com, see
more than 275 million unique visitors a year from around the world.com

Reputation and Trust Drives Response: By a factor of 1.

icons clip

Thanks to new content, new sites, and the recent holiday season, the AG
subscriber base has increased more than 300,000 over the past six months. To create its premier content, the company leverages one of the
world 's largest creative studios and digital library of award-winning
expressive content as well as an extensive international distribution
capability.6 percent) consumer surveyed felt they received an
increase in email volume this holiday season, with nearly one third
(31.

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It also allows you to put sticky notes
on your desktop to be sure to remember everything from an important conference
call to picking up milk before heading home. Retailers who benefited most were those recognized and
trusted by consumers, suggesting a need to build a solid email
reputation and relationship well before the holiday season begins. SurveyDirect is a division of email performance company
Return Path, Inc.

Sites listed in this category provide free graphics including images, backgrounds, borders, bars, icons , and screensavers for holidays.

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The company has one of the largest online
subscription services with over 2.

Return Path Holiday Email Consumer Survey Results: Holiday Email Works Well But Over Mailing + Unclear Permission Practices Put Some Retailers at Risk

"The great news is that consumers still love email and really want
to hear from retailers and other companies they do business with,"
Miller says. Solutions include list maintenance,
deliverability, data acquisition, online sampling, marketing
technology and e-mail strategy. For more information,
please visit info@returnpath.

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The
next highest contributing factors were attention-grabbing subject
lines (41.

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com offers printable content from
Create+Print including greeting cards, decorations for holidays such as
banners and centerpieces , and fun "any-time" projects like iron-on transfers,
business cards, calendars, candy bar wrappers and wine tags."
Most consumers (60.
Mixed Reviews on Additional Holiday Emails: 18.9 percent of
respondents reported they welcomed the extra mail and were glad to
have heard about all the holiday special deals.

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"
In addition to eCards, AmericanGreetings. American
Greetings Corporation is the creator and owner of many celebrated character
properties, including Strawberry Shortcake (R), Care Bears(R), Holly Hobbie(R),
Bubblegum(R) and Twisted Whiskers(R).
The survey, conducted by email performance company Return Path
using the "Double Opt-In" SurveyDirect panel, aimed to understand
consumer perceptions and reactions to the use of email by retailers
during the holiday season .
"However, email overload is a real burden for many consumers, and may
significantly dilute response . "We always recommend
that marketers develop a content strategy that balances promotional
emails with information of interest to your subscribers, in order to
become a trusted and welcome sender of email. Nearly half (49.S. consumers, ages 18-54.

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com as well as through Instant Messaging or online partnerships
with AOL, MSN, and Yahoo!., and
Warner Bros.
"Since email works so well as a sales -driving tool, it's tempting
to believe that more email will automatically drive more sales during
the holiday season," says Return Path Chairman and CEO Matt Blumberg."

Key Findings:

Readers may download the full Analysis Report at
http://www.1 percent unsubscribed to emails that came too often and
23. "Especially around the holidays with all the
additional clutter, some retailers may be better served by sending
fewer emails, but making each more targeted and relevant.

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"Deliverability and response are closely tied to frequency, with
the majority of respondents reporting they simply ignored the extra
emails," says Stephanie Miller, Vice President of Strategic Services
for Return Path.1
percent) of consumers said they were indifferent to the excess email,
claiming no impact on their email habits (they just deleted more
email).

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com, and HatterChatter.
"Our teams of creative artists, writers and developers bring the most
compelling and popular greetings to the web , and reaching this 2.biz

Consumers Take Action Against Too Much Mail

Extra Holiday Email Gets Varied Reviews

Consumers Report Value in Most Messages Received

Brand and Prior Relationship are Key Drivers of Holiday Time
Response

Sending Volumes Generally As Expected

Select Findings Detail and Analysis:

Email Increased Over Holidays: According to the survey results,
nearly every (98. "But the bottom line is that consumers define as 'spam'
anything that they don't find interesting.net, or call
toll-free 866-362-4577.

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However, more than half reported taking some
action - 27. More than 1,500 companies use Return
Path's services to generate superior results from their e-mail
programs, taking advantage of Return Path's pioneering innovation in
deliverability , ECOA, list hygiene, double-opt-in list acquisition and
best practices strategy.

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AGI reaches
over 200 million subscribers per month globally through major wireless
carriers including Bouygues, Cingular , KPN Mobile, Mobistar, Proximus, and
Verizon Wireless. By employing
intelligent segmentation, you may end up sending more messages
overall, but targeting each to smaller lists.

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The growing demand for both online and print greetings illustrates that
people are still interested in telling their loved ones that they care, and
that more and more people tend to supplement their print cards with a growing
number of e-cards.aginteractive.1 percent) feeling the increase was just more spam and not emails
they were interested in. The survey includes responses from
723 U.

Return Path is an e-mail performance management company dedicated
to improving the reach, delivery performance and overall success of
permission-based e-mail programs. The company's
investors include Sutter Hill Ventures, Mobius Venture Capital,
Flatiron Partners, and JP Morgan Partners.

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com, Egreetings .
AGI attracts more than 30 million unique visitors per month in 18
countries to its popular websites AmericanGreetings.5 million paying subscribers.

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com, BlueMountain.9 percent) said that receiving excess
holiday emails makes them wary of signing up for permission programs.

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5 million
membership mark illustrates that people find our content very valuable," said
Sally Babcock, senior vice president , AG Interactive. "We have seen some
great traffic numbers recently, and with the slew of innovative greetings we
have planned for 2006, we look forward to breaking more records.

About Survey Direct

Online sampling pioneer SurveyDirect serves the global market
research community with a highly responsive, diverse and fast-growing
Double Opt-In panel of more than 2. To become a member of the SurveyDirect Panel and be
invited to future online surveys, visit www.

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A subscription
also offers unlimited downloads of the latest screensavers and wallpapers.
AG Interactive is a subsidiary of American Greetings Corporation
(NYSE: AM), one of the world's leading manufacturers of social expression
products generating annual net sales of approximately $2 billion.

Business Editors /Marketing Writers

DENVER----Despite email inbox
overflow this past holiday season, nearly 75 percent of respondents to
a late December survey reported that email influenced their purchase
decisions.returnpath.
"Success at the holidays is inextricably linked to the success of
your email program all year long," Miller says. So even permission-based
marketers with an opt-in list can appear spammy if they do not send
relevant and enticing messages.

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With the remote printing option , users can
pick the perfect card, add a personal message and photo, and have AG
Interactive take care of everything else, including buying the stamp and
licking the envelope.5 over any
other selection, nearly two thirds (59.

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AG Interactive Subscriber Base Tops 2.5 Million

Almost one tenth (9."
Retailers who increase the frequency of emails without increasing
the value to the subscriber were not likely to see increases in open
or click-through rates this season, Miller says.

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Recently added to the sites is the Interactive Calendar that automatically
sends pop-up reminders to your desktop complete with eCard suggestions for
every important day in your calendar.
AGI also maintains significant global content partnerships with Def Jam
Enterprises, Nickelodeon, Sports Illustrated , Univision Online, Inc.1 percent) and prior relationship with the sender (33."

Survey Methodology

The Holiday Email Survey was conducted on December 28, 2004 using
the SurveyDirect consumer panel.

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About Return Path, Inc. Return Path Delivery Assurance
Solutions are the industry's original and premier e-mail
deliverability tools and services, and remain the only full-circle
solution for solving e-mail deliverability issues.

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com,
BlueMountain.8 percent) reported the
excess as "overwhelming.1 percent) said they just deleted the
additional emails unread.4 percent hit their ISP "this is spam" button.

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Subscription Base Reaches New Milestone, Bolstered by Unique Content and
Record-Breaking Holiday Traffic

CLEVELAND, AG Interactive, the new media
subsidiary of American Greetings, announced today that their online
subscription base has grown to two and a half million subscribers worldwide.
Visitors can also choose to have American Greetings "Sign, Seal, and
Deliver" their cards for them.2 percent) of respondents said
the reason they opened and read particular messages this holiday
season was because it came from a company they know and trust. Yet, almost a third (29. The survey was written and analyzed by
Return Path Strategic Services and aimed to understand consumer
perceptions and reactions to the use of email by retailers during the
2004 holiday season (defined as the period between Halloween and
Christmas).5 million consumers and business
professionals.

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com, BloomByAG.com, and
Egreetings.
"In fact, 10 percent of respondents said that the fact that they
don't get too much mail from a company encourages them to open the
message," Miller said.6
percent).

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The AG Interactive sites, which include AmericanGreetings .

About AG Interactive
AG Interactive (AGI) is a global leader in licensing and creating original
self and social expression products for online, instant messaging and mobile
platforms . Online. For more information, please visit
http://www.surveydirect.com