eMarketer Webinar: Email Marketing Benchmarks for 2014—How Do You Stack Up?

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Email Marketing Benchmarks for 2014—How Do You Stack Up?
Lauren T. Fisher
Analyst
November 20, 2014

Agenda
Usage trends
Email marketing benchmarks
Trends worth tracking
–Relevancy
–Responsive design
–Smarter use of data
Twitter –#eMwebinar

Usage Trends

Today, nearly all US adults are accessible via email

Email remains a staple of consumers’ media diet, even despite an ever- growing number of available channels and options

In fact, it’s a staple for both consumers and business professionals alike

Business professionals in particular rely heavily on email to share key purchase and research information

Mobile devices are increasingly becoming an integral part of the email marketing story
Mobile opens nearly tripled between early 2011 and early 2014

But email engagement on specific devices is not necessarily an either-or decision

Younger generations in particular are using smartphones to vet their inboxes

What does this mean for marketers?
Email is a vital part of both consumer and B2B daily media diets
Mobile is a growing influence affecting email usage and actions
That effect is also influencing key email marketing metrics

Email Marketing Benchmarks

Compared to 2012, marketing email open rates have continued their upward climb
Nonbounce and clickthrough rates (CTRs) have held somewhat steady

“ With the wider usage of mobile, people are actually looking at their emails when they have downtime. They’re combing through their emails, but they’re not necessarily going to click through.”
—Jennifer Wiese, analytic consultant at Epsilon
Mobile is a key influence affecting open rates

Ecommerce- related measures are also seeing year-over-year variance

But make no mistake, email is still considered a very effective channel

Key benchmarks such as open rate and clickthrough rate (CTR) vary by industry
IndustryOpen RateCTR
Retail: 43.2%4.4%
Financial Services: 40.2%4.4%
Travel & Hospitality: 30.1%3.5%
General B2B: 26.2%4.4%
Consumer Services: 18.9%3.8%
CPG: 17.4%4.2%
Source: Epsilon “Q2 2014 Email Trends and Benchmarks,” Sept. 23, 2014

Several additional factors affect email benchmarks
These include:
–Day of week
–Time of day
–Personalization

Most companies send emails on weekdays

But for those looking to drive sales, weekend sends might prove ideal
Saturday: highest open rate, transaction rate and order size
Sunday: highest click rate, transaction rate and revenue per email

Clicks and opens might be greater during non- work hours, but those engaging with email during the day tend to spend more

Mobile usage is one factor likely affecting email metrics by time of day
morningcommute
eveningcommute
leisure
work

Adding personalized touches to subject lines can lead to mixed results

But keep in mind that personalization is a much broader tactic that includes more than dynamic content insertion

Takeaways: Email benchmarks
Benchmarks are helpful, but any number of factors have the ability to influence performance
Performance improvement comes from understanding how to mitigate the effects of the key factors affecting your email metrics

Trends Worth Tracking: It’s All About Relevancy

Consumers really do want to hear from companies via email …

… but what they don’t want is noise

The two biggest trends in email marketing today center on improving email relevancy
1)The continued move toward responsive design
2)Smarter use of data

Trends Worth Tracking: Responsive Design

Most marketers plan to incorporate responsive design into their email marketing programs

Today, a good portion of emails still lack mobile optimization

“ Some people have combined their forces in terms of how to tailor their email to mobile devices, but that’s a mistake. The interaction and the behavior of a customer on a smartphone vs. a tablet are very different, especially when it comes to purchases.”
—Matt Hayes, co-founder and CEO of Kickdynamic
Mobile optimization is about more than just creating a ‘mobile’ email template …

Tablet-and desktop-delivered emails should emphasize conversions

“ Moving to responsive design is largely how we’ve dealt with a lot of the mobile influence. But it’s critical that if you’re a retailer or someone else looking to drive a conversion, the entire digital experience needs to be mobile-enabled. Just designing email for mobile won’t cut it.”
—Charles Simpson, senior director of worldwide marketing operations for McAfee
Keep in mind: Mobile email optimization is only one part of a broader strategy

Takeaways: Responsive design emails
The more mobile activity, the greater the mandate
Not all mobile devices are created equal
Email is only one part of a broader mobile optimization strategy

Trends Worth Tracking: A Smarter Use of Data

Data is the key to relevancy

Today, most marketers rely on demographic or behavioral data to understand their email audience

“ People aren’t just saying, ‘Here’s my email list, and here’s my message.’ They are getting smarter about using demographic with contextual data. That’s important because people are on the move a lot more.”
Both types of data can provide valuable signals for reaching the right individual at the right time

For many, time of day has become a critical indication of when to best deliver a message
morningcommute
eveningcommute
leisure
work

“ A lot of clients take time of day seriously as a point of personalization. We’re not looking for the best time of day to send to your entire email campaign, it’s the best time of day for that particular customer, determined by the segment and the device they are viewing it on.”
—Julianne Manoogian, director of the digital intelligence group at Epsilon
In fact, many are considering its use beyond the segment level to the individual recipient level

But to offer this level of customization in real time is often easier said than done

And with a growing number of channels to consider—and integrate—it will only get harder
“ The practicality of connecting your data sources to make sure you get the right customer at the right time is really tough.”
—Charles Simpson, senior director, worldwide marketing operations at McAfee
“ It’s hard to stitch the addressable consumer across all these channels. I don’t think we’ve solved those problems across all devices or channels.”
—Katrina Conn, vice president of marketing services at StrongView

However, that’s not to say that marketers today are shying away from cross-channel marketing

But in the end, consumers will require marketers to find a way to make it work
“It’s about reaching a consumer where they want to be reached, vs. just emailing them because we have their email address.”
—Jeremy Levine, SVP of digital sales at Live Nation
“Customers don’t care what channel they’re using. They just want to get the most relevant message that’s useful and important.”

Key takeaways
1)Mobile’s influence is real and growing
2)The key to continued email marketing improvement is relevancy
3)Data and responsive design are critical to cater to consumer needs

Marketo Overview
Jessica Langensand
Marketing Programs Manager, Marketo

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Lauren T. Fisher
Email Marketing Benchmarks for 2014—How Do You Stack Up?
Email Benchmarks 2014: Richer Data, Mobile Optimization Crucial for Greater Relevancy
B2B Email Marketing: Benchmarks and Best Practices for 2014
B2C Content Marketing 2014: More Money, More Pressure to Perform
B2B Marketing Automation: Using Behavioral Data to Power Lead Nurture

eMarketer Webinar: Email Marketing Benchmarks for 2014—How Do You Stack Up?

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