Snapshot of Email Marketing Research 2004-2005

MarketingSherpa conducted a Teleconference presenting some of the data from its 2006 Email Marketing Benchmark Guide. Topics were limited to open rates, click-throughs, email audience, spam, segmentation, mailing frequency, message design, list freshness, whitelisting and list churn. Research shows that:

• Open rates went down while click-through rates remained stable from 2004 to 2005.



• The good news is that conversion rates are up slightly, with click to purchase behaviour up 18% and orders per delivered email up 18%.



• ExactTarget examined the growth/decrease in national email lists over six major industry groups. Results showed increases in national list growth and the number of emails added to lists and a decrease in the number of emails lost from lists. This led to the conclusion that email audiences have not peaked.



• Consumers accept the following definitions of spam: messages that intend to trick recipients to open, messages from unknown senders, messages with offensive content, permission-based messages that come too frequently, permission-based messages one opted out of and permission-based messages shill a product/service.



• When asked if they were less trusting of email because of spam, respondents were more trusting in 2005 (53%) than in 2004 (62%).



• When asked if they frequently checked their spam/junk folder for legitimate messages, 52% of respondents said yes, and 45% said no.



• The impact of the segmentation of email lists was dramatic for open rates. Depending on list size (5,000 to 100,000), segmented lists increased open rates over non-segmented lists 10% to 45% with higher open rates for smaller lists. Click-throughs were less impacted but also showed rate increases with the segmented lists.



• When examining the effect of preferences (high control versus no control) on sales offers, the frequency of mailing (more than once a week, once a week, 2-3 times month, once a month and once per quarter or less) impacted sales offer response thusly: high control messages received more responses with more frequent mailings, except for emails sent once per quarter or less, when low control messages received more responses than no control (39% vs. 27%). Conclusion: send emails frequently but not too frequently lest it be perceived as spam.



• MarketingSherpa's frequency tips: (1) test frequency on best/worse segments, (2) if you have a preference center, do not allow specific control of frequency, (3) don't send too infrequently.



• Another tip is to keep your email lists fresh and current. Research on the age of user record shows that the fresher the list, the better the opens and click-throughs, with older lists losing appeal gradually (range, 0-30 days to 2 years). Best performing lists were 0-30 days and 31-60 days.



• Whitelisting improves email deliverability, yet only 22 percent of respondents said they request recipients to whitelist their address while 78 percent did not. Of the 22 percent making the request, 15 percent do it with a statement and only 7 percent provide a link with instructions.



• MarketingSherpa's tips to fight list churn: (1) request alternate address at paid sign-up, (2) screen pop up (DHTML), (3) go offline.



• Lastly, MarketingSherpa asks: Is email the problem? The answer lies in the marketers' ability or willingness to use advanced tactics. When looking at the click rates of marketers using advanced tactics (dynamic content, A/B offer testing and segmentation by user details) versus those who do not, click rates with advanced tactics range from 11 to 21% percent; whereas click rates without advanced tactics range from 2 to 10%.

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