MarketingSherpa's Email Marketing Benchmark 2006

There are so many opinions on email marketing that it’s a relief when someone can actually show hard data. And that’s just what this valuable new report does. Published in November 2005 by online publisher MarketingSherpa, a trusted provider of marketing reports for the for-profit world, the data and suggestions in this report are equally valuable for nonprofit organizations.

For example, the Benchmark makes it clear that even organizations with smaller than average budgets can do effective email marketing. You don’t have to invest in powerful systems to get good results. Yes, these systems do enable more sophisticated customization of your outbound communications. But even basic segmentation of your email file, and simple name personalization in the subject line and body copy, can dramatically improve your results. The key is doing the work of segmenting your base, setting up tests, and measuring your results.

This 265-page report presents the results of a survey of 1,927 marketers. It offers details on full-color eye-tracking heatmap tests done by MarketingSherpa to determine how to set up email pages for better response. It evaluates the performance variables of email strategy, assessing the impact of frequency, of multi-channel integration, and personalization. It looks at quality list sources, and studies whether the current co-registration fad really yields decent names.

The section on email response metrics is very useful, examining in great detail the measures marketers use to evaluate email campaign performance: open rate, click-through rate, and performance rate. And if you’ve been feeling a little lost on this new media front, you can catch up on what companies are learning about instant messaging, wireless email, blogs, and Really Simple Syndication (RSS).

MarketingSherpa was founded in 2000 by Ann Hollander, and maintains a staff of in-house and field-based editors and researchers. The company publishes numerous case studies, reports, and guides on all aspects of marketing. For more information, visit www.marketingsherpa.com.

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