Mar 28, 2012

Interesting luncheon at NY’s Yale Club

Posted by Wendy Weber

I attended an interesting luncheon meeting of the Direct Marketing Idea Exchange today.  Matt Blumberg, CEO of  Return Path and DMA Chairman, was the presenter:

I learned quite a bit about email marketing measurement and accountability.  Here is an interesting slide from the presentation:

In case you cannot read it clearly, only 76.5% of email actually gets delivered!  15.1% goes “missing”, and 8.4% is labelled as spam.  I was unaware that email typically only reaches 3/4 of the intended audience!

I asked a question that I have not been able to get an answer to:  How many emails can I send at a time to my email list without being labelled as a spammer?  Although candidates have provided their contact information (including email address) because they would like to hear from Crandall Associates, I have heard conflicting answers regarding how many emails are “too many”.  When I posed the question to Matt Blumberg, he said that the reason I had not received a clear-cut answer is because there is no clear-cut answer.  It has to do with many factors, including the expectation of your audience, and your “usual pattern” of emailing.

He mentioned a website called Senderscore.org that I plan to check out.  I believe it provides your rating as an email sender.

At the end of the meeting, Matt put on his “DMA” hat, and shared some interesting information about the DMA.  One thing I was unaware of is that they have opened a Silicon Valley office, to expand their presence on the West Coast.  He also mentioned that there has been a shift in their thinking regarding events, and that there has been more focus on smaller, “community focused” events.

In