We are very pleased to bring you a synopsis of the Q3 2009 National Email Marketing Benchmarking report. This report seeks to help DMA members either involved in email marketing or interested in email marketing understand the national benchmarks that will help inform their marketing decisions.
The Q3 2009 National Email Marketing Benchmarking report contains data specifically related to July/August/September 2009. The survey is completed by UK ESPs who deliver the majority of the email messages to businesses and consumers in the UK. The data is collected via the DMA with the help of Business Board. The report covers 4 major email marketing areas:-
- Mailing Volumes
- Strategy
- Deliverability
- Metrics
1. Mailing Volumes
The Q2 2009 report showed that email marketing volumes were returning to normality with Q3 2009 data showing further increases. These changes are usually attributed to seasonality, however the jump was much higher than in previous years. This is really due to the growing strength and confidence in email marketing.
It was also noted that there has been a change in the ratio of acquisition vs retention mails in favour of the latter. Many marketers are pursuing retention campaigns than acquisitional.
2. Strategy
The report shows that dynamic content based segmentation is stagnating. However, it does show that many brands are performing segmentation of lists then targeting them with individual tactics.
On the fly segmentation is not hindered by technology capabilities but by data, resource or skill constraints at the brand side. It is essential that as an industry we continue to highlight the benefits of a data driven approach to allow marketers to justify the time, effort and investment to move to a more sophisticated email marketing approach.
The report also recommends a strategic approach for the following reasons:-
- Growing understanding of email’s role as a broader brand experience.
- The role of email in driving multichannel success
- The influence of social media and social networks, which change user expectations of online communication. Email recipients increasingly want engaging, holistic, relationship oriented communications and not just a series of independent promotions. (See blog article on relevance)
3. Deliverability
Average deliverability rates has remained the same at 94.1%. The report found that many brands were not measuring inbox placement, despite the availability of many monitoring services in the marketplace.
4. Campaign Metrics
Q3 2009 saw a fall in open and click through rates again highlighting the need for greater deliverability visibility and grabbing appropriate attention when mails have hit the inbox.
Main factors driving attention:-
- A sender name/sender email address that the recipient recognises
- Preheader/snippet text at the top of the email that highlights the messages value or re-inforces the senders identity
- Logo or similar sender identification in the preview pane
- Subject line, particularly:-
– Branding of subject lines
– Use of keywords that drive recognition, interest and action
– Placing those important words nearer the front of the subject line
- Using only as much space as needed to communicate the information or appeal that needs to be conveyed
Your ESP should be able to help you with all of the recommendations within this report.
For our article on relevancy please Click Here
(The full report is available to all members of the DMA. For the full report or to enquire about membership please visit http://www.dma.org.uk)
