Further evidence has emerged of consumers’ increasing shift away from digital to print with email-only campaigns seeing a sharp decline in success in the past 12 months while the number of consumers who want to be contacted by post instead has doubled.
That is according to new research from sales technology specialist Sopro, whose State of Prospecting 2024 report is based on an analysis of data from more than 75.2 million emails and insights from over 350 sales and marketing professionals.
The study reveals that there was a 22% drop in success rates for email-only activity in 2023 compared to 2022, although 67% of shoppers still said they are happy to be contacted by email.
Meanwhile, nearly one in five (18%) consumers want to be contacted by post, which is more than double the number in the previous year. This, the report maintains, shows that personalised direct mail is still highly valuable for intelligent prospecting.
The study follows the IPA Bellwether report which revealed that direct marketing spend – which is dominated by direct mail – saw its biggest increase for nearly 20 years and is forecast to grow even further this year as brands opt to spend their way through challenging times.
In fact, three quarters of companies surveyed by Sopro believe marketing results are better when email is combined with other outbound marketing channels, while 68% agree email prospecting also complements inbound marketing channels.
The landscape remains challenging, however, with an average of four stakeholders now involved in the decision-making process, up from 3.6 in 2023. Over one in ten (11%) companies have between six and nine people involved.
When asked to list their main marketing concerns, respondents cited lead generation (46%), lead quality (38%) and generating quality content (36%).
The study comes as businesses prepare for new rules which are being introduced by Google and Yahoo from this month.
Any brand owner which sends more than 5,000 emails a day will now be required to have email authentication in place when sending messages to both Gmail and Yahoo accounts.
Designed to stem the flow of malicious messages and reduce the amount of low-value emails, firms will have to have a so-called DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) policy in place, as well as Ensure Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) alignment. They must also make it easy for recipients to unsubscribe.
Sopro co-founder and CEO Ryan Welmans said: “It is clearly a tough environment for businesses and marketing professionals, with increased competition and stricter regulations on the way, against a constantly evolving economic backdrop. But this also presents an opportunity for those who have the knowledge and tools to follow best practice and stand out from the crowd.
“The new regulations echo a belief that we have always held at Sopro – that emails should be personalised, relevant and value-driven. When combining expertise with new tools – in particular AI – businesses can offer recipients real personalisation that goes beyond email and that can be maximised across all relevant channels. We hope sales and marketing professionals will set strong multichannel strategies for 2024 and beyond.”
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