WARREN, R.I. and BOSTON, Dec. 10, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- A research firm publishing case studies and benchmark guides for marketing professionals, MarketingSherpa, has released the 2008 edition of its Email Marketing Benchmark Guide. This updated guide delivers exclusive results data from real-life marketers' campaigns. Containing 260-charts and tables, this is the largest and most comprehensive study ever conducted with professional email marketers. Readers will learn how the impact of email marketing has changed over the past year and how to overcome various future challenges of email marketing.
The Email Benchmark Guide can be purchased for $347 by visiting http://www.SherpaStore.com/EmailBenchmarkGuide08.html?9482
MarketingSherpa is hosting its Email Summit on February 24-26, 2008, in Miami, Florida. The event will offer practical case studies, research from the Email Marketing Benchmark Guide, presentations from leading email marketers, boot-camp training, and consultation clinics offering one-on-one advice from email marketing experts. For register for the Email Summit, visit http://www.sherpastore.com/3rdAnnualEmailSummit.html?9474
On December 19, 2007, at 2:00 p.m. EST (11:00 a.m. PST), a teleseminar to review the guide's findings, will be hosted by MarketingSherpa. It will be led by Stefan Tornquist, Research Director of MarketingSherpa, and Tim McAtee, Senior Analyst at MarketingSherpa and lead author of the 2008 Guide. Visit http://EmailBMG08Tele.MarketingSherpa.com to find out more and sign up for the teleseminar.
"This year, for the first time since we've been doing this survey, email marketers' enthusiasm for email was mixed with concern that its effectiveness has peaked," said Tornquist. "With inboxes being jammed to capacity, marketers must develop strong relationships as well as unique content for their emails. The existence of an opt-in relationship isn't enough to imply a good relationship. Reputation and content must work together with visual variation to successfully gain the attention of the target audience."
Among the highlights found in the 320-page Email Marketing Benchmark Guide are:
- The sheer volume of email businesses receive has grown exponentially in recent years; 36% of survey participants said the biggest challenge facing email marketing is that recipients' mailboxes are swamped.
- Viewing known vs. unknown senders does make a difference, but only up to a point. An email arriving too often, even from a company a customer opted-in with can still be considered spam, according to 50% of email marketers who participated. More than ever, spam is in the eye of the beholder.
- Reputation and content go hand in hand to play a role in filtering senders. People respond well to content that is personalized and with an action item in the email subject line. Effective marketing demands more personal interactions.
- A new survey question in the 2008 guide found that over one-third of in-house emailers don't have a separate line item in any budget for email marketing. This wasn't just true of small companies -- 68% are companies who have over 100 employees.
- Creative visuals in email marketing can overcome or contribute to banner blindness. Through visual variation, one can positively alter the interaction and attention you'll receive with an ad. Viewers become too familiar with the design and mode of ads, and without changing placement, design, and content, it is difficult to break through overburdened attention spans.
The 2008 edition of MarketingSherpa's Email Marketing Benchmark Guide has been completely and comprehensively re-researched and revised. Inside this 100% re-researched guide, there is relevant information on email marketing strategies, dozens of research studies, and updated material on advanced tactics in email marketing. To purchase copies of the guide, please visit: http://www.SherpaStore.com/EmailBenchmarkGuide08.html?9482
About MarketingSherpa
MarketingSherpa (http://www.marketingsherpa.com) is a research firm publishing practical case studies and benchmark guides for its 237,000 weekly readers in the marketing profession. Topics covered include practical how-to and exclusive data and proven tactics in business-to-business marketing, ecommerce marketing, email marketing, search marketing, telemarketing, media relations, landing page design, marketing measurement and online subscription marketing. The firm also operates six annual summits attended by thousands of marketers. MarketingSherpa, along with MarketingExperiments and InTouch, is part of the MECLABS Group.