DO YOUR SUBSCRIBERS READ YOUR EMAILS?What Consumers Want From Email Marketing

TRENDS IN EMAIL MARKETING

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About This StudyThe original data contained in this report comes from a nationwide internet survey of U.S. adults, which was conducted from March 2-4, 2015. The survey was designed by TechnologyAdvice Research, and conducted by Google Consumer Insights. A total of 1,358 U.S. adults (age 18 and over) were surveyed about their general email consumption. A further 472 adults, who indicated they regularly or sometimes read emails from businesses were surveyed about their reasons for doing so, and their individual preferences. Where necessary, results are weighted to be as representative as possible of the U.S. internet population.

Table Of Contents3 Introduction

4 Executive Summary

5 Key Survey Results

6 Trends in Email Readership

10 Where Consumers are Dissatisfied with Business Email

14 Summary

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TRENDS IN EMAIL MARKETING

Of all the digital accounts and profiles, none is more personal than email. These systems excel at delivering one-to-one messages, and email continues to thrive some four decades after its inception. At the end of 2017 it’s estimated there will be 4.9 billion email accounts worldwide.1

Though email marketing never disappeared, the tactic is experiencing a renaissance of sorts — largely due to the increasing ubiquity of smartphones in the developed world.3 In the past several years, smartphones have transformed into hubs for email and other forms of media. 65 percent of email is now consumed through a smartphone. 4

Consequently, email is reclaiming a bit of the marketing limelight. Sixty percent of

Introduction

respondents in Salesforce’s 2015 State of Marketing report indicated that email was a “critical enabler of products and services” — an 18 percent increase from 2014. Fifty-nine percent planned to increase their spending on email this year. 5

Because email is garnering renewed strategic emphasis, TechnologyAdvice wanted to see how consumers viewed and consumed emails from businesses. Has this increased focused on email led to better relationships with customers? We surveyed 1,358 U.S. adults regarding how often they read marketing emails. 472 of these adults, who said they regularly or sometimes read such email, were further questioned about their preferences and expectations.

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TRENDS IN EMAIL MARKETING

Of adults surveyed, 60 percent said they read emails from businesses*, though only 16 percent of this group did so on a regular basis. Forty-three percent confirmed that they only rarely read emails from businesses.

Among adults who do read business emails, 57 percent said they read between zero and 25 percent. This shows that many people engage with marketing emails only occasionally. The other 43 percent of adults who read marketing emails read over 25 percent of the messages they receive. These findings demonstrate that the majority of adults are open to receiving marketing content through email, but also reinforce the importance of pre-open email characteristics, such as subject lines, sender names, and deliverability.

Thirty-nine percent of respondents said receiving promotions and discounts was the reason they read marketing emails. Getting news and updates ranked second at 26 percent. Answers varied significantly based on gender, with men choosing news and updates as their top reason for reading, while women were more likely to read for promotions and discounts. Customer service only garnered 11 percent of responses.

Executive Summary

TRENDS IN EMAIL MARKETING

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To see how businesses could refine their email efforts, we asked consumers to pinpoint areas marketers could improve. Three main opportunities surfaced: Less frequent sending times (43 percent), more informative content (24 percent), and more personalized content (23 percent).

Email frequency remained a consistent area of frustration. Forty five percent of consumers indicated they marked email as spam because they received it too frequently. Not purposefully subscribing was the second most common reason for flagging an email as spam, and receiving irrelevant content rounded out the top three.

Though it might not be a simple problem to correct, irrelevant content is a significant

» 60 percent of respondents report reading marketing emails, though only 16 percent do so regularly

» Only 12.8 percent of U.S. adults read more than half of the marketing emails they receive

» For women, receiving promotions and discounts was the most cited reason for reading marketing emails, while receiving news and updates was the most popular reason for men

» Nearly half of respondents reported receiving irrelevant email on a daily basis.

» 43 percent of respondents wanted businesses to email them less frequently, while 48 percent wanted more personalized or informative email content

Key Survey Results

issue. Fully 49 percent of respondents reported receiving irrelevant content on a daily basis. A further 28 percent said they received irrelevant emails on a weekly basis. This suggests that a large majority of consumers find marketing messages in their inbox every week that have no relevance.

Nearly all of these problems can be handled with the proper technology and better marketing practices. Less aggressive sending times are easy to schedule and test with marketing automation software, and a double opt-in criteria should be standard for all email technicians. Finally, better list segmentation is a foundational step for creating more relevant content and can easily be achieved with the right software.

* These results did not distinguish between the type of email that respondents received from businesses, such as promotional or transactional.

TRENDS IN EMAIL MARKETING

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0 10 20 30 40 50

I. Trends in Email Readership

most industries, but convincing the more fickle prospects to open an email is what separates skilled marketers from average

In order to provide insight on how businesses can improve email engagement, we first had to identify consumers who read marketing emails. Although roughly 40 percent of respondents claimed they never read emails from businesses, 60 percent of respondents confirmed that they read such emails. Of this 60 percent, 16 percent said they regularly read email messages from businesses, while 44 percent said they rarely read them.

Correlating these numbers to standard open rates is difficult due to the variation in open rate benchmarks. A 2013 study by Silverpop puts the mean open rate for the U.S. at 19.7 percent, while the Epsilon Email Marketing Research Center places the number at a very generous 31.5 percent. 6, 7

What’s clear is that consumers are open to receiving various types of marketing emails, but attracting the attention of most readers is a difficult undertaking. A small group of heavy email readers likely exists in

REGULARLY16.5%

RARELY43.6%

NEVER39.9%

How Often U.S. Adults Read Personal Emails from Businesses

“ATTRACTING THE ATTENTION

OF THE MARJORITY OF

READERS IS A DIFFICULT

UNDERTAKING”

TRENDS IN EMAIL MARKETING

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

7

Percent of Marketing Emails That Subscribers Read

8.1%

57.8%

21%

13.2%

0-25 percent

Percent of Emails That Recipients Actually ReadsIn order to determine what percent of marketing emails are read by consumers, we asked adults who indicated they either regularly or rarely read business emails (referred to as “subscribers” here) to estimate what percent they typically read. Approximately 58 percent of subscribers said they read just 0 to 25 percent of such emails. 42 percent of subscribers reported reading more than 25 percent of all emails they received.

If the average open rate is 19.7 percent as Silverpop claims, 25 percent or higher readership would be a respectable outcome. Our finding that 21 percent of subscribers read more than half of the emails sent from marketers is encouraging and provides further evidence that a significant group of US adults will read most of the email businesses send their way.

Unsurprisingly, age appears to play a significant role in email consumption. Readership fell markedly in demographics over 45, and subscribers aged 25 to 34 were the heaviest consumers. Forty-sevent percent of this group said they read anywhere between 25 percent to 75 percent of all emails sent by businesses.

25-50 percent

50-75 percent

75-100 percent

TRENDS IN EMAIL MARKETING

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

8

These consumers compose the middle to late section of the millennial generation. Such readers may be settling into their careers and likely have more disposable income than their junior counterparts, which explains their greater interest in business news and product offerings.

Percent of Emails That Subscribers Read, By Age

22.3%

25.9%

21.8%

23.7%

17.3%

8.3%

19.6%

21.5%

10.3% 10.4%

8.3%

7.2%

Why Consumers Read Emails from BusinessesAfter identifying the portion of marketing emails that subscribers typically consume, we sought to uncover the greatest value readers were deriving from these correspondences. What was their main reason behind opening and consuming emails they received from marketers?

When viewed as a sum, a plurality of recipients (39 percent) read emails to receive notifications about promotions or discounts, while 26 percent cited getting news or updates as their main reason. Both are logical choices because both types of emails hold immediate value.

18-24 y/o 25-34 y/o 35-44 y/o 45-54 y/o 55-64 y/o 65+ y/o

25-50 percent

50-75 percent

TRENDS IN EMAIL MARKETING

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0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Convenient access to curated, relevant information has a tremendous amount of utility because it saves readers time and introduces them to content they might not otherwise have found. Similarly, promotions and discounts supply exclusivity and value that recipients might not obtain through other channels.

Customer service only managed a paltry 11 percent in the overall sum, perhaps signifying that email is seen less as a channel for customer service. The immediacy of online chat features may be replacing email as the preferred method of online support.

Though promotions and discounts won out overall, when the results were divided between men and women, the data showed that men actually prized news and updates more than promotions and discounts — though only by a narrow margin. Promotions and discounts remained the preferred type of email for women.

18.3%

5.2%

Promotions/Discounts 38.9%

26.2%

The Primary Reason Subscribers Read Marketing Emails

11.4%

News or Updates

Other

Answers/Support

Educational Content

0 10 20 30 40 50

0 10 20 30 40 50

29.9%46.7%

30.6%22.5%

To Receive Promotions/Discounts

To Receive News/UpdatesMale

Female

Why People Read Marketing Emails, By Gender

TRENDS IN EMAIL MARKETING

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0 10 20 30 40 50

II. Where Consumers are Dissatisfied with Business Email

According to MarketingSherpa, over 60 percent of consumers want to receive promotional emails at least weekly, so the standard for tolerable email volume is low.8 Consumers may also be guilty of contributing to a self-fulfilling prophecy here, as promotional and discount emails are notoriously sent ad nauseam, but are some of the most requested campaigns.

Understanding how readers are currently engaging with emails is important, but businesses also need to understand where they are falling short. To determine this, we asked consumers how companies could improve their email efforts.

The most commonly requested improvement, by a nearly two one ratio, was less frequent emails. More informative content and more personalized offers were both cited by 24 percent of respondents. Essentially, consumers want businesses to send emails less often and include better content when they do push send.

23.9%

13.1%

43.9%

21.2%

How Businesses Could Improve Their Email Efforts

How Could Businesses Improve Their Email Efforts?

24.2%

Less frequent emails

More informative content

More personalized offers

None of the above

Better visual design

TRENDS IN EMAIL MARKETING

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0 10 20 30 40 50

Expanding on the lack of personalized offers noted in the previous question, we wanted to investigate the frequency of irrelevant emails. In other words, how often are people’s inboxes housing interloping emails?

The results say far too frequently.

When asked how often they received irrelevant emails, 49 percent said they received meaningless emails on a daily basis. Another 29 percent confirmed that they were the victims of weekly email irrelevance. This means nearly 80 percent of US adults receive emails bereft of value at least weekly.

9.1%

4.7%

49.1%

28.7%

How Often Subscribers Receive Irrelevant Emails

How Often Are Emails Incorrectly Targeted?

Regardless of their propensity to use the inbox as a hub for business and marketing emails, consumers will quickly grow irritated of marketers who abuse their emailing permissions. Finding the right sending frequency is a relatively simple task with current email marketing programs, and especially with powerful marketing automation platforms.

8.4%

Every day

Every week

Every month

Every few months

Never

TRENDS IN EMAIL MARKETING

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These results are disheartening, but also show the potential of better email marketing: personalization. In an era of banner blindness and “native advertising” disguised to look like editorial content, consumers are too jaded and too busy for irrelevant marketing. Offers that don’t sync up with the needs of an audience aren’t offers at all - they’re just noise.

The overwhelming prevalence of irrelevant email content can be attributed to two main factors: antiquated techniques and outdated technology. In many cases the two are intertwined.

“OFFERS THAT DON’T SYNC

UP WITH THE NEEDS OF AN

AUDIENCE AREN’T OFFERS AT

ALL - THEY’RE JUST NOISE”

In terms of techniques, many marketers cling to “batch and blast” campaigns that blanket a list of recipients with the same emails regardless of the individual preferences and past behavior of each customer. In addition, untargeted email newsletters remain a marketing mainstay despite declining effectiveness.9

Advanced segmentation features are now standard in marketing automation platforms, but these systems have experienced little market penetration. In December of 2014, only 24 percent of marketers were using marketing automation extensively despite the previously cited resurgence of email and the urgency to personalize consumer interactions.10 These platforms aren’t always the cheapest options, but their capabilities allow marketers to effectively scale segmentation efforts to reduce the all too common specter of irrelevant emails.

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Interestingly, it wasn’t irrelevent content that caused most people to mark emails as spam. It was too frequent sending. Forty-six percent of respondents indicated that they had marked companies as spam because of too frequent emails. This reaction is understandable given that subscribing to multiple lists is commonplace. Emails can pile up quickly, resulting in exasperated clicks on the spam button.

“I didn’t purposefully subscribe” is an interesting second choice with 36 percent. Although online marketers may pay lip service to permission-based principles by including a checkbox for email subscriptions on download forms,

TRENDS IN EMAIL MARKETING

Why Subscribers Flag Emails as Spam

Motivations for Marking a Business’ Emails as SpamAlthough irrelevance is a serious marketing crime, we wondered if that was enough to drive consumers to mark email as spam. Email specialists know the consequences of being labeled spam, so we asked respondents what inbox violations were severe enough to elicit a flag.

many set the checkbox to an automatic affirmative. Without another clear opt-in form, consumers can unwittingly subscribe to emails that they don’t actually want.

Double opt-in processes were implemented to combat this very situation, and they remain a best practice for email marketers. Having a clear unsubscribe link in emails will also help reduce the amount of spam complaints.

Thirty-one of respondents said they had flagged emails because they contained irrelevant content, reinforcing the need for better segmentation and targeted offers.

0 10 20 30 40 50

45.8% They emailed too often

36.4%

31.6%

18.6%

10.4%

I didn’t purposefully subscribe

They sent irrelevant content

Their emails were impersonal

None of the above

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TRENDS IN EMAIL MARKETING

The results of our study are encouraging and sobering.

The majority of American adults are open to receiving emails from businesses, and they read a fair amount of these correspondences and offers. Most readers are quite discerning about which emails they open, which represents the proverbial catch in the email marketing proposition. The responsibility of capturing people’s attention falls to email technicians who must use their skills to engage a skeptical readership.

Like anything in which they invest their time, consumers expect businesses to provide value in exchange for their attention. This explains the 40 percent of respondents who desired discounts and promotions above all other types of emails. But don’t dismiss the value of news and updates: curated, relevant information goes a long way in building rapport between businesses and their audiences.

In terms of improvement, sending time and relevance are still the most important factors. Email frequency in particular was the most desired area of improvement (44

Summarypercent) among email recipients, and was also the most likely reason to be banished to the spam folder (46 percent).

The plain answer to the email frequency question is that marketers simply must respect the inbox of their recipients. An opt-in is an invitation to start a conversation, not an excuse to unleash a deluge of untargeted, incessant messages.

Irrelevance presents a more complex puzzle, because its roots begin at the content that marketers are creating. If the content strategy is wrong, then the emails will always be wide of the market. The sheer volume of irrelevant emails poured into inboxes indicates a segmentation problem as well. Personalization is without a doubt the strongest tactic marketers have for standing out and piquing interest. Research even indicates that simply framing an interaction as personalized can create a sense of reciprocity among customers. 11

Technology also has a role to play in segmentation. The current underuse of marketing automation likely plays a substantial role in poor email segmentation and irrelevant campaigns.

Overall, consumers feel the email inbox is an appropriate place to interact with businesses. It’s down to the marketer to influence the nature and importance of these communications.

“CONSUMERS EXPECT

BUSINESSES TO PROVIDE VALUE

IN EXCHANGE FOR THIS TIME”

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TRENDS IN EMAIL MARKETING

Sources1. Radicati, Sara and Levenstein, Justin. “Email Statistics Report, 2013-2017,” The Radicati Group, Inc. April,

2013 http://www.radicati.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Email-Statistics-Report-2013-2017-Executive-Summary.pdf

2. Aufreiter, Boudet, and Weng. “Why Marketers Should Keep Sending You Emails,” McKinsey & Company, January 2014 ://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing_sales/why_marketers_should_keep_sending_you_emails

3. Costello, Steve. “Emerging Markets Set to Drive Smartphone Growth to 2018,” Mobile World Live, May, 28, 2014. http://www.mobileworldlive.com/emerging-markets-set-drive-smartphone-growth-2018

4. O’Dell, J. “65% of All Email Gets Opened First on a Mobile Device — And That’s Great News for Marketers,” Venturebeat, January, 22, 2014. http://venturebeat.com/2014/01/22/65-of-all-email-gets-opened-first-on-a-mobile-device-and-thats-great-news-for-marketers/

5. “2015 State of Marketing,” Salesforce, Accessed March 5, 2015. https://secure2.sfdcstatic.com/assets/pdf/datasheets/mc_2015stateofmarketing.pdf

6. ”2013 Email Marketing Benchmarks Study: An Analysis of Messages Sent Q1 - Q4, 2012,” Silverpop, Accessed March 5, 2015. http://www.silverpop.com/Documents/Whitepapers/2013/WP_EmailMarketingMetricsBenchmarkStudy2013.pdf

7. Chaffey, Dave. “Email Marketing Statistics 2015,” Smart Insights, February 9, 2015. http://www.smartinsights.com/email-marketing/email-communications-strategy/statistics-sources-for-email-marketing/

8. Burstein, Daniel. “Email Research Chart: How Often Customers Want to Receive Promotional Emails,” Marketingsherpa, February, 10, 2015. http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/chart/how-often-customers-want-promo-emails

9. “2015 State of Marketing,” Salesforce, Accessed March 5, 2015. https://secure2.sfdcstatic.com/assets/pdf/datasheets/mc_2015stateofmarketing.pdf

10. “Marketing Automation has Plenty of Room for Growth,” Emarketer, February 23, 2015.http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Marketing-Automation-Has-Plenty-of-Room-Growth/1012092

11. Strohmetz, Rind, Fisher, and Lynn. “Sweetening the Till: The Use of Candy to Increase Restaurant Tipping,” Journal of Applied Psychology, July 31, 2006. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2002.tb00216.x/abstract

Guide Photography Credits1. “spam email” by notoriousxl used under CC BY / desaturated from original

2. “iOS7” by Karlis Dambrans used under CC BY / desaturated from original