Blog: Viva Email!
Observations and comments about email marketing
by Vance Alford
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E-mail Spending to Hit $2B by 2014: Forrester
Retention e-mail will account for three quarters of the spending, according to the report authored by Forrester analyst David Daniels.
E-mail marketing spending will grow from $1.2 billion in 2009 to $2 billion by 2014, according to a forecast released this week by Forrester Research.
Last year when Daniels was with JupiterResearch—acquired by Forrester last July for $23 million—he forecast e-mail spending would hit $2.1 billion by 2012. However, he said, market pressure on CPMs led him to make his forecast more conservative. “The CPM price compression is continuing. The magic number for this forecast is figuring out what the erosion’s going to be,” he said. The reason for the continued drop in CPMs is the dramatic growth of ESPs’ clients’ e-mail lists, said Daniels. “Whereas in a previous report, a b-to-c marketer had 2.8 million people on their list, now they had like 10.1 million. List sizes have grown dramatically, which means they’re [list owners are] putting pressure on the vendors.” Daniels’ most recent forecast is also significantly more conservative than projections Forrester has put out in the past. However, Daniels said, whereas Forrester used to count projected e-mail service provider and agency revenue, Forrester now counts just ESP revenue in its e-mail spending forecast. Still, even this conservative forecast represents a healthy trajectory. Why is Daniels so bullish on e-mail’s future? For one thing, e-mail remains a low-cost way to communicate. “Consumers have told us that even in a down economy their home Internet connections will remain on,” his report said. Moreover, secondary e-mail box usage remains strong, according to Forrester. Also, according to Forrester, the growth of social media will bolster e-mail because people need e-mail accounts to register for these sites. Also, the number of active e-mail individuals—defined as people who log into one or more e-mail accounts at least monthly—will grow from 145 million in 2009 to 153 million in 2014, Forrester projects. The biggest growth area for e-mail spending between now and 2014 will be in transactional messaging, according to Forrester. The firm projects transactional messaging to grow at a compound annual rate of 9.2%. “Fourteen percent of email marketing executives that we surveyed told us that they plan to begin placing offers in their transactional messages,” the report said. “This illustrates that marketers will begin to harness a previously untapped message stream for promotional purposes. Additionally, the rise of consumers using the social inbox will drive email alert messages that inform subscribers of ‘pokes,’ wall posts, and status updates — contributing to an increase in service-oriented transactional messages.” However, marketers will continue to waste money on e-mail messages that never make it into the inbox to the tune of $144 million in 2014, the report contends. “Why? Because of inadequate list hygiene and mailing practices, as well as overzealous ISPs that lump good messages in with bad ones,” the report said. “Marketers can slow the cash burn by adopting sender- and message-level authentication as well as reputation services to thwart the imperfect spam-protection heuristics that drive false positives.” Have a happy-email day! Vance Alford
Vance Alford
5 Ways to BulletProof Your Copy
Whether you are writing a simple article, a cornerstone blog post, or a landing page designed to breathe life into your budding dreams, there might be nothing more important than the care you give to crafting your argument.
Even the smallest child’s mind hums with hundreds of constant questions. By the time we’re adults, our minds tumble with queries and theories. Some of us are more doubtful than others, our eyes scanning long copy, always searching for flaws like hunters on safari.
Keep this in mind… you will never sell to everyone. There are a fraction of folks who are as likely to open their wallets as I am to take my 7 year old daughter with me to the next Tarantino flick. Don’t even try selling to these people. It’s a waste of your time and is likely damaging to your sanity. Make certain however, that you’re hitting 100% of anyone who will lend your offer honest consideration.
If there’s a chance they’ll buy, make sure they do. Do this by ensuring your argument can stand up to the eager arsenal of the critical mind.
Here are 5 methods I use to craft bulletproof copy:
- I write to my mother. My mom will buy anything, so long as it provides her even the slightest whiff of nostalgia. It doesn’t matter if she needs it or whether she can afford it. My mom is a collector, and even with piles atop heaps amid mountains of stuff, anything that tickles her longing for yesteryear or justifies her decades of previous behavior will justify the purchase in her mind.
- I write to my father. My dad is the classic, “advertising doesn’t work on me,” kinda guy. Yes, Pop, advertising does work on you, you just don’t realize it. My father must be smacked in the face on an emotional level, but he will respond. My dad gets misty-eyed at movies. When the score hits a crescendo, his shoulders often start to shake. My father purchases products that stand for strength of character and tradition, no matter how traditionally manipulative that message might be delivered.
- I write to my sister. My sister is a cynic with a smiley face, bleeding snarkiness from every pore. She’s a tough sell and loves to shoot flaming verbal arrows right into the bulls-eye of every opportunity. My sister is also whip smart. Reminding her of this, in the most subtle way possible, will always beat a faster path to her wallet.
- I write to my wife. My wife is a romantic. She longs to be touched on an emotional level and wishes only for happy endings. Most copy is a far cry from poetic, but by inserting a single simple sentence that reaches for that most tender and exposed piece of her, I am adding an exponent to the odds that she (or the million just like her) will set aside her laptop in order to reach for her purse.
- I write to my friend Marco. Marco could punch a hole in concrete. He is suspect of everything and believer in little. Whenever I’m writing a landing page, I think of the five problems he would have with the product, then sprinkle solutions carefully throughout the copy. Marco isn’t the type to never buy, but he is the type who knows what he wants and must always be sold to. If I’m finished with the page, confident Marco would buy, subscribe, or opt-in, I know the odds are good that you would too.
You will never sell to everyone. Wringing your hands over this fundamental truth is like wishing Seattle was a little more sunny. Concentrate on those who might buy and you can increase both your confidence and the clicks that follow.
These are the five people to whom I write my best arguments. Are there five people you could write to, and how would you write to them?
About the Author: Sean Platt is a ghostwriter and creative blogger who also tweets.
Have a happy-email day. Vance Alford
Most opened words in email subject lines
Have a happy-email day! Vance Alford