DMA's National Email Marketing Benchmarking Report shows spam, board level understanding and net crime as biggest threats to the success of email marketing
The DMA's latest quarterly National Email Marketing Benchmarking Report amalgamates the findings from quarters one, two and three of 2005 to provide the industry with up-to-date information on trends in email marketing. This survey is completed by leading Email Service Providers (ESPs) who deliver the majority of outsourced email messages to both businesses and consumers in the UK.
The steady increase in mailing volumes (rising by 79% from October 2004 to September 2005) suggests a growing confidence in email marketing, with all ESPs increasing quarterly volumes in line with extra client demand. From Q1 to Q3 of 2005, business to consumer email volumes in both the charity and financial services sector increased while retail, travel/leisure and media remained the sectors producing the largest volumes of emails.
Richard Gibson, Chair of the Email Marketing Council Benchmarking Hub said, “While it is no surprise that spam is a threat to the growth of email marketing, the lack of board level understanding of the value of email marketing must be overcome if it is to be regarded as an essential part of the marketing mix. I believe that the growth of online marketing and revenue in this area will emphasise the importance of using email to drive customers back to websites and will hopefully help focus the minds at board level and highlight the true value of email marketing.”
While ISPs continue to hamper the delivery of legitimate email messages, ESPs continued to add value to the chain despite this obstacle and the past year has seen a concentrated effort by ESPs to develop their delivery management systems. The majority of ESPs are now achieving a deliverability rate of around 90%, strengthening the argument for outsourcing email dispatch. For the first time, this survey sought to put a value on legitimate emails blocked in error, resulting in nearly 20% of ESPs suggesting that the cost to their clients of blocked emails was over £250,000.
Open rates for both acquisition and retention emails reached equilibrium in quarters one to three of 2005. With more ESPs recommending ways in which their clients can improve open rates and a move towards greater segmentation and sophistication of email marketing campaigns, 2006 should be a good year for email marketing.
For further information please contact:
Liz Bastone
DMA PR Manager
Tel: 020 7291 3315
Email: liz@dma.org.uk
