London, 24 July 2012 – Experian has today published a new report titled “The Proactive Marketer” which explores the key areas that marketers need to consider in order to guarantee email deliverability success. At the heart of the report, Experian’s experts urge marketers to understand the connection between data integrity, relevance and reputation and why these three factors can make or break a campaign.
The report’s main finding illustrates how data integrity sits at the heart of any successful email campaign and remains the number one priority for email marketers. With more than 90 per cent of UK companies suspecting that up to 25 per cent of their data is inaccurate[1],it underlines how potential returns can be lost even before an email marketing campaign begins.
Experian’s latest analysis also highlights that relevance is a continuing battleground for email marketers. Customers have grown increasingly accustomed to getting the information they want, at the time they want and in a format that they can scan for relevance before investing time in exploring the detail. Analysis from Experian Hitwise shows that email users open an average of just five emails per inbox visit, but yet that there are more than 500 million email-driven website visits each month. Understanding how to attract the reader’s attention and being one of the emails that gets opened is of vital importance to a campaign’s success.
Marketers have a number of opportunities to build a good understanding of who their customers are what interests each of them. Experian CheetahMail research[2] shows that the initial phase of engagement is a critical time to set the tone for all future contacts, with welcome emails – compared to other email messages - achieving open rates that are 63 per cent higher and unique click through rates that are105 per cent higher t. Experian’s report recommends that building content that starts and continues a dialogue with customers, creating the chance to learn from them at every opportunity, will build trust and significantly reduce the likelihood of disengagement.
With ISPs determining deliverability based on the sender’s reputation for complaint rates, unknown user rates and spam trap hits, it is vital for marketers to maintain their reputation by processing complaints from every ISP or email provider offering abuse complaint feedback loops
Stephen Ford, Email Deliverability Specialist at Experian Marketing Services, said: “Ensuring that your emails both reach and engage your customers is a complex issue that’s high on the marketing agenda. Deliverability is at the forefront of marketers’ minds and is a top priority for every campaign. Previously, this was mainly a concern within tech-savvy circles, but changes in the way in which ISPs now filter emails means that customers today have complete control over what makes it to their inbox and what they doesn’t. They are empowered and are able to discard or block all but the most relevant messages. Now, more than ever, email campaigns are required to generate maximum profit; so it is essential that emails are hitting the top of the inbox and not the junk folder.”
The report contains seven top tips for marketers to increase email deliverability levels:
1. Data Integrity: Capture the data that drives your marketing goals and ensure that it’s constantly validated and always up-to-date
2. Data Integrity: Use your contact databases to store more than just addresses, incorporate information on permissions, propensities and preferences
3. Relevance: Start a real dialogue with customers to learn from them at every opportunity, building trust and reducing the likelihood of disengagement
4. Relevance: Move with your customers, with communications that are always targeted at their changing needs, and meets their expectations in terms of frequency, timing and channel
5. Relevance: Create content that encourages dialogue in the short, medium and long term
6. Reputation: Keep abreast of technology changes such as graymail that may affect your ability to deliver emails
7. Reputation: Work closely with ISPs to ensure that you are a responsible marketer and your emails don’t end up in the spam filter.
Stephen Ford commented: “As email marketing becomes more complex, so too does the business of successful delivery. Getting your message to customers in a way that delivers meaningful results demands a great understanding of your customers and the way in which ISPs operate. To build this understanding, it is vital that marketers enter into a dialogue with their customers and the ISPs. As a marketer, if you are part of a feedback loop with an ISPyou can quantify the number of emails that are being complained about, begin to understand why and modify your communications so that subscribers are less likely to hit the dreaded spam button.”
For more information, please visit www.cheetahmail.co.uk.
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Contact:
Alexandra Banks
PR Manager Experian Marketing Services
07966102823
About Experian
Experian® is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients around the world. The Group helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score, and protect against identity theft.
Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended 31 March 2012 was US$4.5 billion. Experian employs approximately 17,000 people in 44 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; California, US; and São Paulo, Brazil.
For more information, visit http://www.experianplc.com.
About Experian Marketing Services
Experian Marketing Services delivers best-in-breed customer data and insight, digital-marketing technologies and data management services into multiple regions around the globe. By helping marketers more effectively target and engage their best customers with meaningful communications across both traditional and digital media, Experian Marketing Services enables organisations to encourage brand advocacy while creating measurable return on marketing investment.
[1] Research into the importance of a Single Customer View conducted by Experian in 2012