27 million emails a year

Powell’s Books is boosting online sales with a new email campaign that delivers book recommendations based on customer’s favorite topics. Launched in February, Powell’s Subject Newsletter has already returned open rates of more than 70 percent by delivering subscribers monthly book recommendations in up to ten subject areas based on their identified subject interests. The company, which began its email marketing efforts in 1999, offers book aficionados a suite of seven email newsletters ranging from a book review a day to a listing of its recently arrived used books. Collectively, Powell’s sends more than 27 million emails every year to its growing subscriber list that now tops more than 500,000 book readers. (Sam Whitmore, Powell’s Books’ online marketing developer.)