Seven Myths And Two Truths About Inbox Placement

Author:

George Bilbrey and Stephanie Miller

Source:

Conversations about email deliverability seem to exist in an "echo chamber" -- there's a lot of noise. A bit of information that is only partially correct quickly becomes accepted wisdom.  Here's the data and facts you need to challenge even the most confident of colleagues - and to ensure your email program is optimized for reaching the inbox and earning a response.
 
First, the myths:
 
Revenue equals subscriber interest.   Too many marketers are lulled into a false sense of security by the seemingly unquenchable revenue generated by the email channel.  A thorough analysis of your response data will likely reveal that most purchases are made only by a small percentage of your file. This means that many businesses are leaving a lot of money on the table.  Segmentation, triggered messages and choice will go a long way toward engaging the rest of the file -- and earning higher revenue. 

 
Marketers/senders are getting better at reaching the inbox.  Actually, our data show that globally, marketers are only treading water - the numbers are pretty consistent for the past four years.  There is still about 20% of permission-based, legitimate commercial email that never reaches the inbox in North America (15% in Europe).  Those messages don't earn a response either.
 
Engagement is the new reputation...