q2 2014 email benchmark report

Quarterly email benchmark report

Q2 2014 — April, May, June

An Experian Marketing Services benchmark report

Q2 2014 email benchmark report

Table of contents

Q2 2014 executive summary ............................................................................................1

Spotlight on: Email for mobile acquisition .................................................................2

Q2 2014 benchmark volume ............................................................................................6

Year-over-year volume comparison .............................................................................................6

Volume variance YOY Q2 2014 versus Q2 2013 .........................................................................6

Volume variance quarter-to-quarter ...........................................................................................7

Performance analysis .......................................................................................................8

All industry .......................................................................................................................................8

Business products and services .................................................................................................9

Catalogers ........................................................................................................................................9

Consumer products and services .............................................................................................10

Media and entertainment ...........................................................................................................10

Multi-channel retailers .................................................................................................................11

Publishers.......................................................................................................................................12

Travel ...............................................................................................................................................12

Methodology ..................................................................................................................................12

Mobile trends ....................................................................................................................13

Email opens and clicks by platform .........................................................................................13

Email opens and clicks by device .............................................................................................14

Appendix I: Metrics definitions ...................................................................................15


Page 1 | An Experian Marketing Services benchmark report Table of contents

Q2 2014 executive summaryThe following report details the overall email marketing trends for the second quarter of 2014 as well as the key performance indicators (KPIs) that shaped the success of Experian Marketing Services’ clients’ email programs over the past two years.

Email volume rose by 16.8 percent in Q2 2014 compared to Q2 2013.

•Unique open rates were 17.5 percent in Q2 2014 — ahead of 16.3 percent in 2013.

• Unique click rates were 2.1 percent in Q2 2014, declining slightly from 2.3 percent in Q2 2013.

• Revenue per email was $0.10 in Q2 2014 compared to $0.11 in both Q1 2014 and Q2 2013. However, average order values were consistent year-over-year at about $192.

In this month’s spotlight on section we look at how brands are using email for mobile acquisition:

• Dedicated mobile acquisition emails can significantly boost mobile opt-ins, providing as much as 86 percent of monthly mobile sign-ups and increasing overall list size by as much as 32 percent.

• Including mobile calls-to-action in ongoing email campaigns is also an effective mobile acquisition technique. Daily mobile sign-ups are up to 3 times higher when emails include mobile-related banners, calls-to-action, or sidebars with links to opt-in forms.

• To optimize the cross-channel benefits of these two channels, mobile landing pages should be used to capture email addresses.


Page 2 | Quarterly Email benchmark report: Q2 2014 — Apri, May, June Table of contents

Spotlight on: Email for mobile acquisitionEmail plays a key role in mobile acquisition. As noted in the recently published Mobile marketing best practices guide from Experian Marketing Services, using email to acquire mobile subscribers should be part of every mobile promotional, customer service and rewards program. Email subscribers are a readymade audience to opt-in to a mobile program, as these subscribers have already shown interest in a brand. With over 50 percent of emails being opened on mobile devices, there is a strong likelihood that many email subscribers will be interested in receiving mobile messages and offers as well.

The mobile dedicated email

It is important to note that email list sizes are often significantly larger than mobile list sizes, given the maturity of the channel. Mobile lists tend to be more difficult to initially acquire due to the personal nature of the devices. However, mobile messaging list sizes now range from tens of thousands to multiple millions of phone numbers. Though list size may be smaller, mobile subscribers tend to be highly engaged, and when subscribed to both email and mobile messaging, are likely to be among a brand’s most valuable customers.

Much as we saw in the early stages of social media, emails specifically encouraging mobile sign-ups can be the most effective tools for adding subscribers to the new marketing channel, and growing a customer base over time.

86.4%

Dedicated mobile emails can drive over 86% of monthly mobile acquisition

Source: Experian Marketing Services

67.4%

28.1%

75.6% 78.5%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Case 5Case 4Case 3Case 2Case 1

Dedicated email opt-ins as % of monthly opt-ins

http://www.experian.com/marketing-services/mobile-marketing-best-practices-guide.html



There are two main formats for mobile dedicated emails:

Text to short code call-to-action

•Simple opt-in process direct from mobile device

•Single opt-in user flow

•Limited CRM data collection opportunities

Link to web opt-in form

•Multi-step enrollment process for users via web form

•Double opt-in process upon form submit

•Opportunity for data collection and subscriber profiling

•Opportunity for device detection



For emails dedicated to mobile signups, the number of mobile subscribers acquired was typically around 1 percent of the email volume sent. While this may seem like a low response rate, it actually represented an increase of between 15 and 32 percent in the overall mobile list size for these brands.

For the cases in this study, the dedicated mobile acquisition mailings were sent once a month or once every other month. The first mailing generated the highest number of mobile sign-ups, while the next month’s mailing generated 40 percent to 50 percent more new mobile subscribers. Some of the subsequent mailings also included general offers in their creative, as well as a major section asking subscribers to sign up for mobile. These dual purpose mailings did just as well in obtaining subsequent mobile subscribers. It is important to test both the timing and content of your campaigns to optimize mobile acquisition for your brand.

Mobile calls-to-action

Just like social media icons, shop now buttons and other features, a mobile call-to-action should be a standard feature in your email design and creative. Growing your mobile list requires continuously promoting the program. Our case studies have found that daily mobile sign-ups are up to 3 times higher when emails include mobile related banners, calls-to-action, or sidebars with links to opt-in forms.



Leveraging mobile to capture new email subscribers

Conversely, there are a variety of highly effective mobile strategies that can be used to acquire email subscribers. Forty-four percent of our 2014 State of Cross-Channel Marketing Survey respondents cited mobile (SMS, apps, or mobile web) as an acquisition source for email addresses. Acquisition of email addresses via SMS can provide a streamlined method for capture in stores and has yielded impressive results for many brands. Several clients utilizing this method have acquired more than 50,000 email addresses within a six month period.

Consider a user experience like the one below for capturing email addresses in-store via SMS and a mobile landing page:

Source: Experian Marketing Services

Email and mobile acquisition recommendations

• Send dedicated mobile acquisition emails: Whether you are presenting a text to short code call-to-action or a link to a subscribe form, dedicated mobile emails can significantly increase your mobile list.

• Links to web opt-in forms: Collecting additional information with an opt-in form can provide data for further targeting and offer segmentation.

• Include mobile calls-to-action in ongoing email campaigns: Mobile calls-to-action should become a standard feature in your email design to continuously encourage subscribers to receive your mobile messages.

• Capture email sign-ups on mobile landing pages: Email and mobile lend themselves well to cross-channel acqusitions and promotions. Each channel can be used to support the other and combine to provide dynamic, complimentary elements of a well-run digital marketing program.



Q2 2014 benchmark volumeYear-over-year volume comparison

The following benchmarks report on the year-over-year (YOY) trends for Q2 2014 compared to Q2 2013. This quarter, email volume rose by 16.8 percent compared to the same quarter last year.

Volume variance YOY Q2 2014 versus Q2 2013

• Catalogers had the highest gain in volume, as one hundred percent (100%) of brands increased mailings in Q2 2014, while media and entertainment had the second highest volume gain with 61 percent of brands showing year-over-year volume increases.

• Business products and services brands had a small year-over-year increase in volume, as brands split 50/50 for increases and decreases in email volume.

• Seventy-one percent of multi-channel retailers, 67 percent of consumer products and services, 54 percent of publishers and 47 percent of travel brands had increases in year-over-year volume.

0%

10%

20%

30%

All industryTravelPublishersMulti-channel retailers

Media and entertainment

Consumer products

and services

CatalogersBusiness products

and services

1.6%

27.7%

9.5%

26.4%

18.6% 18.5%

5.8%

16.8%

Volume variance by industry – Q2 to Q2 (2014 vs 2013)



Volume variance quarter-to-quarter

• In a change from 2013, business products and services had the largest quarter-to-quarter increase in volume of all of the industries.

-10%

0%

10%

20%

All industryTravelPublishersMulti-channel retailers


Consumer products

and services

CatalogersBusiness products

and services

-8%

19%

6%8%

10% 9% 9%

1%

8%

2%

12%

1%

7% 6%7% 7%

Volume variance Q2 compared to Q1 by industry – 2013 and 2014

Q2 2013 to Q1 2013 Q2 2014 to Q1 2014



Performance analysisIn order to enhance our understanding of what’s happening by industry, we have created views of all Q2 year-over-year metrics for 2014 versus 2013.

All industry

Q2 All industry year-over-year performance analysis

• In Q2 2014, total and unique open rates were higher than those seen in Q2 2013, as more than 56 percent of brands had significant increases in year-over-year open rates.

• Click rates were lower year-over-year, as 70 percent of brands had a significant decrease in click rates in Q2 2014 compared to Q2 2013.

• Open rates and average order values were fairly constant in Q2 compared to Q1 2014, but click and transaction rates declined.

Q2 2014 compared to Q1 2014 all industry performance analysis

Positive change Minimal change Negative change



Business products and services

Q2 Business products and services year-over-year performance analysis

• Sixty percent of business products and services brands had statistically significant increases in open rates.

• Click rates remained the same year-over-year.

Catalogers

Q2 Catalogers year-over-year performance analysis

• While year-over-year volume increased for catalogers, open rates were higher in Q2 2014, as 57 percent of catalogers had statistically significant increases in open rates in Q2 2014 compared to Q2 2013.

• Although transaction rates declined, year-over-year revenue per email remained the same as average order values rose in Q2 2014.

• Bounce rates increased, but the 1.4 percent rate for catalogers is still much lower than the 2.3 percent all industry average bounce rate for Q2 2014.



Consumer products and services

Q2 Consumer products and services year-over-year performance analysis

• Open rates rose for consumer products and services, as 55 percent of brands had statistically significant year-over-year increases compared to Q2 2013.

• Declining click rates were seen as 70 percent of consumer products and services brands showed statistically significant lower year-over-year click rates in Q2 2014.

• In spite of lower click rates, year-over-year revenue per email and average order values rose in Q2 2014.


Q2 Media and entertainment year-over-year performance analysis

• In spite of a large year-over-year volume increase, media and entertainment brands enjoyed increases in open rates as 70 percent of brands had statistically significant increases in Q2 2014 compared to Q2 2013.

• Click rates also increased for media and entertainment brands, but the results were mixed as 50 percent had significant increases, while the others had declines.



Multi-channel retailers

Q2 Multi-channel retail year-over-year performance analysis

• Sixty percent of the multi-channel retail brands had statistically significant year-over-year increases in total and unique open rates in Q2 2014.

• Transaction rates, revenue per email and average order values all had minimal year-over-year changes.

Trend to watch: Fall or autumn Starting in early summer, subject lines for fall fashions, travel opportunities and events start appearing in emails. We looked at 45 brands that used the words “fall” and “autumn” in their email campaigns from June through October, 2013. While “fall” was used more frequently, campaigns with the word “autumn” in the subject line had over 6 percent higher unique open rates than campaigns with the word “fall” (18 percent unique open rate for “autumn” compared to 16.9 percent for “fall”). Test using “autumn” in your subject lines for this upcoming season.



Publishers

Q2 Publishers year-over-year performance analysis

•Open rates for publishers in Q2 2014 matched Q2 2013.

• Click rates declined with two-thirds of publisher brands showing a statistically significant year-over-year decrease in click rates in Q2 2104.

Travel

Q2 Travel year-over-year performance analysis

• While open rates showed a minor decline for the travel vertical in Q2 2014, the results are actually mixed as 58 percent of brands had statistically significant increases in opens compared to Q2 2013.

• Unique click results were also mixed with 32 percent of brands either matching last year’s rates or showing statistically significant increases in click rates in Q2 2014.

Methodology

Experian Marketing Services’ quarterly email benchmarks are based on analysis of major email marketing trends and key performance indicators across seven major verticals: Business products and services, catalogers, consumer products and services, media and entertainment, multi-channel retailers, publishers and travel. Data analyzed within these benchmarks are from client brands within the United States and Canada that have opted to participate in this study. All metrics reflect average performance at 14 days after the emails have been sent.



Mobile trendsEmail opens and clicks by platform

Q2 2014 opens and clicks by platform

• Forty-eight percent of total email opens occurred on a mobile phone or tablet in Q2 2014. This is a slight drop from the 50 percent seen in Q1 2014.

• The majority of email opens occurred on mobile phones or tablets for catalogers, consumer products and services and multi-channel retailers.

• Only multi-channel retailers had 50 percent or more of their total clicks occurring on mobile phones or tablets.

• Business products and services, travel and publishers still receive most of their email opens and clicks on desktop devices.



Email opens and clicks by device

Q2 2014 opens and clicks by major device types

• The totals for opens and clicks by device type may not add up to 100 percent as there is a small percent of ‘other devices’ not included in the chart.

• Catalogers had the highest percentage of tablet use (18 percent of opens and 13 percent of clicks).

• The iPhone® was most popular for multi-channel retailers with 38 percent of emails opens and 27 percent of clicks occurring on an iPhone.



Appendix I: Metrics definitionsTotal opens: All opens recorded for the mailing including multiple opens by the same subscriber. Total open rates are (total opens/received).

Unique opens: The number of unique subscribers that have opened an HTML-formatted message. Unique open rates are (unique opens/received).

Total clicks: Every click on a tracked link, including multiple clicks by a given subscriber. Total click rates are (total clicks/received).

Unique clicks: The number of unique subscribers who have clicked on any link. Unique click rates are (unique clicks/received).

Click-to-open rates: Unique clicks as a percentage of unique opens (unique clicks/unique opens).

Transaction rates: Overall percentage of transactions as related to delivered messages (transactions/received). This metric only includes data for clients who have implemented Experian Marketing Services’ Track to Purchase functionality.

Transaction-to-click rates: Percentage of transactions compared to the number of unique clicks (transactions/unique clicks). This metric only includes data for clients who have implemented Experian Marketing Services’ Track to Purchase functionality.

Average order value: Average total amount for each transaction. This metric only includes data for clients who have implemented Experian Marketing Services’ Track to Purchase functionality.

Revenue per email delivered: Average amount earned for each delivered email (total order/received).

Bounce rates: The percentage of subscribers that did not receive a mailing because their email addresses hard bounced (bounce/sent).

Unsubscribe rates: This reflects the total number of subscribers lost as a result of users unsubscribing from the mailing (unique unsubscribers/received).

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08/14

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q2 2014 email benchmark report

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