Email still the most powerful channel
The latest edition of the DDMA National email benchmark once again confirms email as the most effective marketing channel. Data from 167.000 campaigns, sent by 2.923 companies in the Netherlands was used to create this benchmark. That’s 4,2 billion emails, sent between January and December 2018.
Small and relevant performs better
Compared to last year’s benchmark (using data from 2017), COR has stayed at 38%, but both CTR and CTO have increased slightly. Less frequent campaigns, aimed at a smaller audience seem to be the key to better click ratios. How is that possible? It’s easier to make the emails more relevant to the subscriber’s interests. That is why they are opened and read.
The impact of the GDPR
The GDPR came into force on May 25th, 2018. Did it have an effect on any of the click rates? There is no real noticable effect. But it could be that better performing, smaller campaigns are the result of companies taking a good look and tidying up their database. If you only send relevant emails to a carefully selected audience, click rates will improve.
Use all available techniques!
We don’t need to explain why responsive design is a must. It is used in 89% of the emails in the survey. 37% of the emails was read on a mobile device in 2018. In some sectors this percentage is significantly higher: in the hospitality industry it’s 54%, eCommerce 51% and Mixed Retail (on- and offline combined) 49%. Also not surprising: the moment an email is reveived affects the choice of device. Emails sent outside office hours are usually opened on mobiles.
Use of dynamic content and personalised subject lines and salutations has increased slightly. You really should employ these techniques, because the research shows it has a marked effect on CTO and CTR. A Marketing Automation platform like Salesforce Marketing Cloud, makes implementing dynamic content and personalised text is easier than ever before.
Provided you make the most of your data and use all available techniques to create attractive messages, email remains the most effective channel to communicate with your customers.
You can download the 2019 National email Benchmark (Dutch only) from the DDMA website.
Please contact us if you want to learn more about Marketing Automation and how to use your data effectively in your Customer Journeys.
