Given the finding that 62% of consumers have abandoned an email address because of the number of marketing emails they receive, email marketers are focusing on the need to make the messages that they do send more relevant to consumers.
At any given time, found the DMA’s latest Marketer email tracker 2017 report, shoppers have 379 unread email messages in their inboxes.
Most marketers agree on the central role of email marketing to their organisations: the report finds that 95% say it is important or very important. But 42% say that, at best, ‘some’ of their emails are relevant to customers, and only 9% say all their emails are relevant.
Put all that together, argues the report, and it appears engaging content will become vital to marketers as they work to make their email messages more relevant in future.
Its study found that email was still delivering a growing return on investment – ROI on email increased from £29.64 to £30.01 over the last year, says the DMA report, although it noted that only 45% of marketers could calculate the ROI on their campaigns. But messages need to get more relevant if they are to meet brand and campaign targets.
Rachel Aldighieri, managing director of the DMA, said: “Email has never been so important to marketers and has fast become the channel round which others can be built to create a truly integrated multichannel marketing programme. Although with this growth in email, we’re already starting to see issues with the access to good content and the knock-on effect this has on relevance. Trust is the key to any long-term relationship and if marketers want to continue to see the impressive returns on their email spend, they will need to heed consumer concerns and take care to give them what they want.”
Skip Fidura, client services director at dotmailer and chair of the DMA’s Responsible Marketing Committee, said: “This year’s insight into the view of consumers and marketers on email paints a worrying picture. While both love the channel, consumers continue to say they get too many and irrelevant emails from brands. More worrying still is that 42% of marketers agree. The warning signs are there. Over half of consumers have considered deleting their email account to control the flow of marketing emails they receive. As email marketers, we have a responsibility to our customers, to ourselves and to our businesses to keep our channel not just viable but thriving long into the future.”
