Multichannel Marketing for B2B Marketers

Ready for another gloomy update on the decline in email metrics? Open rates worldwide fell from 14% in the first half of 2007 to 11.2% in the second half of 2009, Emarketer reports.

There are many possible causes: cluttered inboxes, the use of mobile devices and the blocking of email images. But we wonder if the economy wasn’t partly to blame.

Clickthrough rates suffered an even more precipitous drop—from 2.9% to 1.6%. And most of that took place in the second half of 2009. The culprits include clutter and list fatigue.

These are depressing findings. But they’re not true for everyone. And emailers can improve their metrics by observing direct marketing basics. continue reading…

Email remains the most productive channel when it comes to ROI, according to new DMA statistics.

In 2009, email returned a “whopping $43.62 for every dollar spent on it,” according to a synopsis of the DMA report by ace reporter Ken Magill.

That’s a slight dip from $44.93 in 2008. But it still beats out other media. According to Magill (and the DMA), here’s how some other channels stacked up: continue reading…

Planning to go to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) fall conference this year?

Don’t be so sure to say yes. Your boss might not sign off on it, given the economy and the workload. But you can justify the trip by documenting the expected return on investment.

On the positive side, there are nine tracks on everything from analytics to new media. Want to catch up on Facebook and Twitter? Here’s the place to do it. And the keynote and luncheon speakers are worth hearing. continue reading…

U.S. trades rarely report on British direct marketing, and they report even less on B2B. Thus, we clicked right through when a survey called the B2B Barometer hit our inbox.

Of the 2,000 executives polled by the Institute of Direct Marketing, 65% expect to increase their social media spending, and 53% are budgeting more for email advertising. Web advertising was cited by 49%. continue reading…