ARNAUDLELANNhas
seriousconcernsaboutthe
futureofthismedium.
Arewekilling
theemail
channelinEurope?
Abouttenor12yearsago,whentheemailchannelstartedtobe
usedasanewdirectmarketingtool,wewereusedtoseeopening
ratesof70or80percentormore,withclickratesaround15to
20percent...
Thesedays,whenwetalkaboutasuccessfulemailcampaign,it
meansthatopeningratewasabove25percent,withaclickrate
overthreeorfourpercent.And,whenwecompareresultsfrom
countrytocountryinEurope,therearerealdifferences.
WeperformedacloseanalysisofallB2Bemailcampaignswe
conductedin2008,andtheresultswereclear:regardlessofthe
offer,thetopperformingcountriesarethosewhereemailsarenot
over-used–easternEurope(inparticularCzechRepublic,Slovakia
andHungary,wherewecanexpectopeningratesover50percent).
FollowedbyScandinaviaandBeneluxcountries(withopeningrates
suchas40percent),thenGermany,Italy,SpainandPortugal(25to
35percent)and,lastly,weFranceandtheUK(where,inmostcases,
openingratesdon’texceed20percent).
So,howdidweendupwiththissituation?Andhowcanwebe
happywithonlyonerecipientoutofsixreadingourcommunications
inthemainEuropeandirectmarketingcountries?
Therearethreekeyfactorstoexplainit
Someplayerssimplykilledthemarket:companieswhobasetheir
offeronpay-per-leadstrategieshavetosendmoreandmore
messagestoachieveresults.Now,toobtain1,000leads,itisnotso
raretohavetosendonemillionemailstoachievethatgoal.Thus,
recipientsgetmoreandmoremessages–andthemoretheyget,
thelesstheyopen.Thoseplayersaresimplysawingthebranchon
whichtheyaresitting.
Deliverabilityistherealchallengeforanydirectmarketer.
Spammershavecompletelyspoiledthemarket–itgetsmoreand
moredifficulteverydaytodeliveremailcampaignsatareasonable
level.Andtheamountofspamisgrowingandgrowing...
Thelastfactorliesinmarketers’strategies.Emailandmobile
communicationsareoftencheap,alwayseasytohandle,easyto
measureandquicktosetup.So,manydecidedtosimplygiveup
otherchannels,toconcentrateonemailsonly,whichaddsupto
moremessagessent,inalldirections.
Byover-usingthischannel,wearejustkillingitabitmoreeach
day–emailcampaignsaregivingincreasinglyworseresults.Ipredict
that,soon,standardopeningrateswillbearoundonepercentonly,
andthefewwhodoopenemailswillbetheonlyoneswhoare
REALLYinterestedbythecampaign.
Iwouldadviseanyonewantingtouseemailmarketingtothink
twiceandask:IsittheonlychannelIwilluse?Isstandaloneemail
adaptedtomyoffer,myimage,myproduct?
Theonlyfutureforemailmarketingisbasedonmicro-targeting
preciseandsmallgroups–compulsorilywritteninlocallanguage
–andbyrelayingthisstrategythroughamultichannelapproach.
ArnaudLeLannismanagingdirectorofEuroleads,theFrench
partnerwithintheLists4Europenetwork.Email:alelann@euroleads.fr
www.dmi-news.com June2009 19
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