The new SVP and general manager of the company's email solutions business provides insight into email trends.
DoubleClick recently promoted Eric Kirby to senior vice president and general manager of DoubleClick's email solutions business. We talked with Kirby to learn more about his new position, and get his thoughts on the email marketing industry.
Editor's Note: Read about DoubleClick's acquisition by Hellman & Friedman in yesterday's news section.
iMedia: What does your new role entail?
Eric Kirby: I am responsible for the overall direction and management of DoubleClick’s global email business. This includes the DARTmail ASP service, UnityMail software and all of the associated services such as strategic services consulting, ISP and Delivery services and other email-related professional services.
iMedia: What are your goals for your first year?
Kirby: My primary goals are the aggressive enhancements of our market-leading products, an expansion of our services and the continual education of our clients and the market on best practices in email marketing.
We are launching significant new releases to both DARTmail and UnityMail in the next couple of months and will be launching other new services throughout the year. In addition, we will continue the great work that DoubleClick does in educating the market about best practices -- we will have a large Email Solutions summit in Colorado this summer and we frequently provide education seminars on a host of topics ranging from segmentation and targeting to ISP relations and delivery best practices.
iMedia: DoubleClick's latest Email Trend Report came out last month. Can you give me the highlights of that and comment on the significance of the findings?
Kirby: Perhaps the most significant finding was the record purchase conversion rates for email in the quarter, but we also found a changing significance in how marketers can measure and leverage certain performance metrics.
Retail and catalog marketers saw all-time high order-per-email-delivered rates, and near-record click-to-purchase conversion rates. In addition, the revenue-per-email-delivered rate rose, despite a dip in average order size.
Separately, we are seeing a change in how marketers can leverage traditional performance metrics such as open rates. Our trend reports have shown open rates declining for several quarters. But a significant challenge in maintaining open rates includes the adoption of image-blocking filtering mechanisms among many major ISPs and email programs such as Outlook. This was implemented as a response to protect readers from potentially graphical or offensive spam messages, but a side effect of this change is a reduction in the calculated open rate of emails due to the inability to identify the email as opened unless the images render. However, the fact that click rates and other performance measures have remained stable over this time period is further evidence that underlying performance remains strong.
iMedia: With spam still proliferating and more and more consumers using email blockers, is email marketing still a killer app?
Kirby: All of the research that DoubleClick has conducted points to consumers’ ability to differentiate between legitimate email and spam. The record conversion rates that we saw last quarter would be one indicator of the continued success of email marketing.
This is not to say that spam is not a problem for the industry, but we are working very closely with legislators, regulators, ISPs and other technology vendors to help develop solutions to the problem of spam. It’s not clear that spam will ever completely disappear, but it is clear that companies who are smart in how they manage and evolve their email communications are able to successfully navigate the challenges.
iMedia: What strategies can marketers take to overcome the above issues?
Kirby: The two key things for marketers to focus on would be email governance and smarter marketing. Email governance includes things like ensuring best practices in data collection, guaranteeing subscription transparency and so on. In the email world, smarter marketing involves ensuring the value of the email to the recipient. If the content is relevant, the branding is clear, the frequency is appropriate, etc, then recipients will truly value the communication and marketers will have less concerns about overcoming spam and inbox clutter.
iMedia: What's the most innovative use of email marketing you've seen?
Kirby: We are seeing the savviest and most innovative marketers move away from the traditional campaign mindset to one that is driven by customer events and actions. For example, some of our publishing and marketer clients are using Real Time Messaging to deploy and deliver intelligent email messages in response to consumer actions such as site visits, shipping notifications, etc. This significantly changes the marketing notion and connects email communications to specific customer needs or “triggers.”
In addition, by centralizing all email communication within the marketing department, Real Time Messaging ensures consumers receive email with consistent branding, more relevant content and centrally managed frequency. Real Time Messaging also allows marketers to capitalize on previously untapped, and often anticipated, communications. DoubleClick’s 2004 Consumer Email Study showed that the vast majority of email recipients expect to receive transactional email, and many consumers would welcome marketing messages within these emails.
Another innovative thing we’re seeing is more and more brand marketers beginning to use email for branding purposes.
iMedia: What's your best advice for email marketers?
Kirby: Apart from what I already mentioned about focusing on the needs of your email recipients, I would say that companies must avoid under-investing in the channel. Email affords a fantastic opportunity to marketers and there is a risk in not investing in it properly. Email provides one of, if not the highest, return on investment channels available to marketers. However, in order to continue to drive significant revenue and value, marketers must ensure that they evolve their programs faster than any challenges arise and this requires a continued focus and investment.
Along these lines, my other advice would be to work with one of the leading email service providers -- and obviously I’d prefer if it was DoubleClick -- but work with a vendor that invests in continual improvement of their technology, their services and their people. Pick a company that you can truly partner with, but also one that has deep relations with the key ISPs, regulators and legislators around the globe, as well as world-class technology, systems and strategic guidance. If you want to take full advantage of the email channel, you should work with the best to enable you to achieve the potential.
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