Stringent Privacy Measures Leads to Better Email Engagement

Stringent Privacy Measures Leads to Better Email Engagement

Engagement rates increased in nations with more stringent laws, while open rates increased following Apple's introduction of its updated privacy policy.

Email is one of the most popular digital channels used by marketers for campaign execution. After all, email marketing has a strong return on investment (ROI) of $36 for every dollar invested, per a LitmusOpens a new window research. Having said that, emails ought to foster relationships rather than be spam. How therefore can email marketers make them better? Keeping up with industry benchmarks is one of the greatest ways to do this, as it gives marketers insight into how their emails work and helps them create more effective campaigns.

After examining nearly 7 billion emails received in the previous year, GetResponse created a few standards for different indicators. Here are some essential metrics and observations to help you enhance your email marketing.

The analysis discovered that compared to 2021, the total click-through rate (CTR) was lower. That being said, compared to other places, some had a successful year for marketers. For instance, North America's average CTR was 2.96%. For South America and the rest of the non-English speaking globe, it was low (a CTR of 1.25%).

Increasing localization could be a way to improve email performance. Emails need to be adjusted for language as well as for social and cultural norms. User-oriented communication and culture-driven customisation ought to be at the heart of your email marketing strategy if you manage a multinational company.

The survey found that conversion rates decreased dramatically in every industry. In 2021, the average landing page conversion rate was 17.15%; in 2022, it was 7.12%. Restaurants & Food (1.71%) received the lowest conversion rate, while Arts and Entertainment (18.21%) received the best. The fact that email marketing targeting cold visitors yield worse results than pages targeting their current audiences could be a major contributing factor to the decline.

According to the report, nations with more stringent laws typically have higher rates of engagement. In terms of open rates, Australia, France, and the Netherlands performed the best. Additionally, these are the nations that give citizens greater protection and control over their personal data. Similarly, Canada, Belgium, and Germany were the nations with the highest CTRs. These are also the nations covered by PIPEDA and GDPR regulations.

This means that rather than running from tight laws, embrace them and pay close attention to your target audience. Higher rates of engagement will be observed.

Users can choose whether to allow marketers to track their email habits thanks to improvements Apple revealed two years ago to its privacy policy for iOS 15. When enabled, Apple Mail Privacy Protection (AMPP) makes it more challenging to monitor the effectiveness of email campaigns. It affects automated campaigns and segmentations.

There was an improvement of 1-2 percentage points in average email open rates during the implementation of the adjustments in 2021. But this year's analysis found that average open rates increased by 7.37 percentage points. Conversely, CTRs decreased by 0.09 percentage points.

This suggests that you should reconsider how you assess recipient engagement and divide up your audience. Make the shift to more reliable metrics, such as CTRs and conversion rates, and hone your skills in identifying phony auto-opens from Apple MPP. If not, you might not be able to follow everything.

One could view double opt-in as a two-edged sword. On the one hand, it may result in increased CTRs and open rates, decreased bounce rates, fewer spam, and a robust audience list. Conversely, it might lengthen the subscription process, which would increase the cost per acquisition (CPA), reduce the size of the list, and decrease conversions.

So what is the most effective method? There's no one right response. Double opt-in is being adopted, according to the survey, by industries with stronger data security and privacy standards and a desire for greater involvement. Sports, legal services, and education are a few of these sectors.

When is the best time to send emails to get the most clicks and interaction? According to the study, the optimal times are between 4-6 AM and 5-7 PM, or just before people go to bed and shortly before they finish their workday. During these times, inboxes are typically less cluttered, increasing the likelihood of grabbing the recipient's attention.

Which day encourages the most participation? The data indicated that weekday differences were not very significant. Nevertheless, Tuesdays had marginally higher average open rates and CTRs than weekends, which have the lowest averages.

Having stated that, the industry can affect these timings. Try several things and inquire of your receivers as needed.

Receiving too many emails is a big factor in consumers choosing to unsubscribe from email newsletters or communications. How much is too many, then? The study found that 46% of marketers send out emails once a week. This produced a respectable CTR and open rate. It did, however, also result in the highest rate of unsubscribes. Since the links that are clicked are what matter most, marketers that sent up to eight email newsletters each week had the lowest bounce rate, the highest click-through rate, and the highest click-to-open rate.

So what is the most effective tactic? To avoid overwhelming your subscribers, divide your communications into eight different mailings, publish substantial weekly newsletters, or something in between. Segmentation and basic information are the answers to this. After your recipient list has been appropriately split, determine the expected email frequency for each audience segment and adjust your email strategy accordingly.

A few components enhance the aesthetic appeal and interactivity of an email. For instance, statistics indicated that videos remained a popular format for engaging information. Simply including it in emails can increase deliverability and CTR.

In a same vein, the subject line is quite important. For instance, the ideal range for length is between 61 and 70 characters. Longer topic lines, however, might still be effective. To find out which of your subject lines yields better results, run A/B tests. The message conveyed by the subject line is more important than its length.

Do subject lines with emojis have higher open rates? The study's data indicated that, when it came to all fundamental KPIs, emails without emojis in the subject line performed better. This suggests that marketers should avoid using emojis altogether.

According to the study, there is little benefit to tailoring topic lines. However, as it can result in higher open rates and lower bounce rates, personalizing the email message is essential. Nevertheless, excessive personalization might grow tiresome. Additionally, recipients are growing more adept at spotting the automated patterns in customized messages. Therefore, the first thing you should aim to do is match their requirements with your offerings or solutions. It all comes down to how relevant the information is that you utilize to customize your emails. First- and zero-party data is important in this context.

Every organization and industry is different, even though the benchmarks and insights covered above serve as useful guidelines. Thus, give your email marketing some trial and error. Above all, make sure you use both first- and zero-party data, A/B test your emails, personalize your emails beyond just the first name, and provide real value. You may fully realize the potential of email marketing by adhering to best practices.

What actions have you made to increase your email marketing efforts' efficacy? Share your thoughts with us on FacebookOpens a new window, TwitterOpens a new window, or LinkedInOpens a new window. We would like hearing from you!