Size, Performance or a Good Personality?

What's really most important - is it the sheer total size of your database? Is it how you make that database make you cash? Or is it how you make it sound to the boss that counts?

Marketer's who believe that email is a valuable tool need to get out from behind their desks and work out the best way to get it in the budget for next year - a clear plan, commercially sound strategy, and evidence of the super-positive return on investment is the minimum you should have.

This article and the comments about Open Rates are the best kind of argument - considered, intelligent, experienced and a little bit argy-bargy...

Loren starts off:
Here are some real-world examples of the inaccuracies and inconsistencies of email opens:
· The email is “opened” (launched), but images are blocked: not counted as an open
· The email is not opened (launched), but images are enabled and is read in the preview pane: counted as an open
· The text version of a multi-part message is read on a BlackBerry. The HTML version (with images blocked) is later opened in Gmail (or other email service/client). The email has been opened and read twice — but zero opens are recorded.
· A text version is opened and read but not clicked: not counted as an open
· A text version is opened and read, but the user clicks a link: not counted as an open with some email software. Others assign an open because the email was clicked on, which assumes an open.
I think you get my point. With marketers increasingly being held accountable for their marketing spends and actions, do they really want to base performance reports and marketing decisions on such a flawed and inconsistent metric?
Further, the open rate is a process metric that does not measure return on investment or how well the campaign helped you achieve a strategic initiative for your company. Showing how much email contributes to the bottom line, not how many people opened your email, will help you secure a bigger share of the marketing budget."

In response, we get comments like this from John Calder:
"I have to disagree that clicks are a better open indicator.
Subject lines cause a message to be opened and read. Value proposition and call to action cause a link to be clicked. What happens after the click causes conversion.
Therefore, a weak subject line with a good value proposition and strong call to action may get more clicks even though fewer people have “read” the message than a good subject line where more people have “read” the message with a weak value proposition and call to action. From that, which is the better subject line?
The people who buy from you or read your newsletter and really want what you have to offer will turn images on. They will show open rates along with click rates. These people are a good indicator of what people like them are interested in, and if that’s your target market I’d say that there’s some pretty good intelligence to be had there."

I'd love to hear your thoughts with comments here.

Speaking of metrics and reporting - how responsive is the database you have? Do the same people read each time, and the same people - too lazy to unsubscribe - simply delete when they see you in the inbox?
Key points in the second article I'll point you to today - cleaning up the drones so you get more effect with fewer people - write these down somewhere so you'll have them when you need them:

1) Be clear in the subject line. “Your subscription will end soon” tend to work well. “Goodbye” was another subject line that worked remarkably well.

2) Restate your value proposition. This is a simple reminder of what your email program offers, and what they will miss if they do not confirm their email subscription.

3) Use YES and NO options. This is huge! In every instance the “Yes and No” option resulted in significantly more opt-ins! There is something about seeing both options that drives more people to respond.

4) Send a second request. We find that these second requests consistently get nearly the same number of opt-ins as the first, so failing to do so could have a material impact on the success of your campaign.

I can't read all the brilliant things that are being written every day by people smarter than me on this subject, but I do my best to read every day, and often its on my laptop (literally - on my lap) at 10 pm. If you have insights to add, please add them here. Until next time.