Over the last 2 years I have noticed a significant decrease in the measurable results marketers are seeing in their emails. Open rates have trailed off, and click through rates have also declined. Of course, to produce the same or more leads, most marketers are just sending more email but not addressing the underlying issues. There are several reasons why email isn’t effective any more:
1. The rise of social media and a new generation. Today’s under 25 crowd uses Text and IM long before they use email; they get information more organically – Twitter, Facebook, Chat; information is more interactive and conversation based. As my friend Aaron Kahlow likes to say – email is like the telegraph and social media is the telephone; how do you think your firm can have a more meaningful conversation?
2. List quality and permission; the average list turns over 25% per year and very few organizations have routing data cleansing and enrichment programs in place. Additionally, the majority of marketers still use an opt-out strategy vs. opt-in or double opt-in. The end result is that marketers have huge lists that are inaccurate, not segmented, and not built on permission. This leads to poor return on investment.
3. Noise and Filters; the average executive today receives over 150 emails per day. In addition to ISP and corporate spam filters, many executives have additional filters on their inbox and they also engage in polite ‘unsubscribe’ – meaning they just delete your email upon receipt instead of actually unsubscribing. The result – your emails are getting lost in a sea of noise and screening mechanisms. Instead of trying to figure out how to differentiate, marketers just send more hoping that will cure the problem.
Email can still be a viable tool in your arsenal, but to make it more effective, take the following steps:
1. Implement a subscription management system that allows your users to determine what they receive, how they receive it and when they receive it
2. Implement routine data cleansing and enrichment programs. The best marketers constantly refine their lists. It is not the size of your list but the quality.
3. Make your emails more relevant – subject matter and content along with a targeted list will always yield a better result
4. Use multiple channels – don’t rely on email only. Use social media and offline tactics to build a demand generation ecosystem
Follow the above steps and you can start to gain more effectiveness from your email programs.
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We are currently revamping our email program with a subscription opt in center. How do you effectively use this, while also managing emails that fall outside of your subscription program (i.e. promtional offers vs. newsletter subscription) and prospective emails that sales wants to send?
A subscription opt in center is a great way to go and will definitely help you improve your conversion rates. Once you go in this direction, you really shouldn’t send people that have opted in any other emails that fall out those categories. Use alternative channels like direct mail and personalized landing pages, social networking, telemarketing and your website for promotional offers. For those that did not use the subscription center, you can still continue to send out promotional emails and allow sales to canvas provided you follow CAN-SPAM guidelines. But the more people you can get to give you their preferences, the better you will do in the long run.
Jeff – you bring up some good points on how to optimize your email program as well as existing challenges of permission email marketing. The title trouble me greatly and while it got my attention, I read your article twice but don’t see your argument about why email marketing isn’t effective anymore.
Open rates are not a proper barometer of a successful email program (reas Stephanie Miller’s piece on this blog) and to generalize declining click through rates seems pretty vague. I know our clients have seen steady improvement in their metrics, including their key business goals, the real measurement of email success.
Is email marketing really not effective because of Twitter? Even to a twittering audience, I don’t see the connection at all.
Is email marketing not effective because of list churns? While this is an issue for any email marketer, the fact that you may lose valid opt ins doesn’t mark the death of your email program.
I don’t see how Facebooks ends the utility of email marketing either and I am a huge fan of Facebook and LinkedIn. Sure, you have to figure out how the channels compliment each other but I don’t see a thesis that backs up your title here.
Facebook should be viewed as another targeting messaging platform, just like email albeit a different audience. This notion of one is the king and another must die is overstated and frankly, inaccurate, in my opinion. Recent digital history has shown us this.
Maybe I am missing something here but I would love to know more why you really think email doesn’t work anymore. I hardly think email marketing is flawless but for a targeted and measurable messaging channel to an audience that says “yes, email me”, the ROI and other benefits are hard to beat.
Jeff – thanks for the reply to my comment. I think we are on the same page in that many email marketers can certainly improve and optimize their campaigns and email programs.
Let’s hope they move in that direction!
Simms,
Thanks for the post. You raise some good points and I agree with you that open rates are not a successful barometer – CTR and Effective Rate are much better gauges; my point of the article was that email marketing is not effective because of the way marketers are implementing it. They use poor segmentation and list management, poor content, don’t test and have to compete with a number of other channels. Additionally, they spray and pray and send more email instead of sending quality email. I was trying to argue that marketers who take a more multi-disciplined approach to email and use it as one of several channels, in addition to following best practices will see more effectiveness in their email campaigns.