EmailStatCenter.com Releases First Annual State of Email Metrics Survey Results

EmailStatCenter.com today released its findings from the First Annual State of Email Metrics survey. The survey measured interactive marketing professionals’ current views on the importance of email marketing metrics and the biggest challenges and focus areas for 2008.

Some highlights from the survey:

Frequent Measurement is Integral to Success

• Over 95% of the individuals surveyed said that they did measure the results of their email campaigns. When asked how often they measured results, 57% of respondents indicated that they measure results 24-48 hours after deployment. However, only 18% indicated that they measured results on an annual basis.

Click Through and Deliverability Rank Tops with Professionals 

• Professionals ranked click through rate and deliverability as the most important metrics to track. Metrics surrounding total subscribers and forwards were among the lowest ranked metrics in terms of importance.

Metrics Not Widely Used for Budgeting 

• Only 50% of the email professionals surveyed reported that they use metrics for budgeting and forecasting purposes while 35% of professionals cited that they do not use metrics for budgeting. The remaining 15% were unsure.

Looking at the bigger picture, survey respondents cited list development and time constraints as the biggest challenges they face and email strategy and measurement as areas for near term focus. The survey also addresses the current quality of email metrics, the top sources for email metrics and the need for the standardization of metrics across the industry.

Download the full results of the survey here.

Comments

[Tom Griffin]

ROI is really the only useful metric. You can have the worst open percentages and click-thru percentages, but if the quantity and quality of the responses are sufficient to generate prospects and sales, you have achieved a successful campaign. But most likely, it requires significant numbers of names in the database as well as frequent email campaign deliveries in order to achieve good results.

Griff
http://eprospector.typepad.com/small_business_sales_and_/