eMarketer: 54% of Retailer still do not test email subject line

Personally, I am now getting about 2 emails a week from Amazon, more than one per week from Costco and Target. This is probably two to three times the normal frequency, it's probably the combination or final holiday push and desperation during tough economic condition. They are definitely trying harder, unfortunately, I don't think many of them are hitting the sweet spots yet, at least for me. What about for you?

Obviously, the sender's FROM address (both email and display name parts) is crucial in determining the open and response rates. Recipients needs to trust and feel they have a relationship to even consider opening the email.

After that, the subject line is the key. Much more important than time of day or day of week in most of the emails I have tried. Changing a couple of key words can have huge impact on open rate AND response rate. Subject lines set the expectation of what's inside the email. You can have a very provocative subject line to get people open the email, but if people feel they are cheated or if the email did not meet people's expectation, the click-to-open ratio could be much worse. This would hurt the long term relationship with the user.

Different subject lines can have huge swing in different age groups and achieve plus/minus 50% in overall response. Is it too much work for 54% of the retailers to do?

Sources:
eMarketer: E-Mail Marketers Get in the Spirit (11/26/2008)

eMarketer: Pitching Cars Online in Tough Times

The economic is getting tough very quickly and broadly. Everyone is cutting but and focus on efficiency. Email finally being recognized again as an effective and efficient channel. Even the dying Car makers/car dealers are still expecting grow their ad spending online.

Sources:
eMarketer: Pitching Cars Online in Tough Times (11/21/2008)

eMarketer: Top online markting channels

According to eMarketer, Online retailers worldwide surveyed in July and August 2008 by E-Consultancy and R.O.EYE said that e-mail was second only to paid search when it came to driving high volume. The sample size was relatively small, at 241 online retailers. However, the results are in line with similar surveys. Nearly four out of 10 search engine advertisers worldwide surveyed in January 2008 by Radar Research for the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) said e-mail marketing yielded the best ROI of any tactic.


Lower Email Open Rates

MailerMailer said that some industries had higher open rates for their marketing e-mail, with banking/finance, religious/spiritual, government and telecommunications having more success than other verticals.

Tip: Shorter subject lines Perform Better

According to eMarketer, shorter subject lines performed better than longer ones. Subject lines of less than 35 characters yielded an average open rate of 19.6% and a 3.1% average click rate. E-mails with subject lines of 35 or more characters drew average open rates of 14.8% and average click rates of 1.9%.

Source: eMarketing: Consumers Opening Fewer E-Mails