Schurq.'s 6 main conclusions from the National Email Survey 2021

E-mail is anything but old-fashioned

E-mail old-fashioned? No way! Only 4% of all Dutch people call e-mail old-fashioned. And if you think you can only reach young adults through social media, you're wrong. The National E-mail Survey 2021 shows that e-mail is very much alive among the target group of 18-24 year olds. In fact; they often prefer to receive an important message by e-mail rather than through social media.

We believe that e-mail has been revived with all of today's options. Think of the options that marketing automation systems offer, such as sending emails automatically and setting up dynamic emails. So set up those email campaigns! Of course, this can be combined with social media. We actually recommend this!

How. Use the data you obtained from social advertising as a basis. Through Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, you can target a specific audience in a very targeted way. You can then adjust your email flow to this target group with content that meets their specific needs and/or pain points. This way you send relevant content to your leads.

In addition, it is also possible to segment existing leads. For example, based on their buying and clicking behavior in the past. You can then send each segment personalized content.

#1. How do we see that reflected in our customers?

The fact that e-mail is alive and well among the above target group is also evident at our client H20 esports. Among other things, they offer training and coaching for young talents and young adults who want to reach the top in esports! The group of gamers is approached through multiple channels, including email campaigns. It can be seen that these emails have a pretty good open rate. With an average open rate of 31.47%, we are just below the benchmark of 34.15% of the Email Benchmark 2021.

Although this result is slightly below the benchmark, it is not a bad result. Since our goal is to exceed the benchmark, we did research where we could optimize. This showed that the newsletter was sent to multiple segments. The recipients of this mailing include parents, gamers and business contacts.

A possible explanation for the open rate could be that this mail was not interesting (enough) for a part of the recipients. Targeted segmentation is therefore very important. Make sure your content is always relevant to the reader, this will increase your chances of increasing your open rate!

#2. 34% of Dutch people check email 1-3 times daily

How often are you guilty of it? Checking your mail to see if anything new has come in yet. Or do you open all emails that come in immediately? On average, 34% of Dutch people check their inbox 1-3 times. 29% do this even 4-6 times.

When they check their email, you naturally hope that they will open your email and actually read it. Based on their behavior within the email, you can determine the level of interest in your product/service. When you see that your email is not opened, you can send an automated reminder after a few days. Possibly with a dynamic subject line that might trigger them to open the email.

#3. It's best to send emails
in the morning or evening

Since the Dutch open their e-mail several times each day, in theory, the time of sending would not matter. But that's not how it works. You can increase your open and click-rates by also sending at the right time. The National Email Survey 2021 shows that the Dutch clearly prefer morning and evening hours.

Namely between 09.00 - 11.00 and 19.00 - 21.00. The Dutch Email Benchmark 2021 showed that it is best to send your emails on Tuesdays or Thursdays!

Want to find out what is the best shipping day and time for your target audience? Test! Try out different times and days. Keep track of the metrics and you'll learn in no time what works best for you!

Don't feel like or have time to test this? Then of course there are tools that automatically measure this for you. Want to know which tools these are? Then get in touch with us!

#4. Email, as a versatile channel, is effective for both customer loyalty and conversion

Dutch people get different types of emails in their inbox all day long. From track-and-trace codes, to newsletters or a periodic blog they've subscribed to. And the great thing is, they don't mind this at all. In fact, often they have asked to be contacted themselves! Use the full potential of email as a versatile channel, as there is no other online channel that can be used for so many purposes!

Drive both customer loyalty and conversion. This can even be done in the same campaign.

Imagine you have a training agency. You can then drive loyalty by offering additional training/courses. You can combine this with personalized advice, why this connects to previous training and what the person will gain from it. Think about certain pain points or needs that you can solve (that you found when following the lead's behavior). You can drive conversion by using an email flow to warm up the lead to sign up for a new training/course.

But fortunately, there are solutions to this!

Relatively easy solutions: customize content
→ Use transparent png images as much as possible;
→ Add a translucent outline to dark images/transparent pngs for better readability;

Solutions in the html:
→ Enable dark mode for your email by including this metadata in the. Thus, dark mode becomes active in your mail if dark mode is enabled at the recipient.

Voeg toe tussen
meta name=”color-scheme” content=”light dark”
meta name=”supported-color-schemes” content=”light dark”

→ You can add dark mode styles to the style section. This lets you use custom styles for dark mode in: iOS, Apple Mail, Outlook.com, Outlook 2019 (macOS) and Outlook App (iOS). Elements like .dark-img and .light-img are useful when an outlined logo is not pretty.

Tip: Check out this guide for more information and examples.

Are you running into these challenges and need help? Then we would love to help you! Please contact us.

This is an example of how we solved the problem with our logo in emails:

#6. High frequency and irrelevant content cause most unsubscribes

In the National Email Survey 2021, we see that most Dutch people unsubscribed from up to five newsletters. Too high sending frequency was one of the main reasons for this (60%). Along with non-relevant content.

So.

What's in store for you?

Making sure people subscribe to your newsletter. And especially not unsubscribe. You can win the inbox battle if you provide the right frequency and relevant content for your target audience.

Do you have the right frequency of mailing and are you sending quality and relevant content? When someone does unsubscribe, you don't have to see this as a negative thing! This person simply does not belong to your target group. This leaves you more time to spend on those who do belong to your target group.

But what is the right frequency and content for your target audience? This is a great question and we have tips on how to target it.

Did you know...

E-mail has been around for 50 years? In 1971, Raymond Tomlinson first sent a message over a computer network. So we've come a long way, but today we can put down complete automated workflows with dynamic content. A world without e-mail? We shouldn't think about it. E-mail is such an effective marketing channel! Provided you use it well of course. Could you still use some help with your email campaigns?

*The National Email Survey 2021 is conducted annually. This year's survey of 2,153 Dutch people was conducted by CG Research on behalf of Spotler.