Michael's ReCollections Retail Stores Score 59% Open Rate, Boosted Customer Traffic with EMAPCT Automated Email

Santa Ana, CA – The first e-marketing automation campaign for Michael's Stores, Inc.'s Recollections scrapbook shops produced a 59% open rate and a less than 1% opt out rate using mUrgent Corporation's (http://www.murgent.com) EMPACT e-marketing software, according to Michael's Senior Manager of Internet Services, Jeff Hanson. Recollections is one of four art and craft retailers operating under Michael's Inc., including 805 Michael's stores and 158 Aaron Bros. art shops.

The email campaign was distributed during Thanksgiving and Christmas of 2003 with promotions to a permission-based list through EMPACT. Recollections plans to run 15 to 20 mUrgent campaigns in 2004.

"We needed an email marketing package that was easy to use and did not demand a great deal of maintenance. EMPACT's feature richness made it simple to upload the content, manage our distribution lists and schedule our campaign timing quickly,' said Hanson.

Recollections wanted to customize emails to cater to a large audience of scrap-bookers searching the internet for products. Hanson reported that many of the recipients forwarded their emails to friends, which resulted in an increase in store traffic in the 5 days after the campaign.

"The success of the Recollections campaigns proves the viability of our software for the enterprise market, which includes companies with more than 1,000 employees. We originally designed EMPACT to serve small to medium-sized businesses, and have upgraded constantly with higher list capacity and campaign distribution scheduling options,' says mUrgent Corporation CEO and president, Boris Bugarski.

EMPACT software makes customer relationship management (CRM) effective and affordable for small-to-medium sized businesses. "We are not surprised at how many smaller companies are unaware of e-marketing advantages, but we're confident they will adopt this new technique when they understand how much more efficient it can be than more traditional forms of marketing like direct mail. And we have incorporated personalized SMS as well,' says mUrgent CEO, Boris Bugarski.

ABOUT mUrgent

mUrgent, an e-marketing authority, delivers EMPACT, a proven, easy-to-use e-marketing solution businesses can rely on to automate more frequent, personalized communication to your customers for a higher return on your marketing investment. For more information visit http://www.murgent.com.

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