vacation travel is slightly down in comparison to years past. Key trends and statistics include:

• Over the past year, all modes of transportation, except for buses, have seen a decrease in the percentage of vacationing Americans using them for travel. This likely due to the fact that fewer Americans are vacationing away from home.

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With the winter holiday season heading our way, candy consumption will surely rise. Experian Simmons reviewed data from its Spring 2009 Kids Study: Full Year and its National Consumer Study to gain insight on Americans who are most likely to consume candy, as well as what types of candy they prefer. Key findings from the analysis include:

• Seventy-five percent of all U.S. Adults say they eat chocolate or hard candy.
• Ninety-six percent of American children ages 6 to 11 say they eat chocolate or hard candy with little difference across age groups. Older kids, though, indulge more frequently than their younger friends.
• Specifically, kids ages 10 and 11 are 16 percent more likely than the average kid to say that they eat 6 or more servings of candy per month. Young children ages 6 and 7 who are most reliant on their parents for their candy supply are the least likely to have 6 or more servings a month.

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The highly-anticipated 2009 NFL Season is now upon us. With free agency and today’s transient popluation, many fans show their allegiance to specific players rather than teams – and over the past years their loyalties have poured into their fantasy football leagues.

Experian Simmons reviewed data from its Spring 2009 National Consumer Study/National Hispanic Consumer Study to gain insight on Americans who play in fantasy sports leagues. For this report, this consumer is defined as being very or somewhat interested in the NFL and having participated in a sports fantasy league in the last 12 months. Certain trends were uncovered specific to this group, including:

• Fans that work full-time and are employed by others are the Americans most likely to have participated in a fantasy sports league during the last 12 months.
• Those who are most likely to have participated in a fantasy sports league are between the ages of 18 and 44; and close to a third of them are between 25 and 34 years old.
• They are most likely to have never been married.

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As any seasoned email marketer knows, there are almost an unlimited amount of ways to segment email marketing subscriber data. In the second installment of this three-part overview, Jordan Lane provides a summary of some common email segmentation sources, tips, and best practices.

Part II – Demographic segmentation

Gender, age, ethnicity, interests, education level, occupation, location, marital status, number of children, and income are all examples of demographic attributes that can be used to effectively segment your email subscribers. Depending on the nature of your business and industry, you can combine such attributes to create highly targeted audiences that really zero-in on your best customers. So why would you target females with your email marketing messages when your best customers are more specifically hispanic females aged 45-60 with a college degree and adult-aged children?

The reason why many fail to use sophisticated demographic segmentation is because they have difficulty gathering all the demographic information they desire from the initial registration page. As a general rule, the more information you require at sign-up, the likelier a prospect will abandon the registration process or provide false information.

To help email marketers gather the info they need for sophisticated demographic information, I’ve compiled a list of techniques to improve the data collection process:

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Looking at data provided by Experian Hitwise, we can confidently say that the email channel has lots of traction with some of the most sought-after consumers in the country.

If you follow media news, chances are you’ve heard the expression “coveted demographic” used to refer to a particular audience segment that most advertisers wish to target. Often times, TV networks, magazines, websites, and movie studios tout their “coveted demographics” to give the impression that advertisers are only an ad placement away from reaching the hearts (and wallets) of the free-spending masses.

But what about email? Does the email channel reach these “coveted demographics?” A quick look at the data indicates that yes, email is a popular choice among consumers with the most spending power.

Of the top four Mosaic lifestyle groups that use email the most, three of them are what you would describe as upper-middle to high-end American consumers. In other words, a large proportion of email users have discretionary income to spend on the products and services of their choosing.

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