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Secure Mail news articles. ........Date: 3/1/2005

DMA launches findings from first industry wide National Email Benchmarking Report

Source:http://www.dma.org.uk, Source date:


The aim of this research is to provide independent, robust benchmarks to aid direct marketers in their day-to-day business activities. This survey has been completed by Email Service Providers (ESPs) and looks at the key metrics within the UK's email marketing industry. The survey is being conducted on a quarterly basis by leading independent benchmarking firm tank!, to assess industry trends and highlight areas for development and improvement within email marketing.

This Report highlights, in particular, the growing need to tackle the issue of deliverability by working with ISPs to develop a realistic solution to the growing number of solicited emails being blocked in an attempt to combat spam. The findings from the Report also show a need for email marketers to adopt a traditional approach to direct marketing in areas such as tracking conversion rates and measuring ROI to ensure the success and value of email marketing is truly recognised.

Richard Gibson, Chair of the Email Marketing Council's Benchmarking Hub commented, "This is the first survey of its kind to look at both acquisition and retention activity from both a business to business and business to consumer perspective, and has provided the industry with a real insight into the issues facing ESPs at present. Email marketers are faced with ongoing challenges especially in terms of deliverability and targeting and this Report provides the Council with the information needed to tackle such issues head on and aid in maximising the potential of email marketing."

Key findings from the research include:

  • 68% of all acquisition emails are sent on a weekly basis
  • 50% of all retention emails are sent once a month
  • The most popular type of emails sent are product promotion and newsletter formats accounting for 73% of all emails sent.
  • 58% of all email providers' clients email market to both business and consumers although in terms of volume of emails sent, there is a heavy emphasis on B2C marketing
  • The largest industry sectors served by ESPs are B2C travel and leisure (26%) and B2C retail (14.8%).
  • Due to the increasing concern that solicited emails are being accidentally blocked by ISPs, 41% of ESPs are now not only tracking email that has been received (i.e. no soft or hard bounce) but also that the email has successfully made it past "bulk" folders into an inbox
  • While all clients can measure ROI, less than 40% of survey respondents said their clients tracked conversions.

The Email Marketing Council are in the process of collecting the data for the next Report, which will be released later this year. The current report will be available on the DMA website and is free to for DMA members and costs £195 for non-members.

For further information please contact:

Liz Bastone
DMA PR Manager
Tel: 020 7291 3315
Email: liz@dma.org.uk