JupiterResearch Finds Lack of Measurement Standards in E-mail Service Providers
Wednesday, 21 March 2007
JupiterResearch, a leading authority on the impact of the Internet and emerging consumer technologies on business, has found that while 45 percent of e-mail marketers state they are satisfied or very satisfied with their vendor’s current methodology for determining metrics, there is a remarkable lack of standard metric methodology across e-mail service providers (ESPs).
Detailed in a new report, “E-mail Marketing Measurement – Making Metrics Meaningful,” JupiterResearch has found that adoption of both engagement-oriented metrics and barometer-oriented aggregate metrics is low, as many fail to focus on key performance indicators (KPIs), such as unique conversion and click-through rates. Barometer metrics overall tell an aggregate story about an individual mailing performance. Engagement metrics are subscriber and list oriented, detailing unique audience data that will inform decisions on segmentation and targeting.
“ESPs and application vendors have done a good job of standardizing feedback loops with Internet service providers and advancing improvements in e-mail delivery,” said David Daniels, vice president and Research Director at JupiterResearch. “However, industry associations must work together to broker consensus regarding how e-mail metrics will be calculated.”
Business-to-consumer (B-to-C) and business-to-business (B-to-B) marketers alike are failing to use metrics at even a high level to gauge the effectiveness of their mailings. B-to-C marketers are slightly more engaged with using barometer-oriented metrics than their B-to-B counterparts, but many fail to use these metrics at least once a month.
“Although e-mail delivery rate is critical, marketers continue to obsess over it, placing greater importance on this measure more than any other metric that is utilized,” said David Schatsky, President of JupiterKagan. “Marketers should build an audience-engagement quotient by indexing KPIs, including unsubscribe rate, unique click-through rate, unique conversion rate, and forward rate.”
The complete findings of this report and recommendations for ESPs and marketers are immediately available to JupiterResearch clients online at www.jupiterresearch.com. For details on JupiterResearch's methodology, visit www.jupiterresearch.com/bin/item.pl/methodology or email press@jupiterkagan.com to request a detailed methodology statement. For additional information on this report or JupiterResearch's visit www.jupiterresearch.com.