jericho.co.

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E V OLVI N G B U S I N E S S O N L I N E

0800 MAIL4U

jericho.co.nz

Introduction

Which is the best day of the week to send my email? Whats a good open rate for my newsletter? How many people click when they receive emails from the Government? Every day we are asked for relevant, reliable metrics on email marketing. When New Zealand-focussed marketers want local metrics to help them benchmark the performance of their own email marketing, they turn to us. Jericho has been leading innovation in online marketing in New Zealand for ten years, and our SmartMail software platform has been the Email Service Provider (ESP) of choice for Government, Corporate and SME businesses since 2002. Thanks to the diversity of our customer base, and the significant aggregated volume of emails they send, Jericho is uniquely placed to comment on email marketing in this market.

Before getting into the report itself, wed like to say that email is good but good email is best. Our goal has always been for our clients email marketing to stand out as best of breed. Email has grown up and become more useful as spam has proliferated, so recipients have become very discerning about what they opt-in for, what they open, and what they click on when mail arrives in their inbox. Many factors influence the response that your email will elicit once its in the hands of your recipient. Seth Godin back in 2000 said that good email is anticipated, personal and relevant 1. Ten years later we are yet to find a better aphorism that sums up email marketing so beautifully. This report emphasises that there are dozens of factors of varying importance to consider. When to send, to whom, how and why these are the important questions. And of course, what you send. Relevant content is key.
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_Godin

We hope that this report will enhance your email marketing program by helping you to focus on doing better. When you have feedback or questions, please get in touch.

Jeff Mann Director Jericho

Roanne Parker Director Jericho

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The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

How can this report help you?

The release of the Jericho Report means that you have a benchmark against which to measure the performance of your own campaigns. You can use these statistics as a prompt to put your own stick in the sand, making time to set your own benchmarks and criteria of success. This report details the open rates and click through rates attained by email marketing, in total and stratified by 30 different industry types. We also break the data down by list size, so you can easily match it to your own database. The report clearly shows the most popular days to send email, and how the day of the week influences peoples response. These findings are essential for benchmarking, but the most meaningful metrics are your own. How does your campaign measure up to your own goals? Does it meet your expectations? How does it compare with last time? This report will be used to monitor the growth and efficacy of email marketing in New Zealand and Australia. With our internationally standardised metrics you can compare your success with that of marketers in Europe, the USA and beyond.

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The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

Email marketing in 2010

Over the last decade, organisations around the world have adopted permission email marketing to communicate with their clients and prospects. Year on year, email continues to grow, with larger budgets dedicated to broader application of the medium, both for marketing and transactional messaging. There are two clear drivers for this: 1 Marketers We like it because its cost effective [not just plain effective]. Late in 2009 the DMA showed that email continues to show a return on investment (ROI) that is significantly higher than other marketing methods2. Whats more, email works equally well for organisations that focus on end consumers (B2C) and organisations that focus on other businesses (B2B).
2 In October 2009, the US Direct Marketing Association released their annual report, which outlines the ROI of email and other direct channels. The ROI of email for 2009 was $43.62, the highest ROI of any other channel. The second highest ROI came from search advertising, which returned $21.85 per dollar spent.

During the global recession, email has been the port in the storm for marketers as it offers that measurable ROI. It enables personalised communication to greatly aid the retention of existing clients, and it draws in new prospects. 2 Consumers They like it because its easy, its personal, and its green. Recipients like email because access to relevant, timely information makes their lives easier, whether it is news from their kids school, an offer from their favourite brand, or a statement from their insurance company. Good email is rewarded with peoples attention, and businesses that send good emails are rewarded with loyalty. At the same time, consumers are increasingly demanding that they receive traditional print and post communications via email a trend that has been driven by concerns about the high environmental cost of paper, and the shift of everyday tasks into the online domain.

Ideally, marketers can maximise budgets by investing more time in reviewing past campaign performance. They look to actual response rates and return on investment (ROI) when planning future marketing campaigns and all subordinate elements. Email should be incorporated strategically to help deliver on business goals. In practice, people dont always adhere to the ideal. A blog post we read recently coined a new email marketing rule the 90:10:03: 90% is the time spent on putting the email campaign together, 10% is the time spent reviewing results and 0% is the time invested in applying those learnings next time. This is closer to the reality for most marketers in 2010 but its really not that hard!

3 Three Keys To Creating Actionable Insights. David Baker February 2010.

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The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

Table of Contents

To make this data as useful as possible for everyone who uses email marketing, we have focused on a number of key metrics that are both interesting and useful for your own campaigns, including: Unique Render (Open) Rate.. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Page 9 Render Rate by List Size .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 10 Render Rate by Industry Type (rank order) .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 11 Unique Click Through Rate (CTR).. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 12 Unique Click Through Rate by List Size ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 13 Unique Click Through Rate by Industry Type (rank order) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 14 Unique Click to Open Rate (CTO).. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 15 Unique Click to Open Rate by List Size ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 16 Unique Click to Open Rate by Industry Type ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 17 Click Through Rate and Click to Open Rate, back to back, by Industry Type .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 18 Render Rate, Click to Open Rate and Volume, by Day of the Week .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 19 Render Rate and Click Through Rate, by Industry (alphabetical order). ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 20 Render Rate, Click to Open Rate and List Size, by Industry Type (8 pages of individual graphs) ... 21 Closing Comments ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 29 Glossary ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 30 Copyright and Disclaimer .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 31

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The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

Executive Summary

To produce this report we analysed a sample of data from a pool of around 100,000,000 emails sent in 2009, predominantly to recipients in New Zealand. Key Findings: Open (Render) rates The overall unique render rate is 33.85% This figure is higher than we had optimistically expected, although as we will see, industry types have results that vary from 29% to 48%. One of emails main advantages over traditional media is that this kind of insight is possible. Although render rate stats arent perfect, they are the standard reported worldwide and so they are very helpful when making comparisons. Weve adopted the name approved by The Email Measurement Accuracy Roundtable of the US DMA/Email Experience Council that is, render rate. Its the same statistic as Open Rate but more accurately describes what happens when the email is counted. Full metric descriptions available in the Glossary on page 31.

Click rates There are two useful ways of examining click through rates, and weve analysed both for you. 1 Click Through Rate (CTR) The number of times a link is clicked from a message divided by the number of messages sent. Useful for comparison as it is an industry standard metric, this figure overall was 7.59%. 2 Click to Open Rate (CTO) The unique number of times a link is clicked from a message divided by the unique number of confirmed opens for that message. The click-to-open rate calculates click-through rates as a percentage of messages opened, instead of messages delivered. In other words, the CTO measures how effective your email message was in motivating those recipients who opened it to subsequently click a link. We think this is a very useful measurement. Once your email is open, do your calls-to-action appeal enough to motivate the click to Read More, to Buy Now or to visit the website? In our study, this figure was 21.10% overall.

Metrics By Industry In order to get you the most relevant statistics possible, we segmented the results into 30 different industry types, also stratifying the data according to database size, and then focusing on render and click metrics. 1 Render Rates It seems were a nation of primary industry. Horticulture/Agriculture/Marine has the highest render rates followed by Insurance/ Superannuation, and Wholesale/Import/Export. This aligns with our daily observation that as well as being widespread, email is performing very strongly as a B2B channel. On the consumer side, Retail at 32.57%, Automotive at 42.80% and Real Estate at 39.66% were strong performers. Lower figures showed for Not for Profit at 29.64%, Central Government at 30.30% and Local Government at 30.05%; although these are still very strong compared to overseas email metrics. Interestingly, these response figures are up to ten times higher than one would expect from a Direct Mail campaign.

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The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

Executive Summary continued

2 Click through rates Financial Services, IT/Telecommunications, Construction and Trade Services all made it into double figures with the click throughs that they motivated, while real estate, publishing, government and insurance all achieved click rates of 9% or so. Apparently, the recession kept us more interested in spending than giving consumers were much more likely to click on a retail email link (7.9%) than one from a not for profit (5.2%).

Best days to send In our opinion, the best day to send depends on your audience. B2B emails need to hit when your audience is on the job and it stands to reason that B2C might work better on the weekend. When we crunched through those millions of emails, the numbers were conclusive. The day with the most email traffic by quite a long shot is Wednesday. Wednesday also shows good open and click through rates, while Monday and Friday have the highest render rates and Saturday shows more clicks per email. On balance, Monday has good render and click rates, making it appear the most effective day to send overall.

Metrics by number of recipients In general, emails sent to smaller lists have higher render rates and click through rates than emails sent to larger lists. Of course, it is not the smaller list itself that affects the response rate rather, it is pretty safe to assume that low volume campaigns have been sent to databases that are cleaner and/or more tightly segmented. Smaller lists may also contain more recent subscribers.

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The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

The Metrics
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Unique Render (Open) Rate 4 33.85%

TIP
Use render rates as a measure of the email campaign, but keep in mind that this is not a perfect metric. Use alt tags on your images to provide a description of the image, and design your emails so that they make sense without images. Especially, where possible have your calls to action in text e.g. Read More dont just rely on an image, tile or button.

50%

33.85%
40%

The unique render rate is 33.85%. Render rates have come under scrutiny over the past few years. Just how useful are they? We think they are pretty handy as a measure of brand recognition, subject line relevance and delivery, and as a way of benchmarking a series of emails for improvement or otherwise. For example: If your From name is recognised as a brand that your recipient has a relationship with, your email is more likely to be opened. If the subject line speaks to their day and their daily needs, sparks their curiosity, or sounds like fun, bingo! If the email didnt arrive, its not going to be opened. So if you see rates going up or down, youll know something is changing. How is it measured? Often called Opens the render rate shows renders from unique subscribers, with the measure taken when an email is displayed (whether fully opened or within the preview pane) by any user. If a user opens the email multiple times, or multiple tracking pixel requests are recorded due to forwarding, only one Open is counted per unique email address.

30%

20%

10%

0%

Unique Render (Open) Rate

This metric is measured for HTML format emails only.

The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

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TIP

Render Rate by List Size

Its possible to treat a large list like a small one by using dynamic content that is, a tool to enable data fields to change out blocks of content automatically for example if your recipient is a male, open your email with the image of the footy boots, not the sports bras.

50%

36.40%
40%

We further analysed the data by list size. Micro 20-499, Small 500999 and over 1000. Next time well do larger list breakdowns. The old sales adage is that its a numbers game. In terms of sheer numbers, clearly if you send your email to a large database, youd expect to get more response. However, we dont all have huge databases, and a small list can be just as important and effective. It is easier to keep a very small list clean. Smaller lists may be used by smaller businesses, so their database is their well-known customer base. Conversely, the largest databases may be run by the companies for whom the database is connected in with billing, so strong efforts are made to ensure the accuracy of the list. Segmenting your database to send more relevant content to smaller groups will produce better results as can be seen in click through rate and list size on page 13. Notes on Render rates

31.25%
30%

28.07%

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10%

0%

20 499

500 999 Render Rate by List Size

1000+

Render rates are tracked by the sending servers when an invisible 1x1 pixel image is displayed. This relies on images being displayed in the recipients email program. Many email programs block images by default, and many recipients read their emails without downloading images, or they read them on mobile devices all of which means that the email will not be recorded as opened or Rendered. Combining render rates with click through rates gives a fuller picture.

The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

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TIP

Render Rate by Industry Type (rank order)

Wholesale / Import / Export Agriculture / Horticulture / Marine Insurance / Superannuation Construction Automotive Admin and Business Support Services Real Estate / Property Education / Training Banking / Financial Services Legal / Accounting Software Trade / Services Electricity / Gas / Water / Waste Services IT / Telecommunications Engineering Media / Publishing Manufacturing Distribution / Freight Community Services / Sport Health / Fitness Travel / Tourism Advertising / DM / Web Agencies Retail / Consumer Products Healthcare / Medical Central Government / Defence Local Government / Councils Not For Profit Science / Technology Recruitment / HR Hospitality
48.56% 46.01% 43.42% 43.05% 42.80% 39.84% 39.66% 39.27% 39.18% 39.13% 38.83% 38.78% 37.73% 37.46% 37.45% 37.13% 35.49% 35.36% 34.90% 34.83% 34.54% 35.85% 32.57% 31.66% 30.30% 30.05% 29.64% 29.47% 29.06% 29.04%

Including your brand name in the From address, and/or the Subject Line will aid your recipients recognition and increase the likelihood that your email is opened. Ensure that your Subject Line is enticing, accurate and closely related to the key benefit of the email.

Render rates for all industries we measured are strong compared to overseas email metrics. Highest Wholesale (48.56%), Agriculture (46.01%), Insurance (43.42%) Lowest Hospitality (29.04%), Recruitment (29.06%), Not for Profit (29.64%)

30 different industries were analysed during the 12 month period, and the sample included small, medium and large enterprises, primarily in the New Zealand market. When a business relies on email as a key communications channel to talk to their customer and prospects they invest more to get it right. They care about best practise and they keep their data up to date. Happily, this brings in better results as the reader is more likely to open the email. Take the time to look up your own industry to use for benchmarking, and feel free to copy the more detailed break downs in the last several pages of the report. Growing prevalence of smart phone use to read emails may well have accounted for international studies which have shown some recorded downward trend in open rates over recent years... Different industries are likely to serve different demographics, so business to business communications and those of you with a mobile clientele may find your render rate affected. The smarter the phone though, the more chance this wont be an issue anymore, as images render into mobiles and the render is counted.

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Refer to notes on Render Rates page 9

The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

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Unique Click Through Rate (CTR) 4 7.59%

TIP
Make sure that links are clearly presented and inviting even when images are not displayed. Use text to describe the value of the link e.g. Read more about how our shoes won the race. If you are expecting readers to click on images, use descriptive alt tags to explain the value of the link. Ensuring that links are calls to action, rather than flat statements, will also increase the chances of being clicked.

20%

The overall recorded click through rate is 7.59%. This metric gives you an indication about the responsiveness of your audience to your message. Factors such as the number of links within each message, the placement of each link and the relevance of your message, can all affect your overall click through rate. Simply, click through rates measure how enticing the link was within the email. Clicking takes effort, so if theres not a clear reason to click, then your links are unlikely to attract that action from your readers. Click throughs should be monitored as you make changes to the communications that you send, and should be tracked over time. How is it measured? Overall Click Through / Send Rate The overall click through rate takes the total number of emails sent, divided by the total number of links clicked. Each link is counted only once although it may have been clicked on multiple times. The total includes clicks from both text and HTML versions of emails.

10%

7.59%

0%

Unique Click Through Rate (CTR)

The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

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Unique Click Through Rate (CTR) 4 7.59%

TIP
Experiment with the placement of links within your emails. You might find that moving the content around stimulates new interest in what you are offering, thus driving increased activity. Dont forget to split your list so that you can test whether your new format makes a difference.

20%

8.69%

Even when you compare very small lists, does list size affect click through results? Yes, it seems to. The smallest list sizes showed the highest click through rates around 20% more clicks than the larger lists. Both the 500+ and the 1000+ sizes were very similar in the number of actions they saw. This result aligns with international findings. Communications to smaller lists are likely to be more targeted or segmented. Recipients may feel the email is more relevant to them as an individual. Its also more likely that the recipient has a close and trusted relationship with the business.

10%

6.38%

6.48%

0%

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500 999 Unique Click Through Rate by List Size

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The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

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Unique Click Through Rate by Industry Type (Rank Order)

Construction Trade / Services IT / Telecommunications Banking / Financial Services Real Estate / Property Media / Publishing Insurance / Superannuation Central Government / Defence Manufacturing Automotive Legal / Accounting Retail / Consumer Products Advertising / DM / Web Agencies Engineering Admin and Business Support Services Travel / Tourism Community Services / Sport Recruitment / HR Agriculture / Horticulture / Marine Wholesale / Import / Export Health / Fitness Software Not For Profit Healthcare / Medical Local Government / Councils Education / Training Electricity / Gas / Water / Waste Services Science / Technology Distribution / Freight Hospitality
10.93% 10.05% 9.79% 9.43% 9.17% 8.97% 8.76% 8.08% 8.05% 7.90% 7.79% 7.77% 7.40% 6.57% 6.54% 6.20% 6.07% 5.81% 5.38% 5.36% 5.26% 5.10% 4.66% 4.41% 4.07% 3.82% 3.62% 3.13% 14.92% 12.56%

TIP
If your email is sent in HTML (few arent these days) include a link to view the email in a webpage, just in case recipients cant download images. This increases the chances of your email being viewed as you intended it to be, with your pictures, links and calls to action easy to use.

Of the 30 industries measured, the click through rate varied between Construction (the highest with 14.92%) and Hospitality (with 3.13% ). Like many of our findings, we saw average click through rates that were higher than those presenting in overseas reports. New Zealanders appear more willing to click, and are quite practical about what we are clicking on. Construction, Trade Services and IT/Telecommunications were the top three performing sectors. Despite this tight economic climate, the Real Estate sector maintained a 9.79% click through rate. We still love to look at property, even if we arent actually buying.

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The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

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Unique Click to Open Rate (CTO) 421.10%

TIP
Good email design has a positive impact on every aspect of your campaign. Good design sells, grows loyalty, enhances brand and helps get the email delivered every time. Email design has to achieve complex goals specific to a dynamic environment. Your email also needs to look good across email clients and mobile platforms including Hotmail, Yahoo, Outlook, Gmail, Me.com, iPhone and Blackberry.

30%

21.10%

20% By removing the number of unopened messages from the picture, the data more accurately reflects the effectiveness of the actual email message. This measure shows you how much your readers like your copy and content, including your offer, the design and layout, and calls to action. How is it measured? 10% Click to open is the ratio of unique clicks to unique opens. The CTO measures how effective your email message was in motivating recipients who opened it. to click a link. In other words, the click-to-open rate expresses the measure of click-through rates as a percentage of messages opened, instead of messages delivered.

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Unique Click to Open Rate

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Unique Click to Open Rate by List Size

TIP
We often remind clients that the first thing a person thinks when they receive an email is who has sent me this? The second thing is why have they sent it to me? It doesnt matter if the emails from your mother or the bank. The same process applies. If you keep that in mind then youll keep your brand, subject line, and key points loud and clear as they should be.

30%

22.23%

17.89%

20.64%

20%

10%

Size does matter. And not just list size. Who wants to read really long emails? Keep your email to the point. The content should get the recipients attention, building enough of a relationship to encourage the reader to take the next step. The recipient may be compelled to click through to a landing page, visit a bricks and mortar store, download a document or tell their friends. Alternatively an older or less tech-savvy audience might still prefer printing emails in order to read them. If that applies to your own audience, lots of read more links can be a pain as theyll have to print each landing page individually to read your stories. If the question is how long is too long?, the answer is it depends. In fact thats the answer to many of email marketings questions, even when youve been doing it for 10 years like we have.

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500 999 Unique Click to Open Rate by List Size

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The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

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Unique Click to Open Rate by Industry (Rank Order)

Trade / Services Construction IT / Telecommunications Central Government / Defence Media / Publishing Banking / Financial Services Retail / Consumer Products Manufacturing Advertising / DM / Web Agencies Real Estate / Property Engineering Legal / Accounting Insurance / Superannuation Travel / Tourism Admin and Business Support Services Automotive Recruitment / HR Community Services / Sport Healthcare / Medical Not for Profit Wholesale / Import / Export Hospitality Health / Fitness Education / training Science / Technology Software Agriculture / Horticulture / Marine Local Government / Councils Electricity / Gas / Water / Waste Services Distribution / Freight
26.41% 25.54% 25.26% 24.30% 23.32% 22.89% 21.71% 21.17% 19.85% 19.34% 18.75% 18.33% 17.85% 17.59% 17.02% 16.18% 14.78% 13.80% 13.58% 13.16% 12.86% 12.84% 12.61% 11.73% 10.58% 10.40% 32.97% 32.30% 30.06% 29.96%

TIP
If your recipients are regularly serviced by specific salespeople that they know personally, consider personalising the message with a signature file thats unique to the right salesperson for that recipient. Appropriately used personalisation can increase your open and response rates.

Response rates varied widely in this chart. Not all emails ask for an action, many are simply informative. This might account for some of the variance. Construction and Trade / Services show the highest click to open rates along with Government and IT/ Telecommunications which sit just on the 30% mark. At 25% and 23% respectively, you find Retail/Consumer Products and Real Estate. These industries are both likely to be talking to audiences with content that invites a click to view for more information. The lowest figures were from industry types which are likely to be sending those informative type updates we mentioned above. Especially when the sender is not experienced with direct marketing, it is easy to miss on opportunity to include a call to action in your communications.

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Click Through Rate and Click to Open Rate by Industry

Wholesale / Import / Export Travel / Tourism Trade / Services Software Science / Technology Retail / Consumer Products Recruitment / HR Real Estate / Property Not for Profit Media / Publishing Manufacturing Local Government / Councils Legal / Accounting IT / Telecommunications Insurance / Superannuation Hospitality Healthcare / Medical Health / Fitness Engineering Electricity / Gas / Water / Waste Services Education / Training Distribution / Freight Construction Community Services / Sport Central Government / Defence Banking / Financial Services Automotive Agriculture / Horticulture / Marine Advertising / DM / Web Agencies Admin and Business Support Services
5.81% 6.57% 12.56% 5.36% 3.82% 7.90% 6.20% 9.79% 5.26% 9.43% 8.76% 4.66% 8.05% 10.93% 9.17% 3.13% 5.10% 5.38% 7.77% 4.07% 4.41% 3.62% 14.92% 6.54% 8.97% 10.05% 8.08% 6.07% 7.79% 7.40% 14.78% 19.34% 32.97% 12.84% 12.86% 25.26% 17.85% 22.89% 16.18% 26.41% 24.30% 11.73% 21.17% 30.06% 19.85% 13.80% 17.02% 13.58% 21.71% 10.58% 13.16% 10.40% 32.30% 17.59% 29.96% 25.54% 18.33% 12.61% 23.32% 18.75%

TIP
In his first discussions about permission marketing, Seth Godin talked about being anticipated. One of the best ways for emails to be anticipated is to be sent when you say theyre going to be. If on sign up you state that your recipients will hear from you each month, make sure that you send each month no more, no less.

Remember that even your best customer, or your hottest prospect will not always be in the market for your products. We all have bad days, busy days and sick days. On those occasions, possibly nothing will compel a recipient to click on your email. Emails sent by Distribution/Freight, the Utilities, and Local Government were least likely to be clicked once they were opened. This may illustrate that the emails were of an informational rather than interactive nature, with few if any calls to action.

Click Through Rate Click to Open Rate

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Render Rate, Click to Open Rate and Volume, by Day of the Week

TIP
Put yourself in your recipients shoes. When would you be most open to receiving, opening, and responding to the email? One of the simplest ways to decide is to test it! Split your database in two, then send the same campaign to each half at each of your selected times. Compare the response metrics.

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38.45% 40%

36.54%

37.13%

34.24%

35.16%

32.30%

33.35%

Top Render Rate Days of the Week: Monday 38.45% Friday 37.13% Top Click to Open Days of the Week: Saturday 22.82% Monday 22.45%

30%

22.45% 20%

19.61%

21.03%

21.69%

20.96%

22.82%

16.62%

10%

Whats the best day to send my email campaign? A dollar for every time were asked that question would make us very rich. The short answer has traditionally been Tuesday morning. However these figures paint a much more complex picture. The long answer is that it depends: are you talking to consumers or other businesses? Are you providing information or asking for a sale? Is it time critical or a general update? Is it a one off, or a regular campaign? There is no doubt that Mum and Dad at home (B2C) are more likely to read their email during the weekend than an office worker (B2B).

13.80%

19.42%

26.51%

18.76%

15.06%

4.32%

2.13% Unique Render Rate

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Click to Open Rate

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% Volume Sent

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Click Through Rate and Click to Open Rate by Industry Type

Admin And Business Support Services Advertising / DM / Web Agencies Agriculture / Horticulture / Marine Automotive Banking / Financial Services Central Government / Defence Community Services / Sport Construction Distribution / Freight Education / Training Electricity / Gas / Water / Waste Services Engineering Health / Fitness Healthcare / Medical Hospitality Insurance / Superannuation IT / Telecommunications Legal / Accounting Local Government / Councils Manufacturing Media / Publishing Not For Profit Real Estate / Property Recruitment / HR Retail / Consumer Products Science / Technology Software Trade / Services Travel / Tourism Wholesale / Import / Export
7.40% 18.75% 7.79% 23.32% 6.07% 12.61% 8.08% 18.33% 10.05% 25.54% 8.97% 29.96% 6.54% 17.59% 14.92% 32.30% 3.62% 10.40% 4.41% 13.16% 4.07% 10.58% 7.77% 21.71% 5.38% 13.58% 5.10% 17.02% 3.13% 13.80% 9.17% 19.85% 10.93% 30.06% 8.05% 21.17% 4.66% 11.73% 8.76% 24.30% 9.43% 26.41% 5.26% 16.18% 9.79% 22.89% 6.20% 17.85% 7.90% 25.26% 3.82% 12.86% 5.36% 12.84% 12.56% 32.97% 6.57% 19.34% 5.81% 14.78%

TIP
To improve your render rate, try moving the important content closer to the top of the email. Most recipients will see a preview of your email (often without images) before deciding to open it or ignore it. You may even add pre-header text above the header image with your headlines. At least add an index at the top of the email with enticing titles that introduce the content below.

Weve already demonstrated how click through rates are a good guide to measuring the effectiveness of your offer, copy, content and so on. Render rates are also a good indication of your campaigns success. When it comes to your brand or persona, the render rate is a better measure of trust. The recipient will not even open the email if trust or recognition is an issue. The render rate is also affected if the recipient has load images turned off. However, the people who buy from you or read your newsletter and really want what you have to offer will turn images on. They will show open rates along with click rates. Click Through Rate Click to Open Rate

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

Section 2 4 Page 20

Render Rate, Click to Open Rate and List Size by Industry Type
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499 500 999 List Size 1000+
41.50% 18.88% 43.18% 34.20% 33.88% 13.62%

TIP
With the right email marketing platform, your email can integrate with social networking. This is called share to social or share with your network (SWYN). The aim is to allow recipients to share your content with their networks through Facebook, Twitter and other social networking platforms. Watch results carefully as you move into this area; with great content or offers, it can be hugely powerful. Track your activity and plan to make the most of the increase in customer reach that can be achieved when one email recipient posts your email content in front of 200 others on their network.

Admin and Business Support Services

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499

Advertising / DM / Web Agencies

42.33% 25.68%

30.99% 19.18%

24.38% 22.27%

500 999 List Size

1000+

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499

Agriculture / Horticulture / Marine

100% 90% 80% 70% 60%

Automotive

Unique Render (Open) Rate Click to Open Rate

46.86% 12.33%

35.14%

3.76%

32.54% 26.61%

50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

47.10% 24.96%

38.43% 11.12%

37.18% 10.09%

500 999 List Size

1000+

20 499

500 999 List Size

1000+

The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

Section 2 4 Page 21

Render Rate, Click to Open Rate and List Size by Industry Type
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499 500 999 List Size 1000+
43.26% 29.97% 35.47% 12.51% 29.91% 27.89%

TIP
Keep your email marketing communications personal and up to date. Even more so in these days of mass communication, its still a personal medium. Consider using a real persons name in the sender field i.e. rather than sending from marketing@yourcompany.co.nz, try greg@ yourcompany.co.nz and then test whether there is a change in your response rate. Add a section into your email that shows the recipients details with a link that takes them to a page where they can update them. This encourages recipients to keep your database clean. It also lessens the chance that they might get confused about how they subscribed to your list.

Banking / Financial Services

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499

Central Government / Defence

30.08% 30.90%

31.98% 30.47%

30.08% 27.74%

500 999 List Size

1000+

100% 90% 80% 70%

39.48% 20.88%

Community Services / Sport

100% 90% 80% 70%

Construction

Unique Render (Open) Rate Click to Open Rate

31.29%

9.78%

33.06% 19.13%

53.46% 31.04%

36.93% 25.21%

42.92% 41.04%

60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499 500 999 List Size 1000+

60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499 500 999 List Size 1000+

The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

Section 2 4 Page 22

Render Rate, Click to Open Rate and List Size by Industry Type
100% 90% 80% 70% 60%
29.19% 1.90% 35.36% 9.35% 38.53 % 18.90%

TIP
Make sure your images, links, and landing pages remain accessible to recipients long after the actual email send date. Although most recipients open within the first 24 hours, there are still some who store their emails and return to them long after they were originally sent, or who might forward them to others.

Distribution /Freight

100% 90% 80% 70% 60%

43.68% 9.06%

Education / Training

34.79% 21.83%

28.61% 21.12%

50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499 500 999 List Size 1000+

50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499 500 999 List Size 1000+

100% 90% 80% 70% 60%

Electricity / Gas / Water / Waste services

100% 90% 80% 70% 60%

Engineering

Unique Render (Open) Rate Click to Open Rate

47.83%

9.73%

31.10% 10.83%

46.09% 15.37%

34.71% 23.21%

45.46% 22.66%

31.76% 19.07%

50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499 500 999 List Size 1000+

50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499 500 999 List Size 1000+

The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

Section 2 4 Page 23

Render Rate, Click to Open Rate and List Size by Industry Type
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50%
35.03% 14.75% 34.87% 11.19% 34.41% 12.16%

TIP
Whether youre planning to deploy a simple newsletter, a complex targeted communication with multiple dynamic variables, or a viral email specifically designed to grow your database subscriptions, you need a plan. Have your email contact strategy in place alongside your other marketing planning to ensure your email marketing objectives are achieved within your timeframe and budget.

Health / Fitness

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50%

38.24% 32.67%

Healthcare / Medical

35.01% 11.17%

28.28% 11.26%

40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499 500 999 List Size 1000+

40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499 500 999 List Size 1000+

100% 90% 80% 70% 60%

35.68% 11.52%

Hospitality

100% 90% 80% 70% 60%

Insurance / Superannuation

Unique Render (Open) Rate Click to Open Rate

34.26% 12.58%

23.72% 15.49%

48.83% 20.65%

33.89% 15.53%

33.72% 19.77%

50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499 500 999 List Size 1000+

50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499 500 999 List Size 1000+

The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

Section 2 4 Page 24

Render Rate, Click to Open Rate and List Size by Industry Type
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499 500 999 List Size 1000+
37.40% 32.97% 37.25% 10.41% 37.90% 21.27%

TIP
Is all of your companys email marketing to the same standard? Does it look consistent and make the most of every message? Consider what email is leaving your organisation in these four categories: Notification emails (short emails which are often text based and contain a single message)

IT / Telecommunications

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499
43.45% 18.40%

Legal / Accounting

31.88% 30.18%

29.70% 24.06%

Promotional emails (simple, one off campaigns which have a higher level of design) Newsletters (longer and more complex communications covering several different subjects) Transactional emails (statements, customer service/contact centre messaging, invoices)

500 999 List Size

1000+

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50%

Local Government / Councils

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50%

Manufacturing

No matter who is doing the sending, all of these communications impact on the recipients perception of your brand.

Unique Render (Open) Rate Click to Open Rate

37.43% 25.66% 37.00% 23.49% 29.52% 21.22%

42.49% 20.26%

35.58%

8.95%

22.42%

7.85%

40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499 500 999 List Size 1000+

40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499 500 999 List Size 1000+

The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

Section 2 4 Page 25

Render Rate, Click to Open Rate and List Size by Industry Type
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499 500 999 List Size 1000+
48.22% 25.24% 39.77% 25.96% 32.52% 26.91%

TIP
When you have doubts about what to do in a particular email campaign scenario, its helpful to consider the recipients perspective. For example, if its been a long time since your last newsletter, what will they think when this email arrives? If you think its not clear, remember an email is not an SMS you have more than 160 characters, so use them. Tell them you know its been a while, why and what they should expect now. Then keep your side of the deal!

Media / Publishing

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499
36.65% 27.27%

Not For Profit

38.95% 23.30%

25.40% 10.68%

500 999 List Size

1000+

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50%

41.46% 18.68%

Real Estate / Property

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50%

Recruitment / HR

Unique Render (Open) Rate Click to Open Rate

35.09% 22.54%

37.68% 31.68%

33.57% 19.62%

22.03% 15.38%

24.94% 16.03%

40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499 500 999 List Size 1000+

40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499 500 999 List Size 1000+

The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

Section 2 4 Page 26

Render Rate, Click to Open Rate and List Size by Industry Type
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499 500 999 List Size 1000+
38.95% 30.50% 29.72% 22.20% 28.05% 21.07%

TIP
Your Opt-In or Subscription Page is the best chance you have to capture the heart, mind and email address of your website visitor. There are some key things to keep in mind. While you are offering benefits, they have fears. Typical fears centre around privacy and frequency of communication. Your benefits MUST over balance their fears. Remember to state them clearly. What will you send? How often? How will it help them? Always state in plain English that you will not share their details with anyone and stick to it!

Retail / Consumer Products

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499
39.17% 12.45%

Science / Technology

25.49%

8.79%

35.40% 18.05%

500 999 List Size

1000+

100% 90% 80% 70%

39.25% 12.25%

Software

100% 90% 80% 70%

Trade / Services

Unique Render (Open) Rate Click to Open Rate

32.15% 12.38%

30.18% 13.90%

39.26% 37.50%

36.15% 29.62%

29.03% 27.25%

60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499 500 999 List Size 1000+

60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499 500 999 List Size 1000+

The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

Section 2 4 Page 27

Render Rate, Click to Open Rate and List Size by Industry Type
100% 90% 80% 70% 60%
35.25% 11.08% 34.15% 21.35% 31.05% 18.41%

TIP
A checklist is a great idea to use for many aspects of your email campaigns, from planning to reporting. But the most critical of all is the send checklist. This is a list of all of the steps you need to check before you hit send. It should include thorough checking of both the technical and marketing aspects. Do you have clear calls-to-action? Do all your links work? Is the Subject Line correct? Mistakes are easy and apologies are costly.

Travel / Tourism

100% 90% 80% 70% 60%

52.30% 11.08%

Wholesale / Import / Export

43.81% 22.36%

43.45% 18.41%

50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499 500 999 List Size 1000+

50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 20 499 500 999 List Size 1000+

Unique Render (Open) Rate Click to Open Rate

The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

Section 2 4 Page 28

Closing Comments

The research in this field keeps on growing, from the UK and USA in particular, and it continues to prove that email is a versatile, popular and profitable communication tool. The greatest challenge for emarketers continues to be delivering highly relevant email content to recipients. This view is supported by our own daily experience and in talking regularly with clients too. Further challenges for emarketers include the integration of new and traditional advertising channels, getting internal support to allocate sufficient budget, and ensuring your email is delivered. Early in this report we mentioned the three elements which are key to it all being anticipated, relevant, and personal. They are achievable when you set expectations up front, deliver what you said you would, let your recipients dictate what they receive and when they receive it by utilising preference centres. To sum up the tips offered earlier, we would like to make the following suggestions:

1 Data: If it isnt perfect, testing a few key elements makes a big difference to response. For example you can use A/B split testing on a small portion of your database to find out which subject line works better and send the best one to the remainder of your list. 2 Use technology to your advantage: Automate, personalise, segment and target content. For example, get emails triggered from customer lifecycle events. Have the email look as though it is sent from, and signed off by your clients Account Manager. Recognise and cater to basic differences like gender and region to make your recipient feel special; dynamic content tools make this simple. 3 Social Media and SMS: Use Social media and SMS to extend the reach of your core programs. Fantastic results come from even very simple multi-channel campaigns, e.g. Email1 DM1 Email2 Check your letterbox next week Offer arrives in your letterbox Did you get the offer hurry its finishing soon.

4 Interact: Checking and responding to email will continue to be a favourite online activity for all of us, so give your recipients something to get excited about when they do. 5 Aim high: Setting your own benchmarks, monitoring performance and testing new approaches will ensure your email marketing has the best chance of keeping your organisation top of mind and the favoured choice of your customers and prospects. Well see you here again soon. In the meantime visit our blog and you can follow us on Twitter.

Section 2 4 Page 29

The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

Glossary

Permission Marketing An approach to selling goods and services in which a prospect explicitly agrees in advance to receive marketing information. Opt-in email, where people sign up in advance for information about certain product categories, is a good example of permission marketing. Advocates of permission marketing believe that it is effective because the prospect is more receptive to a message that has been requested in advance. They also suggest it is more cost-efficient because the prospect is already identified and targeted. In a world of information overload, automated telemarketing and spam, most people welcome the idea of permission marketing. Unique Render (Open) Rate The number of times an email is displayed4 divided by the total messages sent, expressed as a percentage. This report uses unique

opens which means that each render by a single recipient is counted only once. Email Renders / Sent Emails = Render Rate Click Through Rate (CTR) The number of times a link is clicked from a message divided by the number of sent messages. For example, a message is sent to four people and two people open the message, downloading the images. If one out of two recipients that opened the email clicked on a link one or more times, the resulting CTR for that link is 25% (1 unique clicker / 4 accepted emails = 25%). Clicks / Emails = Click Through Rate This metric may be calculated as Unique CTR, which refers to the number of people that clicked or Total CTR, which refers to number of clicks for a specific link. Email marketers also often calculate CTR for the entire email to compare several emails within a campaign or across campaigns.

Click to Open Rate (CTO) The unique number of times a link is clicked from a message divided by the unique number of confirmed opens for that message. For example, a message is sent to four people. Two people render the email, and one of those two click on a link one or more times, the resulting CTO is 50% (1 click / 2 confirmed opens = 50%). Clicks / Email Renders = Click to Open Rate Again, this metric may be calculated as Unique CTO, which refers to the number of people that clicked or Total CTO that refers to number of clicks for a specific link. The Click to Open rate may also be calculated for the entire email rather than an individual link.

4 Fully opened or within the preview pane and recorded using a tracking image within an HTML format message.

Section 2 4 Page 30

The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

Copyright and Disclaimer

The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010 is published by Jericho Ltd Copyright Jericho Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the prior permission of Jericho Ltd except as permitted by the provisions of the Copyright Act 1994 and related legislation. Any permitted use of the material must be attributed to Jericho Ltd. Application for permission to reproduce all or part of the Copyright material shall be made to Jericho Ltd, Level 2, 36 Williamson Avenue, Ponsonby, Auckland, New Zealand. Although the greatest care has been taken in the preparation and compilation of The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report | 2010, no liability or responsibility of any kind (to extent permitted by law), including responsibility for negligence is accepted by Jericho, its servants or agents. All information gathered is believed correct at July 2010. All corrections should be sent to Jericho Ltd for future editions.

Section 2 4 Page 31

The Jericho New Zealand Email Marketing Metrics Report 2010

Sometimes, the success of email can be a risk factor. Within your organisation you will have more demands from all quarters to use email to send a variety of communications. You need to know when to say yes, when to say slow down and think, and when to say no. Jericho can help you preserve email as a best practice-only zone by ensuring that only well designed and compliant emails are deployed. It can advise your team on all aspects of successful email marketing from creative design to retention and acquisition campaigns, maximising website results and integrating mobile and social media along with all other factors crucial to success in this medium. With Jericho as your external agency to provide advice, counsel and leadership you can apply the best of art and science to your goals, putting you far ahead of your competitors.

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