Consumers may have a love-hate relationship with email marketing but for most companies around the world it is still their bread and butter tool to get the word out on their products, services and brands. Unfortunately, new research has shown that only 79 per cent of commercial emails that are sent reach the intended recipient.
Email fail image on Shutterstock
According to the Deliverability Benchmark Report by email optimisation company Return Path, one in five marketing emails that are sent out never see the light of day, often going straight to the spam folder or blocked by e-mailbox providers. The situation has worsened since last year where the success rate of marketing emails landing in inboxes was 83 per cent, four per cent higher than this year.
With the permission of consumers around the world, Return Path used a representative sample of more than 357 million commercial emails that were sent out.
While Australian marketers usually have a better luck with email digital marketing compared with the rest of the world, they have not escaped the downturn this year. Australia’s inbox placement rate dipped slightly, from 89 per cent to 88 per cent. Across different industries, the research showed the technology sector is having a rough time getting email marketing across. Last year, the industry had a 70 per cent inbox placement rate. This year, this figure has plummeted to 45 per cent.
There are a number of reasons why these emails are not getting through to subscribers and potential customers. Email providers are clamping down on spam and if a users are getting better at reporting in companies that send out way too many marketing emails or content that is irrelevant to them.
Do you think email marketing is still an effective way for organisations to get their messages across to consumers? Is there a better way to do it? Let us know in the comments.
Comments
One response to “One In Five Marketing Emails Fails To Land In Inbox”
Depends on who the email is from, but often I just glance at marketing emails then hit delete. I bet a lot of people hit delete without even glancing at the mail, so I can’t imagine email marketing’s very effective.
That said, it depends on what “effective” means.
Heh, from the consumer end this reads “4/5 data wasting junk emails are still reaching your inbox.”
I usually unsubscribe after the first email. If the button is hidden or they keep sending junk, I register them as spam and block the domain.