"According to the 'Email Marketing Metrics Report' by MailerMailer, 12.5% of unique marketing e-mails were opened in the second half of 2008."

The report went on to indicate that religious and spiritual emails had the highest open rate. Very interesting. Download the open and click-through report to see how your industry is fairing.

- Michael

Most marketers today see Email Marketing as an inexpensive alternative to online advertising. It's the common glee they experience in "one click and I can reach millions" misconception. The really important word here is "reach". To be able to cut through the clutter, pass spam filters, not lie idle & unopened in an in-box,  and to encourage clicks on embedded links to finally be able to get your initiate desired action. These are the real test results of Email Marketing Success. To remain the work horse of Internet Marketing, Email has lurched into the muddy waters of "batch and blast", where a million people may be sent a single email message that lacks personalization, customization and therefore, effective targeting.

Rather than a broadcast or mass marketing medium, that's often misunderstood and underutilized. Internet Marketing experts are now propagating the use of appropriate technologies to communicate focused email messages to specific audiences. Segmentation and behavioral targeting are the recommended methods in order to yield optimum email results.

--Ellen J Richards

I just finished reading an article from eMarketer which surprised even me. Evidently there are indirect values of permission based email campaigns that have been quantified by research and analytics. According to Epsilon and ROI Research, "57% of consumers had a more positive impression of companies they had purchased from when they received e-mail from them—and 40% said such e-mail made a future purchase from the company more likely."

Does this report surprise you? This data seems to argue against the thought that people do not value, or want to receive email from businesses in which they have a relationship, whether by purchase, or by opting in to their newsletter / product offering campaigns.

Not many people realize that the highest conversion tactic of any Internet marketing tool is email marketing. Dollar for dollar, email marketing can also deliver the highest return on investment (ROI).

I run into businesses every day that have not yet considered tapping into this kind of opportunity. To be clear, I am not talking about buying or renting lists for your contacts. This is spam, and should be avoided like a plague.
Building relationships is powerful in all areas of life, and in particular it has immense power online. The ideal situation for email marketing is to work with people who have indicated that they want to receive your messages. This can take some work, but it is worth it.

Giving people information that meets their needs is one of the most critical components of email marketing. Soliciting their “opt-in” to your system is just as critical. You can contact existing clients and encourage them to enlist. You can place attractive newsletter / information signup forms on your website. You can utilize social media sites to gain followers and subscribers. Permission based email marketing is the goal. Let them signup and give them opportunity to unsubscribe if they wish.

I want to invite you to take a look at one case study that demonstrates the potential of email marketing.

- Michael