Data: While Nearly One-Third of Emails Contain Offer Incentives, Those without Incentives Garner Higher Engagement

New data from Yes Lifecycle Marketing also reveals emails with the word 'deal' in the subject line and no specific offer outperformed the rest

CHICAGO, March 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- According to new data from Yes Lifecycle Marketing's cross-channel platform, Yesmail360, on average, open rates for emails without offers in the subject line were 28 percent higher than those with offers, and click and click-to-open (CTO) rates were 67 percent and 34 percent higher, respectively. Additionally, when the word 'deal' was used in email subject lines without a specific offer incentive, open rates were highest.

In "What's the Big Deal? A Look Inside 6 Different Types of Email Offers," Yes Lifecycle Marketing analyzed nearly 8 billion emails sent across several industries. The report found that roughly one in three of all marketing emails, and nearly half of retail marketing emails contained a specific offer incentive in their subject lines such as: "10% off," "$20 off $100 purchase," "free shipping," and more. While subject lines that advertised '% off' or 'free shipping' offers drove the highest conversion rates for retail at 7.9 percent and 7.6 percent, respectively, emails that did not include explicit offers generated higher engagement.

The one exception to this finding was loyalty incentives. Emails with offers related to loyalty boasted a 9 percent higher open rate, 20 percent higher click rate, and 12 percent higher click-to-open rate compared to campaigns with no offers. According to Michael Fisher, president of Yes Lifecycle Marketing, these findings indicate that if brands are going to include offers in emails, they need to ensure they're meaningful to the consumer to drive better engagement and conversions.

"With so many offers flooding consumers' inboxes, it can be challenging for brands to make their promotions stand out," said Fisher. "Many marketers feel like they need to advertise generous offers to be competitive. However, the lack of engagement shows that consumers are often not tempted by extravagant incentives. Instead, to make emails relevant, marketers could emphasize loyalty and rely on lifecycle messages to keep things fresh and make offers feel more unique."

The report also showed that while emails with subject lines containing the word 'deal' without a specific offer performed best in terms of open, click, and CTO rates, they generated conversion rates of only 1.5 percent – significantly lower than the 7.2 percent conversion rate boasted by messages with offers.

"While the low engagement of emails promoting specific offers might be counter-intuitive, it emphasizes the importance of a balanced marketing program," said Mike Iaccarino, CEO and chairman of Infogroup, parent company of Yes Lifecycle Marketing. "In order to create well-rounded marketing strategies that cater to their audiences' needs, brands must have the data to create a holistic view of their customers, the ability to develop insights from that data, and the technology to deliver their message efficiently across each channel."

For the full analysis, download the Yes Lifecycle Marketing offers report here.

About Yes Lifecycle Marketing
Yes Lifecycle Marketing provides solutions that orchestrate cross-channel marketing communications to drive results and revenue. This is accomplished by leveraging technology, data, analytics, creative, and strategy to activate and optimize insights-driven, real-time, relevant communications. This holistic approach gives marketers the ability to source a full-service offering of best-of-breed technology and solutions from a single vendor in order to achieve their desired outcomes across all on and offline channels. To learn more, call 1-877-937-6245, email [email protected] or visit www.yeslifecyclemarketing.com.

About Infogroup
Infogroup is a big data, analytics and marketing services provider that delivers best in class data-driven, customer-centric technology solutions. Our data and software-as-a-service (DaaS & SaaS) offerings help clients of all sizes, from small companies to FORTUNE 100™ enterprises, increase their sales and customer loyalty. Infogroup provides both digital and traditional marketing channel expertise that is enhanced by access to our proprietary data on 245MM individuals and 25MM businesses, which is distributed real-time to our clients. For more information, visit: www.infogroup.com.

Contact:
Sarah Hale
Phone: 312-241-1471               
E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Yes Lifecycle Marketing

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