| Marketers Most Troubled By Spam Filters and Blacklists; Increased Industry Challenges Prompt Rise in Dedicated Internal Resources, Outsourcing of Email Delivery |
“Email Distribution: Tactics to Improve Efficiency and Effectiveness”
Hoopla and headlines aside, permission-based email marketers say they are less concerned with legislation aimed at stopping spam than they are with technology and practices of ISPs that inadvertently block legitimate, permission-based email.
That's the primary finding of a survey conducted during a recent Jupiter Research webinar, sponsored by EmailLabs, a leading provider of email marketing automation solutions. Focused on email delivery trends, the webinar -- entitled "Email Distribution: Tactics to Improve Efficiency and Effectiveness" -- aired live on Wednesday, Oct. 29 and was led by David Daniels, Research Director for Jupiter Research. An archive of the webinar presentation may be accessed at (requires registration): https://ww4.premconf.com/webrsvp/register?conf_id=772718.
When asked to identify their biggest concern, nearly a third of the email marketers surveyed (31 percent) mentioned blacklists and spam filters implemented by ISPs and corporate IT departments. Some 22 percent put bounces and email address changes as their biggest email delivery issue. A like number cited inbox clutter -- and the toll that takes on open rates -- as their top email delivery concern. A scant 8 percent called anti-spam legislation their number one concern, while 9 percent put email client-level filters first and 8 percent said obtaining accurate delivery statistics was their most pressing challenge.
In response, email marketers are taking a number of concrete steps to address these concerns -- foremost of which is increasing or dedicating internal resources to email marketing (27 percent). Another 24.5 percent are deploying ISP-specific strategies (message format changes and buddy lists), 22 percent plan to outsource email delivery and 13.5 percent are looking to switch email marketing technology service providers. Relatively few are switching to a double opt-in subscription process (8 percent) and even fewer plan to use a sender certification program (5 percent).
"These findings reflect the increasing maturity of the email marketing industry, as companies beef up resources internally and externally to better address delivery challenges and take their programs to the next level of sophistication," said David Sousa, CEO of EmailLabs. "Permission-based email marketers are worrying much less about spam and threats to their own legitimacy, since they already observe best practices."
"While the focus publicly has shifted to legislation and the courts, email marketers on the ground are concerned about activities by those who control the pipes," Sousa said of ISPs and corporate IT. "Blacklists and spam filters, ostensibly aimed at preventing the delivery of spam-related email messages, inevitably deny a good amount of legitimate email from reaching customers and subscribers."
According to Loren McDonald, VP of Marketing, EmailLabs, "The fact that marketing departments are now planning to increase internal resources dedicated to email marketing is a reflection of their desire to increase the ROI from their email marketing program." McDonald noted that organizations initially turned to email marketing because it was cost-effective -- offering low barriers to entry, immediacy, reporting, an ability to test and the potential for high return.
"Now, after companies have been engaged in email marketing for some time, they are realizing that they have yet to take advantage of the medium's greatest capabilities -- such as deep personalization, behavioral segmentation and trigger-based emails," McDonald added. "Nearly two-thirds of respondents plan to outsource, add staff or switch providers -- a clear sign of email marketing's importance in the marketing mix."
In an additional sign of the growing sophistication of email marketers, 27 percent identified in-depth reporting as the single most important feature or service they seek when selecting an email marketing solution/provider, followed by customization and CRM integration/API at 21 percent. Nineteen percent cited advanced features (triggers, dynamic message assembly, etc.), followed by dedicated ISP relations/high deliverability, at 18 percent.
The types of email marketing solutions currently used varied widely across companies, however with ASP/Hosted software the top choice at 30 percent followed by installed software (licensed) at 23 percent. Complete responses follow:
-- 30 percent -- ASP/hosted software
-- 23 percent -- Installed software (licensed)
-- 20 percent -- Internally developed software
-- 18 percent -- Through agency
-- 9 percent -- Not sending email campaigns/newsletters
About EmailLabs
EmailLabs is a leading provider of advanced email technology solutions to agencies, publishers and marketing, sales and customer service departments of middle-market and Global 2000 companies. The EmailLabs email-marketing platform is provided as an ASP (Web-based) service, and is easily customized and integrated with a company's Web site, sales force automation and CRM technologies. The company provides email-marketing solutions to more than 250 companies, including Nokia, Agilent, Business2.0, Jupitermedia and Silicon Valley Bank. Headquartered in Redwood City, Calif., EmailLabs is a product of Uptilt, Inc. Uptilt is privately held and profitable. For more information, visit www.EmailLabs.com.
About Jupitermedia Corporation
Jupitermedia Corporation (Nasdaq:JUPM), (http://www.jupitermedia.com) headquartered in Darien, CT, is a leading provider of global real-time news, information, research and media resources for information technology, Internet industry and graphics professionals. Jupitermedia includes the internet.com, EarthWeb.com, DevX.com and ArtToday.com Networks which include over 165 Web sites and nearly 200 e-mail newsletters that generate over 275 million page views monthly. Jupitermedia also includes Jupiter Research, a leading international research advisory organization specializing in business and technology market research in 18 business areas and 14 vertical markets. In addition, Jupiter Events produces offline conferences and trade shows focused on IT and business-specific topics, including Enterprise IT Week Conference & Expo (http://www.cdxpo.com), Wi-Fi Planet Conferences & Expos and Search Engine Strategies Conferences & Expos (for complete list of events: www.jupitermedia.com).
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