We talked about it at the beginning of the summer in our article on best figures for email marketings annual study, the SNCD named "Email Marketing Attitude" is a classic when it comes to understanding email usage in France. As it does every year, the study is published on the occasion of Paris Retail Week, which took place last week (September 10-12, 2018).
Methodology
B2C: Survey conducted from May 2 to June 18, 2018 by Predictys with 1179 respondents.
B2B: Survey conducted in June and July 2018 by Combbase, Kompass and SOS Fichier with 280 respondents.
It is also important to keep in mind that this is a declarative study! Just because a respondent says they don't like a practice... doesn't mean it won't be effective and profitable in the field. It does, however, provide a framework for understanding the needs and desires of your audience. Whatever happens, testing on your own customers and prospects will always be the best way to optimize your email marketing practices.
Email Marketing Attitude BtoC 2018
B2C email consultation terminals
The numbers:
Respondents report having, on average 2.59 equipment allowing them to check their emails.
The different terminals are :
- Computer: 84%
- Smartphone: 72% (+11 points compared to 2017)
- Tablet: 41%
Commentary:
The rate of equipment continues to increase year after year! It is likely that we are close to the peak for the use of smartphones, which is approaching more and more the computer. For those who doubt it, it is absolutely clear that responsive email has become inevitable and that it is absolutely necessary to evolve the logic of messages so that they are usable on mobile devices.
How is email consumed in B2C?
The numbers:
60% of Internet users have at least 2 personal email addresses
90% of Internet users check their email at least once a day
43% of Internet users check junk email
Commentary:
Just because you have a customer's or prospect's email address... doesn't mean it's the email box they use every day! It is important to keep this notion in mind, especially when it comes to working on your reactivation program. In addition, the main mailbox of Internet users is nevertheless consulted once a day by 90% of the recipients! It is thus necessary to be able to interest it! Finally, a considerable number of Internet users consult the emails placed in junk mail, probably for fear that an important information has escaped them. Unfortunately, in the study, we do not know if these 43% are only valid for the main mailbox or also for the secondary mailboxes of the Internet user.
Why open a BtoC email?
The numbers:
The positive elements:
- Trust in the brand that contacts them
- Identification of the sender
- The message arrives in inbox
- Original object
- The object offers a promotion
Respondents say that personalization with profile information is not a determining factor
Negatives:
- the use of pictos in objects
- the fact of being able to win something (contest)
- the object offers a customer benefit (gift, loyalty points, ...)
Commentary:
We will remember that trust in the sender, the fact that there is already a pre-existing relationship and the relevance of the message must be the main areas of work when it comes to improving open rates. I voluntarily put promotion in the relevance category. Indeed, for some newsletter programs (but not necessarily all of them), the fact of receiving regular promotions by email is a strong reason to subscribe, which should not be neglected. There is a tendency (and I plead guilty) to say that you should not exclusively use promotions in email campaigns... however, some recipients absolutely want these promotions regularly!
On the other hand, some elements do not seem to have an impact, such as personalization when it reuses elements of the recipient's profile (first name, for example). Finally, some strings seem to be counterproductive, the pictograms in the objects, the contests, the gifts, talking about loyalty points... but as we have already seen above, be careful with the fact that this study is declarative! You will have to test directly on your targets, because between what they think and what they do every day, there can be major differences.
B2C email versus other channels
The numbers:
67% of Internet users appreciate commercial offers sent by email, compared to 54% for SMS, 44% for mobile notifications and 44% for on-site notifications and banner ads.
Commentary:
This is a classic piece of information that we find every year in the study! Email has some advantages compared to other communication channels, it is less "urgent" than SMS, that is to say that there are less reasons to rush to read all these emails than to rush to read an SMS (we receive few, and mainly real human contacts, SMS is seen as a channel of urgency).
It is more durable than a mobile notification, indeed, when you click on a notification, it disappears from the notification center, and if you have closed the application, you will not easily fall back to where it wanted to take you. With email, unless you have voluntarily decided to delete it, even after opening and clicking, the message does not disappear, it is always possible to find it. The same can be said for web notifications... and even more so for advertising banners... which will be difficult to find voluntarily if needed.
We could add that with the categorization that some webmails are doing (like in Gmail with the promo box), the promo email has even become less invasive, less visible, but also less irritating.
B2C unsubscribing
The numbers:
The main reasons for unsubscribing are: 66% too many messages from one sender, 60% the offers do not match expectations, 36% for receiving too many messages in general
Need help?
Reading content isn't everything. The best way is to talk to us.
33% of Internet users have already purchased a product after unsubscribing from a brand's newsletters.
Commentary:
Relevance and no permanent invasion... I don't know if I need to say much more. On the other hand, the second statement is still interesting, just because a recipient unsubscribed from your mailings doesn't mean that they will absolutely not want to be a customer of yours anymore.
Sources
The press release: https://www.sncd.org/wp-content/uploads/CP_EMA_BtoC_2018.pdf
Infographic: https://www.sncd.org/wp-content/uploads/Infographie-EMA-BtoC-2018.pdf
Email Marketing Attitude BtoB 2018
Email consultation terminals in B2B
The numbers:
Viewing on computer 97%, smartphone 59% (+3 points compared to 2017) and tablet 19%
Commentary:
Yes, in B2B, the smartphone's performance regarding email opening is well behind! But no, B2B is not lagging behind either! 59% of the recipients of professional emails who regularly consult them on their smartphone, this is far from being anecdotal... it is therefore important here too to go responsive... and massively.
How is email consumed in B2B?
The numbers:
48 emails per day, including 15 advertising emails.
48% of pros use more than one pro box
Commentary:
Nothing special to report on the first sentence, except that you have to be careful with the type of professional you are addressing! The craftsman, the baker, the plumber, ... will absolutely not have the same load (nor the same quality) of messages in their email boxes as employees sitting in front of their computer all day long. Moreover, it is quite surprising that 48% of the surveyed pros have more than one pro email box! It would be interesting to analyze which sectors are represented.
Why open a BtoB email?
The numbers:
Opening Motivations:
- Want to know more: 65%
- discovery of new products : 36%
- Competitive intelligence : 32%
- Special offers : 14%
- Games 1%
Elements of openness :
- Shipper knowledge: 89% (+8 points compared to 2017)
- The relevance of the object: 87% (+ 7 points)
- Trust in the sender: 86% (+5 points)
- The personal : 48% (+6 points)
Commentary:
Well, we are not going to say the same thing as for individuals... just that here, the promotion and the game are largely less popular.
B2B email versus other channels
The numbers:
What are the most popular marketing communication channels for professionals?
- 42 % of the pros appreciate email
- 18% retargeting
- 16% advertising on social networks
- 6% advertising emails
52% of the professionals have already received a phone call following the reception of a campaign by email... only 2% appreciate receiving these calls!
Commentary:
Again we will not comment where it has already been the case in B2C, it should be noted however that in B2B makes the distinction between email and email advertising ... which is appreciated only 6%. Another practice that is not praised by professionals is the phone calls made following the receipt of an email. Once again, it will be necessary to distinguish bad perception... from effective efficiency of the process, I leave you to your tests.
B2B unsubscribe
The numbers:
26% of pros have already purchased a product or service after unsubscribing
Commentary:
This figure is lower than in B2C... but keep in mind!
Sources
Press release: https://www.sncd.org/wp-content/uploads/CP_Etude_EMA_BtoB_2018.pdf
Infographic: https://www.sncd.org/wp-content/uploads/Infographie_EMA_B2B-2018.pdf
One Response
The study was also carried out in partnership with Emailstrategie.
To see our infographic go here: https://www.dolist.com/