Email is still the backbone of multichannel strategy, says IBM.
According to IBM’s 2015 Email Marketing Metrics Benchmark Study, email remains a stalwart of any multichannel
strategy. Citing a Direct Marketing Association report, the IBM study’s authors note that for every $1 spent on email marketing, there’s an average return of $44.25.
50% of
companies are increasing their digital marketing budgets in 2015, and most of those companies are looking to leverage cross-channel tactics including social, mobile, Web and in store.
“By combing email marketing with deep analytics, marketers can now understand their customers on entirely new levels, generating additional insights from the digital world to deliver
meaningful experiences for each consumer at the right place and the right time,” stated Deepak Advani, GM, IBM Commerce.
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According to the study, the brands that performed the best used
email campaigns triggered by a person’s previous action, such as a recent purchase or the resetting of their password. These campaigns, known as transactional emails, drove higher customer
engagement due to the timeliness and relevancy of these messages, producing an open rate of 72% and average click through rate (CTR) of 30%.
The study analyzed email marketing trends from
3,000 global brands in 40 countries and multiple industries, including travel, retail, insurance and IT, among others.
The travel industry’s email campaigns in general had the highest
performance, with email open rates reaching upwards of 50%, which is 10 times more than lower-performing sectors.
Retail and ecommerce performed the worst because, IBM says, many retailers
still rely on “batch-and-blast methods” that lack personalization and relevance. Travel emails are often heavy with visuals and good deals.
Asia Pacific outperformed Europe and
North America, most likely due to the explosion of digital consumerism and marketing happening there now.