Email segmentation & testing increases ROI
Marketers carrying out basic segmentation and testing are significantly more likely to be getting a high level of return on investment (ROI) from their email marketing campaigns than those who do not do so, according to research by Econsultancy and Adestra.
The study, entitled 'Email Marketing Industry Census 2012', also found that companies integrating their email activity with other business areas such as CRM and sales are much more likely to be generating positive financial returns from the channel.
Worryingly, only 31% of companies said they regularly test their email marketing campaigns. However, 81% of companies who do regular testing for email marketing reported that their ROI from email is either "excellent" or "good", compared to only 72% for those who do "occasional testing", 65% for those who do "infrequent testing", and 37% for those who "don't test".
The research, sponsored by Adestra and based on a survey of more than 800 digital marketers, confirmed that companies which are practising basic segmentation are 95% more likely to rate their email ROI as excellent or good than those who do not use even basic segmentation.
Companies that have their sales and conversion data "well integrated" with their email activity are also 49% more likely to consider email as offering an excellent or good ROI, and those whose CRM and customer data are well integrated with their email marketing are 48% more likely to consider the ROI of email to be excellent or good.
Interestingly, the study also found that email is still seen as a channel that offers a good return on investment, with 70% of respondents generally rating email as "excellent" or "good" in terms of ROI. No other channel, except SEO, was rated so highly. By comparison, only 44% believe that social media offers an "excellent" or "good" ROI.
Among the study's other key findings:
- Only 3% of company respondents and 5% of supply-side respondents state they (or their clients) have adapted their campaigns on account of priority inbox features increasingly used by consumers;
- Almost half of all company respondents (44%) either had no data security policies and processes in place, or were not aware of any.
- Only 2% of both client-side and supply-side respondents ranked data security as one of the three areas they need to focus on most in 2012.
- Less than a third of companies carry out email testing "regularly", with the proportion of companies saying they don't test at all increasing by 3% since 2011.
- 39% of companies view email and social media as "omplementary channels", an increase from 35% since the previous year.
"Last year's census clearly showed a 'back to basics' approach is vital to successful email marketing, but it seems that many marketers aren't t heeding that advice," concluded Henry Hyder-Smith, managing director for Adestra. "Doing more segmentation, more testing, and integrating email with CRM, web analytics and sales data all show significant revenue growth."
The full report can be purchased directly from Econsultancy's web site - click here.
Sources: Econsultancy; Adestra / The Marketing Factbook.
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