High-quality email data will only work if used effectively. Ensuring you employ best practice in creating your email marketing campaigns is an essential tactic in achieving the highest possible interaction. These 8 email performance statistics will revolutionise the way you make use of your data, ensuring it continues to perform well into the future.
In the world of marketing, lead generation and lead management is everything, so marketers are always testing ways to improve their metrics.
Over the last decade, an explosion of new digital technologies created a more diverse environment of marketing opportunities and pushed marketers to evolve and pursue new channels.
As well as traditional methods like direct mail and even word of mouth, factors such as the rise of social media and mobile platforms have allowed marketers and business owners to become increasingly creative with their communications.
However, despite there being more marketing methods than ever, email remains a firm favourite among marketing professionals, and a recent report has shown that email marketing continues to offer the best return on investment (ROI).
In short, using high-quality email marketing data is a cost-effective way to get your message into the inbox of key decision-makers. But getting there is only half the battle. To be successful, you’ve got to grab the attention and interest of the recipient.
Email data analysis is a powerful tool that can help improve open rate and click-through rate to increase lead generation.
We’ve outlined 8 valuable statistics that will change the way you use email data.
1. Keep it Simple
In marketing circles, the debate continues over whether HTML or plain text reign supreme in the email landscape. While the former uses formatting, templates, and colour to engage the recipient, the latter, as its name suggests, makes use of just text to enhance readability.
But, which is best?
Unsurprisingly, the answer isn’t really black and white. Back in 2014, a HubSpot survey found that 64% of professionals reported a preference for receiving rich-text emails. However, a follow-up study that incorporated extensive A/B testing found the opposite to be true.
While the debate is sure to rage on, for now at least, the data suggests plain-text emails is the best way to boost open rate and clicks.
2. Personalisation is Key
We’re all receiving more emails than ever, so when people receive something dull or irrelevant to them they aren’t hesitating to reach for the unsubscribe button.
How can marketers counteract this trend? One answer is email personalisation.
According to SaleCycle, including a customer’s name in your email marketing can boost open rates by 5.7%, while a Kissmetrics investigation found that including the first name of the recipient in their subject line resulted in a higher click-through rate.
3. Timing is Everything…
As well as quality copy, design, and personalised subject lines, the day of the week (and time) an email is sent could also have a bearing on the success of an email marketing campaign.
A study from CoSchedule highlighted the importance of timing when it came to email marketing. They found that emails sent at 10 am had the highest click-through rate, while research from Tomasz Tunguz found that 66% of unsubscribes occur between 5 pm and 10 pm.
4. …But Imagery Isn’t
Liberal use of visuals within an email can improve aesthetic and help maintain brand identity, but it’s also a sure-fire way to minimise interaction.
Email service Mailchimp found that, as the number of images in an email increases, the click-through rate tends to decrease, so, while a single image may be worth including to keep an email on brand, a minimalistic look is best.
5. Segment and Target for Success
Segmenting or targeting your emails means differentiating your distribution list to target the most appropriate customers at the most appropriate time.
Distinguishing recipients by factors such as demographic or behaviour serves to increase open rate and click-through rate. A study from the Direct Marketing Association found that emails sent using a targeted or segmented approach generated 77% of all revenue.
6. It’s a Numbers Game
Nowadays, it’s widely thought that the younger generations are shunning email in favour of social media and instant messaging. Email may not be as obsolete among millennials as believed.
When it comes to communicating with brands and companies, email is still the preferred choice. The Radicati Group estimates that email will top 3 billion users by 2020.
7. Don’t Forget Mobile Functionality
As desktop email becomes less and less relevant – a report from Movable Ink found that only 32% of emails were opened on desktop computers – mobile emails are going from strength to strength.
The same report showed that 68% of all emails analysed were opened on mobile devices, with smartphones being the primary device of choice. So, when preparing marketing emails, you must make sure they are easily viewed on a smartphone.
8. Content is King
“Know your audience” is a mantra every modern marketer lives by, and the ability to provide content your audience wants to consume will increase open rates and click-through rates and deliver more leads of better quality.
Email subject lines that include 30 or fewer characters have the highest above-average engagement levels. So it seems being concise really pays off, no matter the audience.
Enriching contact data quality is one of the most significant barriers to achieving email marketing success; with Marketscan this is easier than ever. Not only can we provide you with fresh, accurate, high-quality marketing data, but we’ll help you through the data cleansing process so you continue to get the very most out of your data.
If you’d like to learn more about how to improve your email marketing, or you’d like to get in touch with any data requirements you have, contact one of our data experts today.
