DMA Email Benchmark 2018: Clicks driven by relevance, opens driven by interest

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Yesterday (July 5), the DMA (Direct Marketing Association) published its annual Email Benchmarking Report.

Analysing the performance of over 23 billion emails over the course of 2017, results showed that email has yet to be unseated as digital marketers’ top-performing channel.

At 97.5%, delivery rates remained extremely high - that figure represents just a slight dip year on year - although this does equate to over 500 million emails missing the target.

On the...

5 July 2018 | Data-driven marketing

Nine in 10 marketers admit their marketing automation is not up to scratch

For all the talk of marketing automation software’s power to streamline menial tasks, it seems few marketers are actually getting it right.

In fact, a survey by GetResponse and SmartInsights on the activities of 585 marketers across B2C and B2B firms, spanning 19 industries, found that less than one in 10 (8%) considered their use of marketing automation software to be meeting a high rate of effectiveness, while 28% rated their expertise with the software...

14 June 2018 | Automation

Mornings and lunchtimes worst time to ask people to re-subscribe, says study

With GDPR coming into force in just over two months, the issue of trying to reconfirm marketing preferences and asking consumers to re-subscribe is weighing heavily on a lot of company’s minds.

The new regulations make it a requirement for companies to gain the explicit consent of individuals if they are going to store and user their data. Individuals will have to specifically opt-in for things like marketing emails, instead of having a box pre-ticked for them.

One effect...

9 March 2018 | Email marketing

How to spend a limited digital marketing budget in 2018/19

It’s an important objective imposed on marketers every single year – how best to squeeze every drop out of the annual budget.

Even industry professionals who, on paper, have more cash to splash, are still pressed to make their spend go further. And then there are those less fortunate of course, who have their budgets cut whilst the targets remain as competitive as ever.

So, whichever scenario you find yourself in, if you’re faced with a ‘limited...

22 February 2018 | CRM

Five martech lessons from 2017 you need to take into 2018

It’s the time of year when marketers commonly reflect on the past year and gear themselves up for what’s to come in the 12 months.

As we emerge blinking and bleary-eyed from the holiday season into 2018, it’s not just a case of focusing on ‘what’s new’. Part of growing and developing as a business requires an honest analysis of your successes and failures in 2017.

You take forward with you what worked and discard what...

5 January 2018 | Best Practice

Cultural stereotypes can be useful marketing tool, analysis reveals

No one likes to have assumptions made about them because of the country they come from, or the demographic they fall into. This is, however, how modern marketing works. The quest for ever-more personalised customer journeys often means putting people into neatly defined categories.

New research from AI marketing company Persado seems to show that, when it comes to email marketing at least, playing up to cultural stereotypes can be an effective strategy. The company analysed the...

13 December 2017 | Email marketing

Email marketing: marketers are driving in the slow lane

On any given day, it is estimated that 269 billion emails are sent. This number is expected to rise significantly, as corporate and domestic users continue to embrace this powerful communication channel.

From the birth of Hotmail in the ‘90’s, email marketing has grown exponentially in terms of size and sophistication. However, a recent report commissioned by Emailcenter and carried out by One Poll has revealed that although email marketing automation systems might be...

7 December 2017 | Email marketing

Improve customer email engagement by 50% with heatmaps

Successful email campaigns begin with consumers opening messages – and yet open rates are only half of the equation.

Once the email has been opened, does the email deliver content effectively? Did it push the customer to take the desired action?

In a world where over 50% of email is opened on mobile devices, marketers must deliver engaging content, while competing for attention with SMS, mobile applications, Netflix, and more.

50% of email is opened on mobile...

31 August 2017 | Email marketing

The DNA of the perfect nurture sequence

Whatever the specific objective of an email campaign, the overarching goal of any nurture sequence remains constant – to encourage an individual along a journey to the point of peak engagement. Only then will a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) stand the greatest chance of becoming a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL).

However, with so much ‘noise’ in this communication space, this process is easier said than done. So how do marketers achieve that all-important cut...

25 August 2017 | Email marketing

Moneysupermarket fined for ignoring email opt-outs

UK price comparison website Moneysupermarket.com Ltd has been fined £80,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), for continuing to send emails to customers that had previously opted out.

The ICO is a regulatory body whose role is to upload information rights in the public interest.

Over 10 days in 2016, the company sent out a whopping 7.1 million to people who had actively asked not to be included in any further direct marketing.

The email the...

21 July 2017 | Best Practice