Make sure you're still 'relevant', email marketers told

Email marketers are being urged to up their game post-GDPR and ensure the medium continues to be “relevant” following the publication of the latest DMA Email Benchmarking Report which shows that open and read rates are both on the up, despite reports to the contrary.
Emails are opened and read 18.1% of the time, continuing the positive trend seen last year, and consumers are still just as likely to click, with click-through rates remaining at 1.9% year-on-year.
According to the report, sponsored by dotmailer, delivery rates remained extremely high, despite a small decline year-on-year, while open rates continued to increase, with the highest percentage coming from finance (25.0%), not-for-profit (21.8%) and retail (19.3%) organisations.
The reported high rate of opens found in this report conflicts with the most recent edition of the Consumer Email Tracker 2017, which found that over half of consumers (57%) believe they open at least every other email they receive – a disparity of over three times.
DMA head of insight Tim Bond said that what consumers report and the figures from email service providers are understandably going to differ.
He explained: “Consumers remember opening the messages they receive and subsequently read, potentially forgetting or simply missing the ones they may triage on their phone without even thinking about it. What’s more encouraging is that the continued rise in open rates this year is still driving the same click-through rate as a year ago.”
According to the 2018 report, the top three most opened emails were from finance (25.0%), not-for-profit (21.8%) and retail (19.3%) organisations, while the least opened category was utilities (14.7%). However, when it comes to clicks, there is a reversal of fortunes, with utilities leading the way (3.4%), followed by not-for-profit (2.7%) and travel (2.4%).
Dotmailer strategy and insight director Skip Fidura said: “These numbers reveal that clicks are still driven by relevance, but opens are driven by interest. The top three sectors for opens (finance, charity and retail) are no surprise as consumers are naturally engaged with these types of companies, but the top three for clicks (utilities, charity and travel) deliver more relevant content, which then generate more clicks.
“It will be interesting to see how these stats change in the coming year with the roll-out of GDPR. While list sizes may decrease, we should see each of these lists become more engaged in the short term. It is down to marketers to up their game and deliver more relevant content to keep this engagement up in the long term.”
Comparing the performance metrics for B2B and B2C emails reveals an interesting difference in how recipients react to these emails. This year’s figures reveal that B2C emails are much more likely to be opened, with a 19.7% open rate compared to 15.1% for B2B.
However, these business emails are more likely to be engaged with once opened, with a 3.2% click-through rate for B2B compared to 2.1% for consumer emails. This results in a click-to-open rate for business emails that is almost double that for consumer emails.
Bond said: “It’s always interesting to see how email is performing and being utilised across different sectors, as well as between B2B and B2C contexts. The fact that utility companies and B2B organisations are leading the way in click-to-open rates, while consumer organisations like charities, retailers and even banks are securing the greater proportion of opens.
“This highlights both the functional use of email and the relevance of the medium as a broadcast channel, offering direct drivers to bills or work-related opportunities in the former and the power of its nudge effect in reminding consumers to visit their favourite brands.”

TOPICS:DMA Dotmailer email marketing