DIGITAL MARKETING
Digital Marketing 20 March
20-03-2006
by Ciara O'Brien
Specialist media buyers go online | Researching e-mail audience works: study
Specialist media buyers go online: A new media specialist is offering its services to advertising agencies in Ireland. Net Behaviour provides general digital services and online media buying for agencies such as Ogilvy and AFA O'Meara.
Net Behaviour comes with good pedigree - it was founded by Emmet Kelly, owner director of Monitrack Internet Research and Justin Cullen, a former director of Irish International.
The idea for Net Behaviour came about after they identified a gap in the market, Kelly told ElectricNews.Net. The online space is complex, he pointed out, comparing it to outdoor advertising. "Agencies have been struggling to deal with that complexity," said Kelly.
Outdoor advertising already has specialist media buyers for its sector. "There was a need for one in the digital space," explained Kelly.
Also working with Net Behaviour are OMD, Zenith Optimedia, Vizeum, IIBBDO and IIProximity, and the company is currently in negotiations with several other agencies.
Researching e-mail audience works: study: It's official -- targeted e-mail works. That's according to a new study from Epsilon Interactive and the Gfk group, which claims that if you want to get better results from your e-mail campaigns, you need audience research.
Targeted e-mail makes a significant difference when it comes to getting a response from consumers, reported Emarketer. More than half of the survey's respondents said the e-mail they receive is usually of interest to them, focused on their needs and interests. A further 60 percent said that the e-mail they receive from companies that they have done business with has become more relevant. This is an increase from 57 percent in 2005.
Of course, the benefits of targeted e-mail are not exactly news to those who have been working in the e-mail marketing sector. "Our clients with the highest open and conversion rates are the ones who tailor their e-mails to their individual customers preferences and behaviours," says Rebecca Walsh, marketing manager, Narragansett Technologies. "I am constantly being asked by our clients - how can I find out what my subscribers want in their e-mails? My answer - short and sweet - ask them! Use surveys, polls and track their responses to different types of e-mails. It will increase your response rates and your ROI."
Meanwhile another study revealed that the size of your e-mail list can actually predict response rates. According to ExactTarget, the bigger your list gets, the lower the open and click-through rates.
Business to business organisations fared better than their consumer focused counterparts, with the B2B lists typically coming in at an average size of less than 1,000 subscribers, while B2C campaigns focused on lists of more than 10,000.
However, once the lists reach about 400,000 to 500,000 subscribers, the negative effects seem to level off, stabilising at 15 to 20 percent average open rates. At this point adding any extra names to the list does not appear to have a negative effect on response rates. Click-through rates are less predictable than open rates, highlighting the need for engaging content and creative work in e-mails.
Building your list: Denise Cox says that in order to build a subscription list you need to be proactive about securing subscriber attention.
