2014 Inbox Placement Benchmarks Review

Preview:

DESCRIPTION

Join Tom Sather, Sr. Director Email Research, as he provides a look at the latest email deliverability benchmarks across the world, so you can find out how your inbox placement performance compares to other marketers today.

Citation preview

2014 Inbox Placement Benchmark Review Webinar Tom Sather Sr. Director, Research Return Path @tom_sather @returnpath

Why You’re Not Reaching Your Goals

Marketing Sherpa, Email Marketing Benchmark Survey, 2013

If your email doesn’t reach the inbox, you won’t reach your goals

One-in-Six For every six commercial messages sent worldwide, one never reaches the subscriber’s inbox. ●  6% are sent to the spam folder ●  11% are missing or sent to spam

○  Missed opportunity

Delivered ≠ Inbox

Delivered Rate = (Total Sent – Bounces) / Total Sent

Inbox Placement Rate = (Total Sent – Bounces) – (Spam +

Missing) / Total Sent

How Email Providers Filter Spam

Content Filters

Sender Reputation Filters

But how do I know what my sender reputation is?

www.senderscore.org

Better Reputations Lead to Better IPR

Source: Return Path 2012 Sender Score Benchmark Report

Engagement Filters

What Has (Not) Changed?

While inbox placement rates are higher today, the inbox is more complicated:

•  Inbox Tabs and Categories •  Productivity tools •  Mobile •  Email Apps

Deliverability not getting easier

Global Inequality

Inbox Placement byIndustry

Winners •  Health and Beauty •  Retail •  Apparel •  Automotive •  Food & Beverage Losers •  Software and Internet •  Technology •  Media &

Entertainment •  Consumer Services

Factors Impacting Inbox Placement Rates

Throughout the year

The Three Factors

The Volume Effect

Black Friday Christmas

First Week of November

Over half of all emails were opened on smartphones over the 2013 holiday period. Where’s the spam button?

The Cheer Effect: As People Look for Holiday Deals, They Read More Email

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

18%

20%

Start of the New Year

First Week of November

Primary vs Promotions

Defining Placement in the New Inbox, but Which Inbox?

Source: OtherInbox.com

Applying New Measurement Approaches

Measuring Inbox Placement Rate: Seeding

Today Inbox Placement is Measured using both Seed and Consumer Data

ACTIVE VS. INACTIVE MAILBOXES MATTER MORE

Source: Return Path, Win-Back Report 2014

“Think of how you can make the user love

your emails rather than land in the inbox.”

-Gmail

Engagement Factors

Mailbox Providers look for signals that your subscribers love your emails:

•  Messages Read •  Messages Read Multiple Times •  Replies •  Deleted Without Reading •  Forwards •  This is Spam •  This is Not Spam

Target Mobile Users

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

iPad

iPhone OS 7

iPhone OS 8

Source: Return Path, Email Client Monitor

Source: Return Path, Email Client Monitor

Don’t Be Afraid to Increase Frequency

Average # of messages sent per week 5+ 4 3 2 1 Average subscriber spam complaint rate 0.005% 0.020% 0.026% 0.037% 0.571% Average retailer Sender Score 62 86 89 86 83 Average "This is not spam" Rate 0.40% 0.22% 0.73% 0.89% 1.07% Average Inbox Placement Rate 71% 96% 98% 94% 92%

Source: Return Path, Inbox Insight, October – December 2013

Let’s Connect!

Tom Sather Sr. Director, Research

@ReturnPath @Tom_Sather

Tom.Sather@returnpath.com

www.returnpath.com

Contact Us! http://www.returnpath.com/contact-us/

Recommended