Conventional wisdom, not to mention common sense, has it that e-mail delivers an astronomically high return on investment compared to other channels.
However, this is apparently news to a significant percentage of marketers.
Just 55.3% of executives recently surveyed by pay-for-performance marketing firm Datran Media said e-mail’s ROI is higher than that of other channels.
Also, 25.9% said e-mail’s ROI is roughly equal to that of other channels. And a still significant 18.8% said e-mail’s ROI is <ital>lower<ital> than that of other channels.
These are fairly stunning numbers given e-mail’s low transmission costs. They also fly in the face of Direct Marketing Association calculations that e-mail delivered $48.56 in sales for every dollar spent in 2007, and would deliver $45.65 for every dollar spent in 2008.
For comparison, the DMA said non-e-mail Internet marketing returned $20.67 in sales for every dollar spent in 2007. The trade group said catalogs delivered $7.22 in sales for every dollar spent in 2007.
Datran didn’t ask respondents to elaborate on the ROI question so it’s impossible to say definitively what the reasons for the findings are.
“I can only speculate here, but my guess is marketers might cite search as the strongest ROI channel since the measurement/metrics are so easy and familiar – even if this perception does not match results,” wrote Lana McGilvray, vice president of marketing for Datran, in an e-mail exchange with this newsletter.
“Also, based on direct feedback from our clients (not related to this survey), while e-mail is most often the top performer, we also hear great feedback of the results of direct TV, search and display. The strongest multi-channel mix for each company varies and it takes more than a single channel to realize maximum success,” she continued.
Meanwhile, in another eyebrow-raising statistic, just 36.5% of those surveyed by Datran said they test how their creative appears across various inbox types.
Internet service providers have been increasingly blocking graphics by default for quite some time now. Moreover, a message’s appearance can change fairly dramatically from inbox to inbox. So apparently, the vast majority of marketers are conducting e-mail campaigns with no idea how their messages look to most of their recipients.
Still, a respectable 74.1% of those surveyed said they conduct A/B/C content or creative testing.
Less surprising findings included that 82.4% of those surveyed said they would increase their use of e-mail marketing in 2008, while 15.3% said their use of the channel would stay the same and 2.4% said it would decrease.
Also, 71.8% of respondents said search compliments e-mail, compared to 51.8% who said display advertising compliments the channel, 24.7% said mobile compliments e-mail, 41.2% said direct marketing—presumably mail—compliments it.
Sending newsletters was the most popular use for e-mail among marketers by a slight margin, with 80% saying they planned the activity. However, selling was a close second with 78.8% choosing that option.
Interestingly, 64.7% said they plan to use e-mail to increase brand awareness.
Also, while much of the talk in the industry is about behaviorally targeted advertising, demographic and geographic targeting are still king. While 56.5% of respondents said they send e-mails targeted based on recipients behavior, 63.5% said they target based on demographics and geography. Meanwhile, a not insignificant 20% said they don’t send targeted campaigns.
A healthy 67.1% said they believe e-mail boosts sales in other channels.
Moreover, marketers’ interest in exploiting the opportunities in transactional e-mails remains high as 63.5% said they plan to advertise in their transactional messages.
Jan 22, 2008 1:34 PM , By Ken Magill
http://directmag.com/disciplines/email/datran_survey_email_question_0122/
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