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

© 2014 eMarketer Inc.

Made possible by

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

Industry Open Rate CTR

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

morning

commute

evening

commute

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




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




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.”

—Matt Hayes, co-founder and CEO of

Kickdynamic

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

morning

commute

evening

commute

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.”

—Matt Hayes, co-founder and

CEO of Kickdynamic



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

© Marketo, Inc.

Marketo Company Overview

#1 independent marketing platform:

• Innovative digital marketing platform

• Fastest growing marketing technology company

• Customer system of record, 1B leads, 220B+ activities

Top rated by Analysts including Gartner,

Sirius Decisions and Forrester

Marketing First

• Helping marketers master the art and science of digital marketing

• Unparalleled expertise

3,500 customers across 20+ industries in 36 countries

© Marketo, Inc.

Engagement MarketingBuild personalized, meaningful & lifelong relationships

Engage People:

• As individuals

• Based on what they do

• Continuously over time

• Directed towards an outcome

• Everywhere they are

The Engagement Marketing Platform

Engage people in a meaningful, lifelong and personalized way across channels

Measure and maximize impact of marketing investments across channels

Generate awareness and ensure potential customers can find you

Manage, coordinate and plan the marketing activities across your teams

CUSTOMER

• Marketing calendar

• Web / Mobile Personalization

• SEO

• Social Marketing

• Revenue Cycle Analytics

• Marketing Automation

• Web / Mobile Personalization

• Social Marketing

© Marketo, Inc.

Summary

How it helps you

•Acquire customers faster and grow their lifetime value

•Maximize efficiencies and impact on revenue

What we do

• Help you build meaningful, personalized and continuous relationships with people

Why Marketo

•Marketing First:

• Most innovative platform – unique combination of sophistication and speed

• Most comprehensive partner ecosystem

• Vibrant community of 50K+ marketers and deepest expertise driving your long-term success


Learn more about digital marketing with an

eMarketer corporate subscription

Around 200 eMarketer reports are published

each year. Here are some recent reports you

may be interested in:

Q&A Session

Made possible by

You will receive an email tomorrow with a link to view the

deck and webinar recording.

To learn more: www.emarketer.com/products

800-405-0844 or [email protected]

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