According to a poll conducted by Constant Contact (http://www.constantcontact.com) at last month's annual eBay Live event, more than 70 percent of retailers said that ongoing contact with customers is extremely important and 86 percent think more customer contact would increase sales. Constant Contact provides an email marketing service to small businesses.

Of the 210 retailers participating in the survey, 86 percent said they collect customer email addresses and, of those respondents, nearly 50 percent were communicating with customers only quarterly or less frequently. Of the people who said they do not currently collect customer email information, 76 percent said they would like to. Topping the list of how retailers would use opt-in customer email addresses included newsletters, updates on new items for sale, sending updates on sale items to customers based on previous purchases and answering customer inquiries.

"This survey reaffirms the value of customer relationships," said Richard Turcott, Chief Marketing Officer of Constant Contact. "Small to mid-sized businesses often face challenges reaching their customers who are spread across the globe. Using email newsletters and promotions makes it easy for them to keep in touch."