Email marketing has always been one of the core digital marketing techniques in the marketing-mix. I was honered to author this year’s National Client Email Report for the DMA UK and Email Hub. The report is based on a survey of client-side Marketing Professionals on the use and results of the email channel. What are the main conclusions from the report?

Conclusions from the Client Email Report 2015

Email marketing continues to deliver a strong performance for brands and marketers. It is used by over 90% of businesses and provides a cost-efficient and powerful way for both broadcasting news and one-to-one communications.

Email marketers are building a strong business case with a high ROI and less internal constraints.

  • Email has an average ROI of $38 for each $1 spent. A big increase over the 24.93 reported in 2013.
  • One in five companies report an ROI of over 70:1 .
  • Internal resources and budget limitations are less often a constraint for campaign success.
  • Over half of all respondents anticipate their company’s spend on email to increase during 2015.

Increased use of targeted campaigns and advanced tactics lead to higher effectiveness.

  • Regular newsletters are classed as the most effective way of delivering email content to achieve campaign objectives, yet with a particular focus on segmenting the target audience based on purchase habits.
  • Triggered and behavioural driven email marketing drive more revenue than in previous years, with a reduction in blanket email marketing.
  • The overall expertise seems to be on the increase as only 12% of respondents rate their company’s competence as basic compared with 22% last year.
  • 78% of marketers rate their company’s competence in email marketing as either intermediate or advanced, up from 70% last year.

9 out of 10 clients perceive email marketing as a channel of importance to great strategic importance for achieving business goals.

  • The survey shows lower levels of ambivalence around the email marketing channel.
  • A high proportion of companies’ email programmes remain managed in-house, with a slight shift from services outsourced to ESPs towards in-house management.

Direct revenue is most often a key email marketing objective and email marketing campaigns are very effective in delivering it.

  • Driving revenue through sales tops the list of prime objectives, with over a quarter (26%) of marketers seeing it as the most important goal.
  • Marketers are aware of the need for engagement with one in five (22%) naming it their prime objective.
  • 60% of marketers use conversion rates to evaluate email campaigns effectiveness.

Trends reflect a positive outlook and a need for focus on data quality.

  • Mirroring this, over the coming 12 months delivery, open, conversion and click-through rates are predicted to rise further, possibly led by the increase in advanced email marketing tactics.
  • Data degradation is the fastest growing barrier to effective email marketing while data availability is less of a concern.

Email marketing more vital and effective by taking an integrated approach

Like Chris Combemale, the executive director of the DMA says in the intro of the report: “When done well, email stands as one of the most effective ways to reach target audiences.” By taking an integrated approach and especially when combined with new media, Conversion Rate Optimization and Marketing Automation it helps bring the right message to the right audience. Email marketing is changing, and this change is making it more vital, more effective.

Download the full DMA National Email Client report here.