When it comes to email, most marketers think they’re doing a great job sending relevant and informative communications, but their customers don’t always agree! Based on key findings from this year’s DMA Email Research Series (sponsored by Validity), we’ve produced a fabulous new infographic highlighting some of the biggest perception gaps, as well as the data email senders need to close them.
A direct line to email success
We discussed these gaps in September’s State of Email Live webinar, where we were joined by Rabia Khan, Marketing Chapter Lead at Direct Line Group (DLG). She talked about the challenges these gaps pose for her programs and how she deals with them. Key to her success is laser focus on deepening customer relationships by creating end-to-end, highly personalised customer journeys. We discussed:
- The increasingly unreliable nature of open rates—highly topical with the introduction of Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection—and alternative data points DLG uses to compensate.
- Why relevance depends on addressing the who/what/when/why (subscribers typically only focus on the “what”), how relevance has both explicit and implicit elements, and the role of zero-party data in delivering increased relevance.
- Why click-throughs are only one of several routes subscribers use to respond to interesting emails, and how to harness (and measure) the many alternate ways they express their interest.
No gaps with great deliverability
One gap DLG certainly doesn’t worry about is email deliverability. Rabia’s programs are generating near-100 Sender Scores (best in class!) while average inbox placement rates are a phenomenal 98.5%—well above the 85% global benchmark for comparable senders. She was generous in her praise for the critical role Validity plays in helping achieve such outstanding performance for this business-critical channel.
Data takes the lead
Our Validity colleague Rafael Viana complemented Rabia’s observations with a brand-new set of global email analytics. Volume trends have been flat recently—perhaps due to Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day all taking place in H1—but are clearly trending upwards as Northern Hemisphere summer holidays come to an end and peak sale season approaches. Slightly worrying, important negative KPIs like trap hits and bounce rates are also rising. Senders should address this now to avoid deliverability pain during the revenue-critical period that’s approaching.
While it’s important to maximise the effectiveness of all marketing channels, there is definitely still room for further adoption of email! View our new infographic to fully understand where the biggest measurement gaps are. Then, learn about how to close these gaps for your program (and the data you need to bridge them) by listening to the webinar recording below.