How does your email program rate on the email excellence continuum? This year marketers will increase their email program budgets by 30 to 40 percent using last years return on email program revenues as a defensible benchmark. Compare your performance metrics with internal trend benchmarks as well as industry benchmarks relevant to your sector, market or industry. Continually analyze individual behavior and campaign performance to accurately identify your highest value customers and most successful campaigns. Work with your email service provider or email expert to audit and score your email program to identify and resolve points of failure. Keep a close eye on the symbiotic relationship between email programs and landing pages. Both are essential to close the loop for conversion.

Example: Intrawest Corporation, the world’s leading developer and operator of village-centered resorts, measured $5.7 Million (Canadian) in revenues from just three "email only" campaigns (or $16.9 Million (Canadian) when including guests who have also been contacted by direct mail). Intrawest’s lodging confirmation emails have successfully increased pre-committed measurable revenues from lodging guests by $147 CDN per booking-- or $478 CDN per click. Their email database also grew by 70 percent, which resulted in them sending more than 29 million emails and 2,500 campaigns. They were able to automate much of the process, resulting in them sending twice the volume of emails at half the cost, and freeing up more than 400 hours of staff time per month when compared to their historical practices.