Bigfoot Interactive Q4 2003 Benchmark Report Reveals Improved Delivery and Performance across Vertical Email Campaigns.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 9, 2004

Retail, Consumer Package Goods, Automotive and Financial Services Campaigns Continue To Improve Delivery Rates and Generate Increased Customer Interest

Bigfoot Interactive, the leading provider of strategic, ROI-focused email communications solutions and marketing automation technologies, today announced the release of its vertical benchmark analysis for email communication campaigns launched during the fourth quarter of 2003. Results across key verticals showed relevant and timely offers drive customer interest and response. Corresponding with the peak holiday shopping season, results for the retail and consumer packaged goods verticals generated their strongest click-through results for the year.

Nearly every vertical market saw delivery rates (emails successfully sent) increase or remain stable during the quarter as more marketers implemented real-time, automated opt-out and bounce/hygiene processing systems across campaigns due to delivery and CAN-SPAM compliance initiatives. The Media and Financial Services vertical markets led the way with overall delivery rates of 92% and 90% respectively. Delivery and delivery monitoring continues to be a top priority for marketers looking to leverage the efficiency and effectiveness of permission-based email in their communication efforts to grow customer relationships and marketing return on investment.

Quarter Over Quarter Performance Highlights Across Key Business Segments:

-- Retail - Unique click-through rates for promotional emails

reached a high for the year of 8.6%, representing a 4.9%

increase in performance over last quarter's unique click

through rate of 8.2%. The uptake was perpetuated by the

continued success of in-store coupon campaigns and holiday

promotional efforts. A recent Bigfoot Interactive and NOP 

World Research study on customer's perceptions of email

communications from retailers showed increasing consumer

demand for more targeted and contextually relevant

communications from their retailers.

-- Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) - Like the retail vertical, CPG

manufacturers benefited from the strong online holiday

shopping season, yielding a strong overall unique

click-through rate of 12.4% for the quarter. This represents a

record high result for the year and a gain of 2.2% over Q3

2003 results and a 22% increase in overall performance of CPG

email campaigns.

-- Automotive - Unique click-through rates for editorial email

campaigns reached 20.7%, an increase of 10.7% from the Q3 2003

unique click-through rate of 18.7%. The increase was primarily

driven by targeted, model specific "Owner News" email

newsletters, which saw unique click-through rates as high as

27%.

-- Media - Unique click-through rates for media editorial

campaigns increased from 10.3% to 13.1%, representing a

performance gain of 27% after the summer slowdown. General and

political news alerts generated consistently high

click-through rates throughout the quarter.

-- Financial Services - Overall unique click through rates 

remained strong overall at 10.2%, while delivery rates

increased to a record high of 90% due to the implementation of

more advanced and automated opt-out, hygiene and bounce

management systems for numerous triggered service messaging

programs. Service messaging continues to generate impressive

click-through rates averaging 17.6% for the quarter -up 10%

over the Q3 2003 result of 16%- due to increased interest in

service messaging from credit card holders during the holiday

shopping season.

"Long gone are the days of blasting email with irrelevant messages to everyone in your database. The results announced today validate the power of permission-based, contextually relevant email and the increasingly important role it plays in driving commerce, customer service and the overall relationship between marketers and their customers," said Al DiGuido, CEO of Bigfoot Interactive. "Perceptions of the inbox are changing and if a message isn't relevant, it's going to be considered spam."

Findings from the Q4 2003 trend analysis were aggregated from Bigfoot Interactive's automated email technology platform, DREAM(SM) (Direct Response Email Application Manager) and were based on all retention-based mailings from October 1 through December 31, 2003. Individual campaign results can dramatically vary based on audience, creative, subject line/offer and more.

About Bigfoot Interactive

Bigfoot Interactive (www.bigfootinteractive.com) is the leading provider of strategic, ROI-focused email communication solutions and marketing automation technologies. Through its combination of innovative technologies, professional services and vertical market expertise, Bigfoot Interactive helps marketers acquire, grow and retain profitable customer relationships through highly relevant and personalized email communications. The company's end-to-end suite of industry-specific products and services includes scalable email campaign technology, delivery optimization, marketing automation tools, turnkey integration solutions, strategic consulting, and creative expertise to produce email programs that generate measurable results throughout the customer lifecycle.

Since 1997, Bigfoot Interactive has developed successful permission-based email programs for more than 150 top companies, including American Honda Motor Co., The Washington Post. Newsweek Interactive, and MCI. Privately held and based in New York, the company's investors include JPMorgan Partners, Flatiron Partners, Hudson Ventures, Mitsui & Co., Grey Ventures, HPJ Media Ventures and Syndicat Technologies.

Bigfoot Interactive, DREAM, and the Bigfoot Interactive logo are trademarks, service marks or registered trademarks of Bigfoot Interactive in the United States and other countries.