Because of its central role in the online marketing efforts of so many of our clients, we return to the topic of email marketing fairly often …most recently, exploring the potential synergy between email and social media.
Today, I wanted to alert you to some significant new research on the subject – Marketo’s Email Marketing Benchmark – recapped by Jon Miller on the Modern B2B blog. Some of its key findings include:
- Top performers were more likely than average to use all eight of the common email marketing tactics surveyed, and were more likely to see higher ROI from them.
- Segmentation, custom landing pages, and drip marketing were the tactics with the biggest gain for top performers.
- Top performers are more likely to say significant parts of their list are inactive.
- Trusted emails have lower bounce and unsubscribe rates.
- 100% of top performers said their audience trusts their emails.
- The way you build your email list greatly impacts whether recipients trust your emails: “Companies that use third party lists and data vendors to build their lists were … less likely to say their emails were trusted, compared to companies that use more permission-based techniques such as referrals and website forms.” Also, companies that use single or double opt-in methods were much more likely to say their emails are trusted, vs. those that only use opt-out.
- Top performers spend significantly more time overall on email, and proportionally more time on strategy (vs. tactics such as creative and content).
For still more findings from the survey, check out Jon’s AMA webinar. And in a novel twist, you can participate by filling out the survey’s 10-minute questionnaire; and you’ll be rewarded with an instant custom report showing how your company compares to the industry averages and top performers, including personalized recommendations for improving performance. And it’s free!
