How is email marketing perceived at the time of budget? And does maturity phase have anything to do with the perception a company has about email marketing?

These are the questions many online marketers are struggling with, as this knowledge will help them grow their business. To answer this question, MarketingSherpa has conducted a study titled MarketingSherpa Email Marketing Benchmark Survey by taking a sample size of more than 1,100 marketers.

The study result showed that only 38% have said that the company seemed in favor of increasing the email marketing budget in the strategic phase, as they see value in it. But this enthusiasm was not seen in transition and trail phase.

The percentage of marketers who showed reluctance to increase the budget (yet did so) in maturity phase was 38%, in trial phase this percentage shoots up to 41, and in transition phase this percentage was highest (43%).

Total percentage of marketers who refused to invest in email marketing in maturity phase was 24%, and 38% refused to give any money in transition phase, whereas, 40% reflected negative vibes in trial phase (see image).

As per the study, the decision makers seemed to be divided in their views on email marketing expenditure, but the data suggested that more and more people are willing to embrace it. It’s a piece of good news for the industry.

Q. Does your organization have a separate line item for email marketing in the budget?

The answer to this has unearthed the place of email marketing in a budget document. Finding it was important to see if email marketing is given due weight or not.

47% of total respondents said that e-mail marketing is not listed separately in the budget, whereas, 32% said that it is explicitly mentioned as a line within interactive marketing budget. 13% said that it is mentioned within CRM, or customer services heading, while 9% said it is mentioned under lead generation heading. (See image).

What all these mean?

Finding it was important because the place of email marketing in the budget document suggests how a company perceives it, and how much budget is going to be appropriated to it. For example, a company may invest more in email marketing if it sees it as a lead generation tool, but the company may pump in less cash, if it is seen as just another marketing channel. In this case, the company may decide to cut on some other channel to fuel email marketing, or vice versa.

This knowledge was therefore important. It was not mere of academic interest.

Thankfully MarketingSherpa, a leading online marketing agency has come up with a survey report that more or less provides an authoritative answer to this question, both for B2C (business to consumer) and B2B (business to business) environment.

The survey titled MarketingSherpa’s Email Marketing Benchmark Survey revealed that 25% recipients in B2C segment open e-mail newsletter, 14% of the total recipients click on the link given inside it, and 4% of them act upon them.

The scene does not look much different in B2B setting as well. Newsletter open-rate in B2B setting is 23%, which is mere 2% less than that of B2C segment; newsletter clickthrough –rate is 11%, which is 3% less than that of B2C segment; and 3% of the total recipients in B2b market works upon it, which is mere 1% less than B2C segment. (See image).

If we compare the conversion rate of email newsletter with that of direct mailers, which is at best 1-2%, then we will see how effective the medium is.

The study concluded that the marketers at large organization who have access to huge chunk of quantifiable data said the effectiveness is growing, whereas, their counterparts in smaller organization with less access to quantifiable research data said that e-mail marketing is no more effective.

Not only that the marketing agencies are not very positive about the effectiveness of email marketing campaign. Marketers themselves, but, shared different opinion about the effectiveness of an email campaign. See image for the study report.