The 2019 State of Email Marketing report reveals email is the most effective and widely used marketing channel available today. However, getting inbox attention still remains the biggest challenge for an email marketing campaign.
The report says 45% of its respondents find the competition for attention in the inbox a challenge. Considering 293.6 billion emails were sent daily in 2019 (Radicati Group), it is not surprising the inbox remains a considerable challenge. It also shows email is a proven marketing tool for businesses of all sizes.
It is especially important for small businesses because of the cost associated with email marketing. But in order to make it more effective, it requires accurate and useful data. This is what Tom Sather, Sr. Director of Research at Validity, points out in the press release.
Sather says marketers with clean lists will reach the inbox and experience higher email open rates, revenue, and increasing email effectiveness. Adding, “As email marketing continues to evolve, marketers must use the right mix of tactics and technology like list validation, inbox monitoring, and certification to continually improve results.”
This year’s report is based on research among B2C, B2B, and nonprofit marketing organizations. The online survey was carried out from June 27 through July 19, 2019 with the goal of understanding which email tactics marketers are using, how well they are working, and what challenges prevent greater success with email.
Email Marketing in 2019
Marketers have some clear objectives when they use email. And in this year’s survey communicating with customers was on top with 75% of the respondents. Building brand awareness is second with 64%, and communicating with prospects is in third place with 63%.
Rounding the top five are generating revenue (56%), capturing data on subscribers (28%) and other objectives at 4%.
Overall, B2C organizations say revenue generation is their top objective, while B2B firms value communicating with customers the most.
When it comes to the effectiveness of email, 43% say it is holding steady, with 28% seeing a slight increase and 9% a significant increase. But not everyone had a positive experience as 15% saw a slight decline, and for 5% the decline was significant.
How Can You Get More Opens?
According to the report, it requires the right email marketing tactics. Some of these tactics include email deliverability optimization, A/B testing, and reactivation campaigns. By using these methods, marketers are able to achieve higher open rates.
Even better, email personalization (72%), list management (63%), and subject line optimization (52%) deliver above-average open rates. The report shows marketers are using multiple strategies to achieve higher open rates. Compared to last year, marketers increased their use of email deliverability optimization (51%), A/B testing (50%), and reactivation campaigns (36%).
Is Email Still a Strong Marketing Tool?
The study says, yes. The bottom line is email continues to deliver results, this was the case for 4 in 5 or 80% of the respondents. They say email marketing is holding steady or increasing.
The report encourages marketers to strive to achieve high levels of email marketing effectiveness. This is because the cost of email is relatively low compared to other channels. And with prices being so low, the potential return on email marketing is often high.
The strategy for effective email marketing is to ensure emails have the highest possible inbox placement rate. You can make this happen by creating subject lines and constructing messages to generate as many clicks (conversions) as possible.
The final recommendation to help marketers execute this strategy is to set bold objectives, use the right tactics, maintain your list, optimize your subject lines, leverage technology, and know your subscribers.
You can download the 2019 State of Email Marketing Report here.
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