For the fifth consecutive year, the Informz Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report has been released. In this article, I wanted to share what I found most interesting about the data uncovered in this very useful report.
What The Email Marketing Report Reveals
1st, this report is a very large sample. In fact, it’s a summary of email marketing metrics from over 1 billion sent emails in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom. Wow! 1 billion! The goal of the report is to offer key insights regarding how email receivers process what is sent to them. And, also the findings from the report is certainly important and useful to non-profit organizations using email marketing for outbound marketing purposes and calls to action.
The Most Effective Time to Launch Email
Understanding how subscribers interact with sent emails can be of aid in determining things such as how and when to launch a successful email campaign. For instance, the report notes regarding delivery times that the time of day of emails does matter. Emails delivered at night have the highest open rates, while emails delivered at midday have the highest click rates. Interestingly, however, though the time of day affects both open and click rates, the day of the week does not seem to matter significantly.
Timing Matters in Email Marketing
Regarding timing matters, the report also indicates that subscribers interacting with their email in the afternoon and evening hours are more likely to be opening emails on mobile devices. Though that is true, a majority of readers prefer to use desktops when opening email. In fact, desktop usage is the most frequently used email client method, as 37.92 percent of all emails are opened on a desktop. Mobile usage dropped slightly from prior reported years, coming in at 38.07 percent.
The Importance of Subject Lines in Email Campaigns
Short subject lines of less than 40 characters are associated with a higher than average percentage of open rates. This key information is useful for those crafting the wording of emails, as the goal is to catch the eye of the subscriber and encourage reading of the email. 60 percent of opened emails had reader engagement of greater than 10 seconds, indicating that if an email subject line is crafted carefully, a reader is considerably more likely to engage with the email.
Regarding engagement, when mailing size increases, it appears that reader engagement decreases. This is significant for those crafting email messages as well. The essential point seems to be that brevity is key.
The Frequency of Emails
There is concern among those crafting campaigns that email frequency may be off-putting to subscribers. How many emails is too many? While the report indicates that 72 percent of subscribers are sent five or fewer emails per month, subscribers who were sent 6-10 emails per month had slightly higher open and click rates. While shortening the email message has a positive effect, increasing the frequency of the message is also beneficial.
Know Your Supporters Personas
While email length and volume is a component in subscriber engagement metrics, the most important consideration is still relevancy. Those tasked with the job of creating email campaigns must ensure that the message is clear and compelling for the subscriber. Understanding the way in which the subscriber interacts with email received aids in this process. But ultimately, the single most determining factor to ensure success of any email campaign is its relevancy to its subscribers. Knowing your supporters personas & crafting messages with personalization of content seems to be king once again!
For additional information about email marketing and other technology matters of concern to your non-profit organization, please contact us. We will be glad to share our expertise with you. Until then, keep SmartThoughts in mind.
