JNC-Web-Blog-Home-Header-Banner-Image-1200x800.jpg

J&C Blog

Find all the latest marketing trends on the J&C Blog.

Email marketing insights and insanity

Posted by Randy Mitchell on January 22, 2015

“We can measure anything.” That’s the mantra when it comes to email marketing. And it’s true.

There are email marketing facts that tell us how often people check their messages, how email influences purchase behavior and how it affects overall revenue. But when marketers are confronted by those facts, a very curious thing happens.


Some marketers choose to embrace the statistics and leverage them to shape their email marketing campaigns. That’s insightful.

Other marketers choose to ignore the facts completely and hope their campaigns will go against the prevailing trends. That’s insanity.

To illustrate the point, here are some email marketing facts along with the insights they provide and the insanity of ignoring them.

 

91% of consumers check their email at least once a day.1

The insight: Email is an essential part of our lives, wherever our lives happen to take us. Simply look around. People are constantly reading their emails from their smartphones or tablets. They’re too busy to slow down and they expect email to keep up with them. Smart marketers embrace that insight and design their emails for this mobile world. But not everyone has learned from the facts.

The insanity: Today only 11% of emails are mobile optimized emails.2 That means 89% of emails require people to search back and forth on a small screen to read the content. This is more than a simple annoyance. Unless you’re sending out mobile-optimized email campaigns, your emails can look dated to prospects. And you’re not providing a user-friendly experience, which is at the heart of every successful email marketing campaign. Mobile optimized emails with responsive templates automatically adjust to a reader’s device. This allows customers to automatically open your communication in the correct configuration, regardless of the size of the device they’re using. That way, your email is easier to read and respond to.

 

66% of consumers have made a purchase online as a result of an email.3

The insight: People are buying products and services from successful email marketing campaigns. And it gets better: People who receive email marketing spend 83% more when shopping according to Outbound Engine. Those are impressive email marketing facts, but let’s take that thinking one step further. With all the email metrics readily available, it only makes sense for every marketer to track, analyze and continuously refine their email strategies to capitalize on this purchase behavior. Now here comes the crazy part.

The insanity: 17% of marketers don’t track or analyze email metrics for their organization.4
To be blunt, that’s just bonkers. Ignoring email metrics is like throwing hard-earned knowledge away. Analytics and data are key factors in understanding customers’ behavior and performance. They help in dissecting what is working and not working in a successful email marketing campaign. If a company isn’t leveraging their email metrics, it’s likely leaving money on the table.

 

54% of organizations generate 20% or more of their overall revenue through email marketing.5

The insight: Email is a major contributor to overall revenue. It’s also one of the most trackable and productive channels in digital marketing. Other digital channels may get the buzz these days, but they have a long way to go to catch up with email from a revenue standpoint.

The insanity: There are three times as many email accounts as Facebook and Twitter accounts, yet some companies forsake email for social media.6 Let me be very clear: It’s certainly not insane to include social media in your marketing mix. That’s wise. But from a sheer quantity standpoint, there are many more email accounts than social media accounts. And email marketing still has a greater average ROI than social media and a number of other online marketing tactics.
Sign up now for your FREE email marketing assessment. Now that we’ve explored the insights and the insanity, let’s talk about your email programs.

Sign up for J&C’s personalized email marketing assessment. You’ll learn how to leverage email best practices like mobile optimized emails to ensure the success of your communications. The assessment will cover stats, facts and techniques to fine-tune your strategy and break through cluttered inboxes.

 

Sources:
1. Exact Target
2. Equinux
3. Direct Marketing Association
4. MecLabs
5. Email Stat Center
6. iContact

Topics: Email Marketing

Recent Posts