email marketing survey poland 2010

A brief insight into the state of permission based email marketing in Poland

This survey was conducted by Markedu in association with SMB (Stowarzyszenie Marketingu Bezposredniego) and SARE in October 2010

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Written by Michael Leander

PERMISSION EMAIL MARKETINGSURVEY POLAND

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Introduction by Michael Leander – leading permission marketing expert and speaker

Email marketing survey Poland

Email marketing is said to give a marketing ROI of 43to every 1 dollar, but are you ready to cash in?

Interestingly email marketing has been around for a long time and the marketing efficiency of the media is indeed well documented. Yet most marketers are not quite getting the results they want or expect. In most cases there is a logical reason for that.

Experience proves that part of the reason is that marketers do not invest the necessary time and resources in “getting email marketing right”. Those who fully understand how to tackle this media are reporting remarkable results. Not only monetary, tangible results resulting in a decrease in customer acquisition cost, but also reaching Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) in the area of customer retention and purchasing frequency benefit from marketers who

But many email marketers also notice the positive impact that a properly executed email marketing program can have on the customer experience – something which is becoming increasingly important to brands across all vertical markets. Not to mention the referrals deriving from successful email marketing activities.

Many still in doubt – who is to blame?As this survey will reveal, 13,6% of Polish marketers are not sure about the legislation relating to email marketing. In fact more than 5% of Polish marketers are under the impression that the legislation is either nonexistent or does not apply to their business. And only 23,9% of Polish marketers are highly confident that their email marketing activities are in compliance with the legislation in Poland.

On the offset it would seem that the government - along with trade and industry associations – is faced with quite a task to generate awareness about the local legislation. We know that it is a long process, however nevertheless an important one. I am happy to know that the Polish Direct Marketing Association (SMB) is doing a good job of educating marketers in this important area.

My experience from other countries is that many marketers assume that promotional email can be sent to existing customers without prior consent. That is not true. Moreover, many think that if you have been given a business card at a tradeshow, in a meeting or similar, that these details can automatically be included in the email marketing list. Equally not true.

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For email marketing to stand a chance in the longer term, it is awfully important that marketers fully understand the rules of the game. It is important for several reasons. Firstly - to be in compliance with legislation. But secondly it is an important component in positioning your company to maximize results with the email marketing media.

On that note, I am pleased to see that SMB – the Polish Direct Marketing Association, for one, have supported this survey and supported Markedu’s Email Marketing Masterclass in Warsaw.

Also kudos to SARE – the leading Polish multichannel marketing software vendor – who also understands the importance of increasing awareness about permission based email marketing in Poland.

Finally, I would like to thank Kodak Graphics Communication who are supporting the Email Marketing Masterclass to help us bring the event to more cities in Europe, the Gulf and the Middle East.

Best regards,

Michael LeanderInternational permission marketing expert,speaker and CEO of Michael Leander Company

PS: You are welcome to circulate this report

PPS: If you would like to receive reports from other countries, be sure you signup for the Markedu Alert Newsletter here: www.markedu.com/news-alerts.html

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1. Does your organization use email newsletters, promotional emails, or transactionalemails as part of your marketing mix?

PERMISSION EMAIL MARKETING SURVEY POLANDA brief insight into the state of permission based email marketing in Poland

The graph shows that FEDMA’s European Email Marketing Benchmark attracted 2,20% more respondents whom are currently using email newsletters, promotional emails and/or transactional emails as part of their marketing mix.

We cannot conclude that these numbers reflect the number of organizations currently using email marketing as part of their marketing mix in Poland.

If you are interested in the contents of this report covering other countries, get in touch with Carla Rosa at Markedu – [email protected]

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The European average experience is indicated to 4,5 years according to FEDMA’s Email Marketing Benchmark study 2010.

The majority of Polish marketers indicate an experience level of less than 3 years. Nearly one third of our respondents indicate they have 2-3 years of experience while 23% have less than one years of experience with email marketing.

I believe that these numbers are similar to other countries that we consider late adapters in this space. It would seem that within the EU, countries such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countires are amongst the most mature while Italy, Spain, France and the Eastern European countries are somewhat trailing these countries by 2-4 years.

Obviously the internet penetration plays a huge part in the actual penetration rate.

Experience counts in email marketingExperience is a hugely important part of email marketing. Although specialists, agencies and guru’s can provide direction to organizations, email marketing is very much a hands-on media.Marketers need to get their hands dirty, focus on the numbers and gradually learn to get insights that in turn will improve their activities.

There has been a trend to outsource all or most of the email marketing activities to marketing service providers; however currently more and more organizations are shifting from predominantly outsourcing to predominantly handling most of the tasks involved internally. I believe that is a step in the right direction, which will help marketers get the much wanted experience required to become successful.

Learn more about email marketing and direct marketing by attending Markedu’s web seminars. Check the current list here:

2. How many years has your organization been using email newsletters, promotionalemails or transactional emails?

www.markedu.com/web-seminars/

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Polish marketers better than EU averageCompared to the rest of the EU – where 53,80% said they do not inform about frequency on their registration form (opt-in form) - 48% of the marketers in Poland said they do not. Although I believe that not stating frequency on – for example – an opt-in form is a mistake, at least Polish marketers are doing better at this compared to their colleagues in the rest of the European Union.

Sending newsletters or other types of email communication on a quarterly basis is rather useless, in my opinion. Email communication is first and foremost a relation builder. It is rather difficult to build a meaningful relationship if you only “talk” to your target audience four times each year.

Polish marketers seem to prefer a monthly frequency, whereas only very few marketers send newsletters or other type of email communication daily. My generic advice is to work with a frequency of no less than twice each month – the reasoning behind that is something I explain at the Email Marketing Masterclass.

Frequency a matter of relevanceBased on my experience from working with many different organizations across the world, I think it is fair to say that your frequency can be much higher than you think – as long as what you are communicating has relevance to the recipient. But organizations seem to think that the media operates on the same terms as a printed newsletter or magazine. It doesn’t !

Asking recipients about their preferred frequency can often be a good strategy. And offering more channels with a frequency differentiation may also be a good strategy for most marketers.

3. Does your newsletter registration form say how often email newsletters will be sent tosubscribers and if so, what frequency do you say?

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Unlike FEDMA’s European Email Marketing Benchmark Report, we provided two “cheeky” answeroptions – namely “this applies only to B2C marketers” and “There is no permission legislation inplace in Poland”.

A stunning combined 8% of respondents chose one of those two answers. We gave those two choices because we know the common misconceptions. And a surprisingly large number of B2B marketers really believe that the rules and legislations of email marketing does not apply to them.

Polish marketers less confident about compliance Compared to the rest of the EU, Polish marketers are a bit less confident about being in compliance with the permission marketing legislation. Only 80% answered very confident or rather confident compared to the FEDMA EU average of 93% However 12% of Polish marketers are not confident at all, compared to 6,90% in the EU.

This represents a real challenge as mentioned earlier. It is important that information is made readily available to marketers so that they fully understand what needs to be done in order to be in compliance with local legislation.

Not complying with the permission marketing legislation have in some countries incurred fines of more than US$ 800.000. Consumer protection agencies are likely to take this issue very seriouslyat some point in Poland too.

Want to learn more about the legislation in Poland? Get in touch with SMB here:

4. How confident are you that all of your email marketing activities are in compliance withlegislation in Poland and in any other country you are marketing to?

www.smb.pl

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Only 30% of Polish marketers consider email marketing to be very strategically important to meet their marketing objectives compared to 46,70% in the rest of the EU. But 15% of Polish marketers says that email marketing is very unimportant to meet their marketing objectives, compared to only 1,10% in the EU.

I think that email marketing can play an important role as part of the direct and interactive marketing mix with most organizations, however it is important not to view email marketing as a stand-alone media.

Consumers and business buyers have different preferences at different times. Multi-channel marketing is indeed the name of the game, and email marketing is but one instrument, which should be fitted into the equation on the recipients’ terms.

Many companies still think that this is a sender control game. It is not. Successful marketers know how to look inside out and do their best to accommodate recipient preferences. And that applies to the media channels as well.

What the future brings for email marketingBut email marketing will become an increasingly important part of the marketing mix, as we know that consumers and business buyers are fond of the media. I think that the email marketing game will change over the next five years as the media itself will change. Google Wave was one example of what we can expect in the future. We might see movements where mobile, chat and email will somehow merge into one media.

No matter what the future brings, marketers do well by paying attention to the email marketing media as it is more than likely that it is here to stay – in whatever shape or form.

5. How strategically important do you consider your email marketing to be to meet your marketing objectives?

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The survey had more than 420 respondents from Poland.It was conducted over a period of 7 working days in September2010 through an online survey.

Background information

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6. Which of the following groups are you primarily marketing to?

7. How many people does your company employ?

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8. Which of the following best describers your job function?

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Supporters of this survey

Markedu - Innovative Marketing Education - is your one-stop-shop for all your marketing inspiration and educational needs. You can pick and choose between various types of marketing educational and inspirational programs ranging from web seminars to exclusive marketing events taking place around the world. | www.markedu.com

SARE is e-mail marketing leader in Poland. It develops tools, plans campaigns, prepares creations, sends newsletters and text messages, prepares reports and analyses, conducts training sessions, builds address databases, and manages them. | www.sare.pl

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SMB - Polish Direct Marketing Association has been established in June 1995 and from that moment promotes direct marketing in accordance with existing law regulations and tenets of professional ethics. It also educates the market and promotes high quality of products and services. It aims at protection of customer privacy and rights. SMB is a member of FEDMA and EMOTA (the European E-commerce and Mail Order Trade Association). | www.smb.pl

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Your data represents a vital source of strategicintelligence. Kodak can help you leverage itto personalize customer communications, targetthe right individuals at exactly the right time,and react to changing markets more quickly.

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Make communications relevant and Personal.

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About FEDMA - Federation of European Directand Interactive Marketing

FEDMA, the Federation of European Directand Interactive Marketing, represents the sector in allits forms at European level. FEDMA's objectives are to protect and promote the direct andinteractive marketing sector by creating, through representation, self-regulation and information,acceptance of, and confidence in, direct and interactive marketing within a healthy commercialand legislative environment in which the sector can profitably operate and develop.

Representing the interests of over 18,000 companies, FEDMA is the single voice dedicated to building the business of cross-border direct and interactive marketing, through its vast network of businesses within and beyond Europe. All our members enjoy a wide range of services.

FEDMA's Mission StatementToday, direct marketing strategies (via mail, email, telephone, mobile, Internet and directresponse) are an essential tool for companies to approach, inform and retain customers, as wellas providing customer relationship services.

The development of sophisticated databases, telemarketing and e-marketing has made directmarketing increasingly popular as a marketing strategy and has encouraged strong investment.FEDMA’s task is dedicated to building the business of cross-border direct marketing, bypromotion, protection, information and best practices.

FEDMA's mission is to:

Protect the European direct and interactive marketing industry and the interests of our members.FEDMA aims to encourage the European institutions to ensure a healthy commercial andlegislative environment within which the industry may prosper.

Promote the European direct and interactive marketing industry towards governments, media,businesses, consumers; to encourage the growth and profitability of our members and support thefurther development of direct marketing as a marketing strategy .

Inform members, governments, media, businesses, and consumers about the European direct and interactive marketing industry, and encourage education and training for the sector

Contact DetailsFederation of European Direct Marketing439, Avenue de Tervuren, B-1150, Brussels

Phone: +32 2 779 42 68 | Fax: +32 2 779 42 69 | Email: [email protected] | Web: www.fedma.org

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About Michael Leander’s Email Marketing Masterclass

Learn how to make email marketing work for you and your business

If you think using emaill marketing is an important part of your future, Michael Leander's Email Marketing Masterclass is the right investment for you. Highly rated by past delegates and professionally organized at quality venues, value for money is exceptional.

The Email Marketing Masterclass even includes a free follow-up web seminar to ensure your expectations are met.

A successful and tested format designed for professional marketers

Michael Leander's Email Marketing Masterclass has gone from success to success in countries all over Europe and the Middle East. In fact so much so, that Michael Leander has been featured on major television stations in the Middle East, in leading financial and business newspapers in numerous countries and covered by leading news portals and blogs in many countries.

The Email Marketing Masterclass format is designed to inspire you and teach you how you can leverage email marketing effectively in your business.

The Email Marketing Masterclass applies a high level of interaction, a good degree of practical insights mixed with high level of marketing knowledge. We are sure you will find it useful, but also stimulate you and your colleagues to do better email marketing in the future.

Learn more about the EMMC Tour 2010/11 - www.markedu.com/emmc

Get involved with the Email Marketing MasterclassThe Email Marketing Masterclass is organized by Markedu Innovative Marketing Education and Training in collaboration with local partners. This unique marketing event is organized by Markedu offices in Iberia, Middle East and South East Asia.

If you have any queries, please use the contacts below

Mr. João Ribeiro - [email protected]. Carla Rosa - [email protected]

Email Marketing Masterclass Tour

Michael Leander’s

2010/11

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This survey was brought to you by Markedu – institute for innovative marketing education and the creator of the Email Marketing Masterclass

© 2010 Markedu - Innovative Marketing Education. All rights reserved.

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