Online Coupons Improve Email Open Rates

Everyone is looking for a deal these days. Shoppers will go buy something just because they “got a deal.”

Using coupons as leverage for customers to open and view your emails is what a lot companies are engaging in.

Making it known in your subject header that the recipient can receive 20% off their purchase will give them an incentive to open your email. Over two-thirds of American households use coupons and this has grown 46% in the past three years, according to Experian.

There is a big difference in open rates for emails that have coupons and emails that do not. According to Experian open rates of about 24% to 25% for coupon emails dropped to only 16% to 18% for non-coupon emails.

“Understanding the purchase drivers and triggers along with the channel preferences of unique customers is an essential element in building loyalty and engagement. Today’s consumers are multi-channel and marketers that acknowledge this will see greater return on their marketing spend,” said Matt Seeley, president of Experian Marketing Services’ Platforms division.

How Fast Does Your Website Load?

Google has been talking about the importance of load time on websites --- if your website loads fast you may soon have an advantage in search rankings.

Load time doesn’t have an impact yet…however, speed may soon become a ranking factor!

In an interview with a software engineer at Google, Matt Cutts, he stated:

"Historically, we haven't had to use it in our search rankings, but a lot of people within Google think that the web should be fast… It should be a good experience, and so it's sort of fair to say that if you're a fast site, maybe you should get a little bit of a bonus. If you really have an awfully slow site, then maybe users don't want that as much."

"I think a lot of people in 2010 are going to be thinking more about 'how do I have my site be fast,' how do I have it be rich without writing a bunch of custom javascript?'"

If you have 10 different widgets on your site pulling data from all different sources, maybe it’s time you thought about “cleaning up” your site a little… it’s safe to assume load-time will become a factor in where you’re listed in the search engines. If your site loads slowly, your bounce rate will increase because as soon as someone enters your site and has to wait more than 5 seconds to load, they’ll hit the back button immediately --- and move onto your competitors!

Increase in US Interactive Marketing Spending

According to Forrester Research, US interactive marketing spending is projected to have a 17% compound annual growth rate for the next 5 years.

Search engine marketing is currently at $15,393,000, which is 12% of total ad spending. In 2014 search engine marketing is projected to be at $31,588,000, or 21% of total ad spending. Search engine marketing makes up more than one-half of all interactive marketing spending and will remain the largest sector in interactive marketing.

This trend isn’t only apparent in the US. In the UK, search engine marketing makes up a majority of the UK’s online advertising spending.

Email Marketing has also become very popular. Although email marketing sometimes has a bad name due to all the spammers out there, total spending is also projected to grow within the next 5 years.