Benchmark conversion rates for most email types appear higher for B2B than B2C companies in the US, according to [download page] results from an Econsultancy survey released in February 2012, conducted in partnership with the Email Experience Council of the DMA. Within the lead generation category, benchmarks are significantly higher for B2B than B2C companies for newsletter conversion rates (4.1% vs. 1.8%) and sales email conversion rates (3.9% vs. 1.5%). Similarly, within the direct sales category, B2B conversion rate benchmarks are higher for newsletters (2.1% vs. 1.7%), although B2C conversion rate benchmarks are higher for sales emails (1.8% vs. 1.4%).
Lead Source Most Common Segmentation Factor
55% of organizations (B2B and B2C combined) say they currently segment their emails by lead source (i.e. search, specific media, trade event), while a further 13% plan to do so in the near future. A majority (53%) also segment by demographic data, such as age, gender, and region. And although only 49% currently personalize emails based on behavior, including recent purchase, time on site, and pages viewed, almost one-quarter plan to do so in the near future. By contrast, the proportion who already factor in business information is roughly equal to those who have no plans to do so (46% vs. 45%).
Among B2C respondents, demographic data is the most widespread personalization factor (67%), while among B2B respondents, somewhat predictably, business information is the most common (71%).
According to a survey released in December 2011 by StrongMail in partnership with Zoomerang, 44% of business leaders cited improving segmentation and targeting (44%) as a top 3 most important email marketing initiative, behind only increasing subscriber engagement (48%).
1 in 4 Offer Mobile Email
Data from Econsultancy’s “2012: Email in Action” indicates that only 25% of respondents currently offer a mobile version of their emails to subscribers, although 37% plan to do so in the near future. The most popular preference offered to subscribers is format (HTML or text), by 65% of respondents, ahead of content (topics, news vs. sales info), by 58%.
3 in 5 respondents say they do not offer delivery preferences such as frequency or day of the week to subscribers and have no plans to do so.
Buying Cycle Stage Most Effective Automation Trigger
84% of respondents rate automated triggers at the buying cycle stage as very (39%) or somewhat (45%) effective, matched by the proportion who rate volunteered information triggers as very (38%) or somewhat (46%) effective. A large majority of respondents also see user behavior (83%) and downloaded content (79%) triggers as effective.
About the Data: The Econsultancy/DMA results are based on a survey of 469 North American email marketing experts, including 239 organizations.
