Changes in Email Marketing: Discover the Opportunities and Minimize the Threats in 2010

The difficult economic conditions have put a strain on all businesses to find new ways to generate revenue and improve ROI. The good news is that marketers are finding great success with email marketing as a tool to generate high ROI. So much so, that research indicates only two marketing tactics received an increase in budget in 2009: email and social media.

MarketingSherpa's 7th Annual '2010 Email Marketing Benchmark Report' offers practical data to improve your budgeting, list growth, deliverability, testing, and ROI. Plus, you'll find out how connecting email and social media tactics to meet list growth, brand building and revenue goals are becoming more prevalent to help companies grow their overall business.

What makes this year's edition so relevant is that it offers practical answers to tough questions you face every year. For example, when it's budget time, you need to know how to forecast the acquisition of new customers, as well as retain your valued existing clients. Therefore, it's imperative to illustrate how your email response rates compare to others'. Research also indicates email usage is growing internationally. This year's report contains a special section that reviews transactional email sends across international borders.

Plus, there's a special report on B2B email marketing, that takes a closer look at the use of email in lead nurturing and the B2B sales cycle. Find out how to optimize a lead nurturing campaign that boosts conversions.

Need inspiration or fresh ideas to kick off the new year? This year's Report provides 17 new "Notes from the Field" Case Studies highlighting success stories from your marketing peers.

Is Social Media Going to Kill Email?

The new age-old question email marketers keep asking themselves and others: "Is social media going to kill email?" The '2010 Email Marketing Benchmark Report' will not only tell you why social media will not kill email, it will also show you how the two mediums will work in tandem to increase engagement with prospects and customers.

Here's a few more social media and email research topics you'll find intriguing within the Benchmark Report:

• Why Email and Social Media Were Made for Each Other
• Email Marketing Goals That Social Sharing Helps You Accomplish
• B2C Marketers Share Their Insights on Social Sharing
• B2B Marketers Share Their Insights on Social Sharing
• Integrating Social Media Into the Marketing Mix
• How Marketers Use Social Media for List Growth
• Overcoming Obstacles to Social Sharing

"Social Sharing" is a rapidly emerging email tactic. As research in 'Email Marketing Benchmark Report' shows, about eight in 10 marketers agree that social sharing "extends the reach of email content to new markets" and "increases brand reputation and awareness."

Therefore, we've dedicated a chapter of the Benchmark Report to include a special report on this important topic with insights from marketers on strategies unique to social sharing. Many have already learned some valuable lessons.

You Are Not Alone

It's good to know what challenges your fellow email markers are facing. What's invaluable is finding out what works to overcome them. '2010 Email Marketing Benchmark Report' illustrates how economic uncertainty is affecting marketing budgets and provides six "objectives email marketers are working hardest to achieve" charts that apply to large, medium and small B-to-B or consumer businesses.

It's Budget Time

How are your email campaigns viewed at budget time? 'Email Marketing Benchmark Report 2010' tells what corporate attitudes are toward email, as seen through the prism of "perceived" email effectiveness. Also, if you plan to increase your email budget even in these tough times, you'll find all the data you need to substantiate why your company needs the money you're proposing.

Response Rates ARE Comparable

If your boss is challenging your email response rates, and you need real-life, practical data to support your revenue-improving tactics, the 'Email Marketing Benchmark Report' has all the charts, data and summary analysis you'll ever need to compare your clicks, deliverability and conversion rates to the rest of the world.

Subscribers - How Do You Get Them...and Keep Them?

What makes consumers more likely to subscribe to emails? 'Email Marketing Benchmark Report 2010' contains a section on "Building Bigger and Better Lists for Email Marketing Purposes." You'll get a true sense of consumers' Email profiles, their willingness to opt in, and what would drive them to opt in. Plus you'll see why they unsubscribe and how to minimize it.

Deliverability

Your email doesn"t have a chance to be successful if it's not delivered at all, accurately or in a timely fashion. Find out the key deliverability issues and how marketers are improving them. The Benchmark Report also examines the best solutions for sending emails and most popular email client software.

Improve Your Results with Practical Solutions from Real-Life Case Studies

In addition to all the practical interpretations of the data found within the 'Email Marketing Benchmark Report', you can read 17 special "Notes From the Field" Case Studies provided by email marketers like you.

• How Social Sharing Buttons Increased Email Interaction
• Identify Segments and Customize Emails According to Preferences
• 6 Steps to Personalize Triggered Email Programs and Boost Engagement
• Using Dynamic Content and Testing to Optimize Newsletters
• Testing Content to Create Best Layout Boosts Email Performance
• Launch, Measure, Analyze and Modify to Improve Auto-responder Series
• Grow Subscriptions with a PPC Campaign for a Major Event
• How to Build a Dream List of Newsletter Prospects
• How to Build a Subscriber List Inexpensively Using Blogs and Contests
• Achieve 6x-8x Jump in CTR with Newsletter Links and Bonus Content
• 4 Steps to Improving Subscriber Acquisition and Retention
• How to Get Your Preference Center CAN-SPAM Compliant
• Overnight Send Time for Email Lifts Open Rate, CTR and Registrations
• Auto-responder Produces 10-Fold Boost in Ecommerce Revenue Per Email
• Promotional Email Inspires Interaction and Drives Social Sharing
• Test Proves 'B2C Style' Promotional Content can Beat Informational in B2B
• How to Optimize a Lead Nurturing Campaign that Boosts Conversions

Summary of Content

Chapter 1: Challenges to Achieve Email Marketing Objectives (p. 8-22)
Chapter 2: Email Economics in a Recessionary Economy (p. 23-50)
Chapter 3: Optimizing the Tactical Effectiveness of Email (p. 51-101)
Chapter 4: Building Bigger and Better Lists (p. 102-135)
Chapter 5: Managing Deliverability More Effectively (p. 136-158)
Chapter 6: Measuring Success with Email Analytics (p. 159-177)
Chapter 7: Special Report on Social Sharing (p. 178-203)
Chapter 8: Special Report of B2B Email Marketing (p. 204-217)
Chapter 9: Special Report on International Email (p. 218-230)

What Others Are Saying About 'Email Marketing Benchmark Report'

"Year after year, MarketingSherpa's Email Benchmark Report proves to be an amazing source of insight, inspiration, and ideas for email marketing professionals. The new Report is no exception as it documents, yet again, that there's still plenty of ROI gold in email marketing's hills for those who eschew "burn & churn" tactics in favor of efforts that facilitate long-term, mutually-beneficial relationships with customers and prospects."
Jeffrey K. Rohrs, VP Marketing, Exact Target

"MarketingSherpa's Email Benchmark Report is one of the best resources out there for email marketers. I especially like the fact that it is full of stats and charts that I can use to compare my own results with. The insights that you get from this guide are very useful in the day-to-day life of an email marketer."
Tamara Gielen, OgilvyOne

"The Email Marketing Benchmark Report has been extremely helpful to my electronic marketing staff. It helped us pinpoint areas that needed improvement because we were able to see the results from other B-2-B and B-2-C marketers. I'm sure our campaigns will be much more effective because of what we learned."
Denise Elliott, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Kiplinger

"I've been a fan of MarketingSherpa's Email Marketing Benchmark Report for years. They are my "go to" source when I'm looking for quantitative data on email marketing to use to benchmark my clients' efforts. This Report is the best yet - it includes special reports on false positives, spam laws around the world and list growth. Add to that the in-depth case studies, and all the numbers I've always loved, and it's something no email marketer should be without."
Jeanne S. Jennings, Consultant, Email Marketing Strategy

"If your email marketing program is moderate to aggressive, this is a "must have." The amount of quality data contained in this report will eliminate any time spent searching the web for that exact statistic needed. Purchasing this guide will give you access to what others are doing, specific statistics for various industries, and much, much more!"
Erica DeWolf, CEO & eMarketing Strategist, DeWolf eMarketing & Design

"Just bought and have already devoured your report - it's even better than I expected and my expectations were high."
Lynda Partner, Former CEO, Got Corporation

"I can't wait for my copy to arrive in the mail. I take it into bed for night time reading (I love this stuff!) and mark it up with a highlighter and sticky notes. MarketingSherpa's reports are always so well edited and organized. My online marketing advice? Run, don't walk, and order your copy today. This may be the best investment you make in preparation for marketing your products or service."
Debbie Weil, WordBIZ