The Email Effect

I just finished reading the Direct Marketing Association’s “Integration of DM & Brand” 2007 study. Okay, I just finished skimming the study; at close to 400 pages that is still an accomplishment. Needless to say, I paid a significant amount of attention reading up on the online media channels. The basic summary from the massive report is that the lines between direct marketing and brand marketing continue to blur. The report shows how direct marketing’s versatility and measurability have led marketers to integrate direct marketing tactics into all brand marketing efforts across multiple channels.

Of particular interest is the effect email has on brand. The study finds that interactive channels including SEO-SEM, web sites and email were rated far more favorably by respondents in terms of their effect on brand over television and print. Email and web sites saw the highest reports of positive effect on brand; 44% over 17% for television. Not that this is really surprising considering all the research that shows more and more consumers are turning their eyes away from print and television and are spending their time online.

With almost universal penetration – 97 percent of consumers according to Forrester Research – email is the most popular activity online. In fact, two online media activities – sending and reading email and visiting web sites – are now more popular than watching television.  With that kind of devotion, advertisers would be remiss not utilize email as a way of reaching their audience.

Email More Popular Than Search & Display

After reading the DMA report, it came as no surprise when a study published in The McKinsey Quarterly revealed that 83% of marketing executives used email, ahead of display ads, paid search and online video. Over half of respondents said they planned to increase their email spending in the next three years, and with the DMA recently releasing estimates that the email marketing ad spend will result in $21.9B in sales this year, it makes perfect sense that marketers would favor email. 

Fortunately, more and more marketers are beginning to recognize the value of the email channel.  In a recent survey by Internet Retailer, marketers shared their confidence in email:

• 64.7% of online merchants are conducting more email campaigns than in 2006.
• 94.5% of online retailers are building bigger opt-in email lists.
• Almost half of online retailers said email performs better or much better than other programs.

And it’s not only marketers understanding the value of email; consumers are finding the email channel to be an exceptional method for learning about new products and services:

• Consumers who buy products advertised in emails spend 138 percent more online than peers who don’t buy through email.
• 29% of all online consumers buy impulsively immediately following an email offer, rather than waiting.

Despite the lack of recognition, email has quietly become the favorite online media channel.

OMMA attendees displayed a keen interest in learning how to leverage the email channel for customer acquisition.  A panel of executives from Datran Media, Microsoft, eHarmony and TaxBrain spent a good hour citing examples that showed why email is such a powerful media channel for reaching new customers. Citing recent case studies and research, the brand-rich panel engaged a standing room only audience on the 2nd day of the OMMA conference.  Titled, “Email Acquisition, an Integrated Ad Inventory Model,” the session was moderated by David Carlick, managing director of VantagePoint Venture Partners.

Datran Media’s own Sean O’Neal participated in the panel as well and wrapped up the session with some insightful points about why email’s vitality as a media channel continues to increase – the most encouraging being that 40% of online advertising inventory is in or around the inbox. By the end of the session, the brand case studies made it clear that the email media channel works, highlighted by eHarmony’s case study which showed Datran Media helped the dating giant drive more new customers from email than any other channel. 

There were several sessions covering the email channel throughout the 2-day expo including a workshop led by Datran Media’s co-founder and president, Matt Keiser, where attendees were guided through various steps to leverage email’s valuable inventory space.  Our good friends from the Email Experience Council were also on hand and saw a nice turnout at their booth.

A: A feedback loop is a system by which the ISP provides the sender a copy of the message that an email client marks as spam. Believe it or not, this system is great news for email marketers looking to improve their deliverability rates.

With 12 of the world’s largest ISPs including AOL, Hotmail and Yahoo! currently testing feedback loops as part of the new Abuse Reporting Format, it is safe to say that feedback loops have become an email industry standard.

It is important for email marketers to understand how to not only setup feedback loops but how to manage and react to them. You can find more information about this topic in this short whitepaper.

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