Does your performance measure up?
With email marketing being used more widely and increasing in popularity, particularly as an integrated B2B platform it’s good to check your results and see if you were better than the average or below it.
Based on an analysis of 2.8 billion emails sent during 2010 (which is a big number whichever way you look at it) the results were:
• Delivery rates averaged 95%. Up from 2009.
• Open rates were 15%, down from 26% in 2009.
• Click rates remained steady at 3%.
• Bounce rates were 5%, besting 2009’s 7% bounce rate.
Apart from the open rates (and there were specific reasons given for this fall) the results are positive and demonstrate how email marketing is improving and being used more widely.
But if your email marketing isn’t measuring up, or delivering poor results, then telemarketing can boost your performance and improve your email campaigns.
Boost email delivery rates
If people don’t receive your emails they can’t act upon them. Every bounced email represents a lost opportunity to sell your products or engage with customers. Data cleansing is proven to boost email delivery rates by contacting your mailing database and establishing the correct email address for each person.
Keeping emails relevant
The report concluded that the drop in open rates between 2009 and 2010 was attributed, mostly, to a change in the emphasis of emails. Previously marketing emails tended to be customer service based delivering content that was relevant and matched the needs of the client. More recently companies have started to use email marketing as a sales tool to attract more customers using content that was focused on encouraging them to buy more products – simply put many people did not like this approach and this is show within the results of the survey.
This change in emphasis was the reason that open rates fell dramatically, as people have turned away from this type of marketing and simply ignored all the messages. Marketers now know that it’s time to take it back to basics and uncover how people want to receive your message and an easy way to find out is to call and ask them.
A telemarketing campaign to determine what email messages people prefer, and making sure their choices are adhered to, will lead to better open and click rates for emails, and more in-depth engagement with customers – it’s a simple approach but it works.
Integrating telemarketing works
Integrating telemarketing with an email campaign improves your reach and the effectiveness of those campaigns. In addition, establishing and adhering to customer’s contact preferences is an effective part of a relationship marketing strategy, improves loyalty and encourages long-term repeat business which are the key ingredients to a strong sales pipeline.
How can we help?
Our operation is made up of highly skilled telemarketers who display maturity, influencing skills and the ability to hold conversations. Using email marketing as a starting point and combining it with telemarketing to increase your customer interactions, conversations and engagement you will be providing a consistent customer experience. With most of the marketing media discussing the impact your customer has on your bottom line, now’s the time to make their experiences count.
Phonetic can make sure that your telemarketing campaigns integrate perfectly with your email initiatives and that your customers feel more satisfied with their experience than they thought they would.
Source: Harte-Hanks Email Survey Report 2010
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