B2B Key Findings, April 2013

Email Marketing Still Part of the Mix

Think email marketing has gone the way of snail mail and the typewriter? Think again! According to the 2013 Email Marketing Benchmark Report based on data collected from 1,000 companies, more than 1 billion emails and 500,000 decision-maker conversations, email marketing continues to prove its worth through better delivery practices, more advanced design and strategic integration with other channels. Most marketers in the survey (60%) say email produces ROI (return on investment) with regard to budgets, while 32% believe it will eventually. Those surveyed cited the growth of HTML-5 video, triggered email strategies and better email implementation into mobile platforms to be helpful in improving email marketing effectiveness. Most organizations of those surveyed (64%) perceive email marketing’s ROI to be valid; compared to websites, 69%, social media marketing, 63% and SEO, 58%. One of the biggest challenges with email marketing is the pervasiveness of mobile smartphones and tablets, and the growing difficulty of building email lists. Sixty-seven percent of those surveyed say their lists are growing, albeit slowly for most (50%), while 26% say their lists are holding steady and 6% are seeing lists shrink. Marketers are finding success with email by integrating the tactic with other channels: websites 75%; social media 56%; events, tradeshows and webinars 40%; blogs 35%; SEO 31% and direct mail 29%. While 21% of those surveyed say they are integrating email with mobile strategies, 58% say they are not designing emails to render differently on mobile devices, which could be a problem for audiences who often struggle to read emails not optimized for such devices. (www.marketingsherpa.com)

Bullets

• 43% of B2B marketers say improving customer engagement is there most important objective. 37% say increase website traffic, 34% say increase content reach, 29% say increase lead quality and 27% say increase lead quantity. (socialmediab2b.com)
• More than three-quarters of U.S. men (78%) have stolen small office supplies such as envelopes or paper clips from their workplaces. (AskMen; 415-896-3700)
• More than eight in 10 Americans ages 35-54 (86%) will choose to shop at a store offering free WIFI over one that doesn’t offer it. (JiWire; 415-821-8600)
• B2B buyers are most likely to share useful vendor content via email (79%), followed by LinkedIn (53%), Twitter (39%) and Facebook (18%). (Earnest Agency)
• Just 4% of marketers said their companies were “very effective” at measuring social marketing in 2012. While 47% felt somewhat good at social measurement in 2011, just 38% said the same in 2012. “Nearly half of respondents (47%) feel they or their companies are either not very good at social marketing measurement, or do not measure well at all.” (Marketing Charts)