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STUDENT CERTIFICATE

Certified that this report is prepared based on the dissertation project


undertaken by SACHIN AWASTHI under the able guidance of
Prof. (Dr.) Nimish Gupta (Faculty Guide) in partial fulfillment of
the requirement for award of degree of MBA(G), 2008-10 Batch
from Amity University Uttar Pradesh.

Date: ___________________

Signature Signature Signature


Sachin Awasthi Dr. Nimish Gupta Prof. (Dr.) R.P. Singh
Student Faculty Guide Director, ABS

SACHIN AWASTHI, AMITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 1


FACULTY GUIDE CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that this report is prepared under my guidance & is based on
Dissertation Report undertaken by SACHIN AWASTHI MBA (G), 4TH
Semester on the topic “A Study to Analyze the Effectiveness of Multimedia
and Text-only E-mail Communications & Discover whether Consumer’s
Attitudes towards E-mail Reflect their Behavior”.

This project is prepared in the partial fulfillment of Master of Business


Administration (Marketing & IT) to be awarded by Amity University, Uttar
Pradesh.

To the best of my knowledge, this piece of work is original and no part of


this report has been submitted by the student to any other institute/university
earlier.

Date __________________

Dr. Nimish Gupta


Faculty Guide
Asst. Professor
ABS
SACHIN AWASTHI, AMITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This Dissertation would not have come to fruition without the help,
wittingly or unwittingly, of a great many people too numerous to mention.
This section provides a platform to recognize and acknowledge those
fortunate enough to spring to mind.

My dissertation guide Asst. Prof. (Dr.) Nimish Gupta should be


commended for the guidance, support, and wealth of ideas he provided in
order to see this work completed.

I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. Amit Srivastava, (Sr.


Software Developer, TCS, NOIDA) and Mr. Pushpendra Singh (Project
Manager, Internet Marketing, I-Yogi, Gurgaon) for subsequent help with
the questionnaire designs and some technical assistance for this study.

All the unnamed people who kindly responded to the Questionnaire, I am


indebted to you.

SACHIN AWASTHI, AMITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 3


Finally, my family for providing help, advice, and motivation when it was
required.

SACHIN AWASTHI, AMITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 4


TABLE OF CONTENT

Sl. Heads No. Of Pages


1 Title page
2 Student’s certificate 1

3 Faculty certificate 2

4 Acknowledgement 3

5 List of tables 5

8 List of graphs 6

7 List of Appendices 7

8 Synopsis 8-9

9 Chapter-I 10-27

Introduction

10 Chapter-II 28-36
E-MAIL MARKETING INDUSTRY

11 Chapter-III 37-42

Research Methodology

12 Chapter-IV 43-67

Analysis of Data

13 Chapter-V 68-71

Summary & Conclusion

14 Appendices 72-78

15 Bibliography 79-80

16 resume 81-84

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Comparing unique click-throughs by format .....................................p.22


Table 2: Effectiveness of Image & Text dominant web banner ads .................p.23
Table 3: Unique E-mail Opens Chi Squared Figures........................................p.49
Table 4: Unique E-Mail Clicks Chi Squared Figures.......................................p.50
Table 5: Total E-mail Opens Chi Squared Figures...........................................p.50
Table 6: Survey - Gender Chi Squared.............................................................p.52
Table 7: Survey - Multimedia vs Text Chi Squared.........................................p.56
Table 8: Survey - Revised Multimedia vs Text Chi Squared...........................p.57
Table 9: Gender vs Preferred E-Mail Format...................................................p.64
Table 10: Age vs Preferred E-Mail Format......................................................p.66
Table 11: Further Research Possibilities...........................................................p.71

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List of Figures

Figure 1: Opens, Bounces & Unopened numbers for multimedia campaign .....p.44
Figure 2: Total links clicked for multimedia campaign......................................p.45
Figure 3: Opens, Bounces & Unopened numbers for text campaign…………..p.46
Figure 4: Total links clicked for text campaign
..................................................p.47

Figure 5: Comparison…......................................................................................p.48

Figure 6: Q1: Respondent gender……………………………………………. .p.51

Figure 7: Q2 Respondent age…………………………………………………..p.53

Figure 8: Q3: Respondent’s email software……………………………………p.53

Figure 9: Q3(a): Respondent’s browser based email choice……………………p.54

Figure 10: Q4: Frequency respondents check email……………………………p.55


.
Figure 11: Q5: Respondents preference of email format………………………p.55

Figure 12: Click through compared to preferred format……………………....p.57

Figure 13: Q5(a): Reasons for choosing multimedia email……………………p.58


.
Figure 14: Q5(b): Reasons for choosing text only email………………………p.59

Figure15: Q6: Respondent’s preferred hyper-link format…………………….p.60

Figure 16: Q7: respondent’s preffered frequency for email communication….p.61

Figure 17: Q8: Behavior towards unwanted commercial email communication. p.62

Figure 18: Open & Unsubscribe Percentage comparison………………………p.63

Figure 19: Q8(a): the reason respondents gave for not choosing to unsubscribe. p.63

Figure 20: Gender Vs Preferred email format………………………………….p.65

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Figure 21: Age Vs Preferred email format % by age.………………………….p.66

Figure 22: Age Vs Preferred email format frequency by age………………….p.67

SACHIN AWASTHI, AMITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 9


LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix 1: JailMail Multimedia Format .......................................................p. 73


Appendix 2: JailMail Text-only Format ..........................................................p. 74

Appendix 3: JailMail Questionnaire..............................................................p. 75-77

Appendix 4: Chi Squared Test Table ..............................................................p. 78

List of Abbreviations & Definitions

Click-through rate - The number of hyperlinks accessed from a campaign

E-mail - Electronic Mail

HTML - Hyper Text Mark-up Language


IPT - Interactive Prospect Targeting (company) ISP
- Internet Service Provider
Link(s) - Hyperlink (Method of navigating to content)
MIME - Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions

Open-rate - The number of e-mails opened by recipients

Spam - Unsolicited Commercial E-mail

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SYNOPSIS
Technological developments have given rise to a global network of computers
and servers allowing its users to communicate with each other without
geographic or time constraints. The most popular, and established, medium of
communication in this global network is e-mail and it is that communication
which will be scrutinized in this study. In its early days e-mail was constrained
to plain text messages. Advances in software and internet protocols have enabled
the medium to carry a far richer subset of information including, but not limited
to, colour information, images and varied typefaces. This new breed of multimedia
e-mail, facilitated by HTML, has polarized opinion. Proponents laud the new
design capabilities made possible whilst at the same time detractors lament the
surfeit of rendering issues, incompatibility and broken links they argue plague the
format.

In this context, the objectives of the research were two-fold. The first was to
identify the format of e-mail that was most effective. The second was to
discover whether recipient’s attitudes toward e-mail format reflected the behavior
observed in relation to the first objective. In order to conduct the study three
methods of research were utilized. Desk research provided data for comparison
and contrast, an experiment was conducted to obtain metrics for the effectiveness
of each format of e-mail. Finally, a questionnaire was sent to the same
sample used in the experiment to determine whether their attitudes toward e-
mail correlated with the observed behavior.

The study found that e-mail open and click-through rates both provided
significant evidence to show that multimedia e-mail was in fact more effective
than text-only. These findings were backed up by statistical analysis that
showed that the probability of the results being significant was extremely

SACHIN AWASTHI, AMITY BUSINESS SCHOOL 11


high. In addition to the findings from the experiment the questionnaire
responses suggested that there is a strong correlation between the attitudes of
recipients and their behaviour. Respondents preferred multimedia over text-only
by a ratio of 3:1, a ratio that when compared to click-through rates for each format
was almost identical. This study ultimately produced two noteworthy
conclusions. The first conclusion is that HTML e-mail is more effective than
text-only e-mail, thereby rendering the research hypothesis invalid. The second
conclusion, relating to the second objective, is that consumer’s attitudes
show a strong correlation to their observed behaviour, both showing a sign ificant
preference for multimedia e-mail.

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CHAPTER-I
INTRODUCTION

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BACKGROUND

The Global Reach research agency (2004) estimated that by the year 2009
there would be over 2 billion users of the internet globally. Only China has 298
Million internet users. Whilst it impossible to provide truly accurate numbers
this still represents a massive potential audience for marketing messages, and
because the internet transcends the limitations of time and space this audience can
be reached almost instantaneously. E-mail is one of the most established
methods of communication used online, according to IPT, 99% of consumers
use the internet for email which must place the medium as a one of few
communication methods with such a large reach.
The number of internet users worldwide is expected to touch 2.2 billion
by 2013 and India is projected to have the third largest online population during the
same time, says a report. "The number of people online around the world will grow
more than 45 per cent to 2.2 billion users by 2013 and Asia will continue to be the
biggest Internet growth engine. "... India will be the third largest internet user base by
2013 - with China and the US taking the first two spots, respectively," technology
and market research firm Forrester Research said in a report.
Globally, there were about 1.5 billion Internet users in the year 2008.
Titled 'Global Online Population Forecast, 2008 to 2013', the report noted that
emerging markets like India would see a growth of 10 to 20 per cent by 2013.

"In some of the emerging markets in Asia such as China, India and Indonesia, the
average annual growth rates will be 10 to 20 per cent over the next five years (2008-
13)," the report said. India's number of Internet users was estimated to be 52 million
in 2008.
In the next four years, about 43 per cent of the Internet users globally are anticipated
to reside in Asia and neighbouring China would account for about half of that
population. "... the shifting online population and growing spending power among

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Asian consumers means that Asian markets will represent a far greater percentage of
the total in 2013 than they do today," Forrester Research Senior Analyst Zia Daniell
Wigder said.
According to the report, the percentage of internet users in Asia would increase to 43
per cent in 2013 from 38 per cent in 2008.

"The percentage of the global online population located in North America will drop
from 17 per cent to 13 per cent between 2008 and 2013, while Europe's share will
shrink from 26 per cent to 22 per cent.”The percentage of those in Asia will increase
from 38 per cent to 43 per cent and Latin America will remain steady at about 11 per
cent of the global total," Forrester noted.

The report said apart from China, other Asian countries with substantial online
growth rates include India, Indonesia, Pakistan, and the Philippines.

"By contrast, growth rates in some of the more mature markets such as Japan and
South Korea will rise by less than two per cent each year," it added.

If we accept then that e-mail has vast potential in terms of numbers, the
next question to be asked is what are the implications for marketers. According
to the same IPT study, e-mail marketing ranked second as the medium
consumers felt was most effective. It is important then, considering the numbers
involved and consumers receptiveness to the format, that marketers assess the
best way with which to communicate their messages. There are currently two clear
options for email messages. Traditional text formatted e-mail, or multimedia e- mail
facilitated by the use of HTML code. In some cases, it is very easy for a
marketer to make the choice to use one or the other, however, how does a
marketer know whether to spend the time and money required to develop an
HTML based email campaign?

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GRAPH 1: Internet users in the World by Geographic Regions

GRAPH 2: World Penetration Rates by Geographic Regions

16
GRAPH 3: World Internet Users by World Regions

17
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SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This research, in an attempt to provide empirical evidence on this issue,


uses an experiment, and questionnaire to discover what format of e-mail is
most effective, and whether consumers attitudes toward e-mail marketing
reflect their behaviour in response to it. The aim of the research then is to
provide the marketer with quantifiable evidence that can be used to argue in
favour of either approach. The relatively recent development of email, in
particular multimedia based email facilitated by HTML, as a marketing tool
ultimately restricts the pool of previous academic research in the field. This study
concerns itself with the effectiveness of two broad categories of email
communication, that of graphically rich multimedia email and that of text-only
email. It is perhaps to be expected that the majority of information available
regarding email and email marketing is based on the world wide web rather than
in books and journals, and it is true to say that there is a large amount of
subjective and anecdotal evidence that can be found supporting the hypothesis
that either type of email is more effective than the other.

Some supported facts and figures about e mail marketing:


• Goals for email marketers shifted slightly in 2008. 90% of marketers
surveyed considered growing their email lists as a priority. 85% considered
integrating email with other marketing and improving deliverability a
priority. 50%considered Web 2.0, social media and mobile marketing a
priority.

• Email ad spending will jump to $677 million in 2011, from $492 million in
2008.

• Email presently generates 21.6% of total revenue from campaigns.

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• Marketers tell us that they enjoy an ROI (return on investment) that is two to
three times higher with email than it is with any other form of direct
marketing.

• Half of respondents to a 2008 survey said they handle their direct response
marketing internally, while 37% conducted it though a combination of
agency and internally.

• 23% reported their budget would increase by 10% or higher this year
compared the previous year.
• Email ad spending will jump to $431 million in 2011, from $405 million in
2008.

• 72% of the firms polled send email to customers; a 10% increase over 2007.

• 55% of the firms polled that use email plan to increase their budgets for it
next year.

• Nearly three-quarters of email marketers said that they plan to spend either
the same amount or more on email marketing in 2008 as they did in 2007.

• More than a quarter of respondents said they would spend 1.5 times as much
or more as they did in 2007.

• Nearly half (47%) of respondents made a purchase in the past year due to
permission email. Just under onethird (30%) said they stopped doing business
with at least one company because of poor email practices.

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• Data from the Jupiter Research Economic Downturn Online Consumer
Survey, Q4 2008, indicates that email is resilient in this recession as the
channel still inspired 41% of consumers to make at least one online purchase.
Additionally, consumer attitudes demonstrate that they are now more likely
to respond to ads with coupons and sign up for email promotions than they
were when the economy was strong.

• Email in general is regarded as the best marketing tactic because of its cost
effectiveness. Not surprisingly, as retailers focus more on retention
marketing, retailers indicate that email therefore represents the most
increased marketing priority for 2009 (88%), even more so than paid search
(70%) and natural search (78%).

GRAPH 4: Internet Users per 100 inhabitants 1997-2007

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By region, 42% of the world's Internet users are based in Asia, 24% in Europe, 15%
in North America, 11% in Latin America and the Caribbean taken together, 4%
in Africa, 3% in the Middle East and 1% in Australia/Oceania.

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REVIEW OF PREVIOUS RESEARCH STUDIES

This literature review will provide an objective view of the material


available using, where appropriate web-based and print-based material. The
literature review will be segmented into four logical sections. The first section
will focus on email marketing, citing work from figures and companies well-
regarded in the industry alongside more anecdotal evidence. The second section
will be more empirical in nature addressing previous studies and research
supporting the case for either format. The third section will discuss relevant
theory relating primarily to the composition of communications. The final section will
draw conclusions from the research presented.

E-MAIL MARKETING
E-mail
The aim of this section is to define email marketing and give an understanding of
the importance of email and why it is an important element of a marketing mix.
According to the Oxford American Dictionary e-mail stands for "messages
distributed by electronic means from one computer user to one or more
recipients via a network." The internet, in its current form, was not a prerequisite
for e-mail. Indeed, the first crude form of e-mail was sent by Ray Tomlinson of
ARPANET in 1971 (Griffiths, R.T., 2002), however, in order for the subject area
of this research, email marketing, to be utilised by marketers, the internet
along with more advanced software and networking technology was required.
With this backbone in place Hoffman (2000) argues that e-mail has become
"the most important innovation since the development of the printing press"
able to "transform not just the way individuals go about conducting their
business with each other, but also the very essence of what it means to be a
human being in society." This is certainly an extreme viewpoint, but there is
some justification to Hoffman's views. The fo l l o w i n g fi g u re s m a ke
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impre s s i ve rea d i n g a n d certainly suggest that e-mail has become an intrinsic
part of many people’s lives. According to Messaging Online “e-mail is the
fastest-growing communications technology in history. From only 2 million e-
mail accounts in 1985, this grew to 891.1 million e-mail accounts at the
beginning of 2001." This number is now even higher, according to The
Radicati Group (2006) there are a staggering "668 million email users worldwide,
with over 1.2 billion active email accounts." When this is coupled with "worldwide
email traffic per day total[ing] about 135 billion messages" the result is a behemoth
of a communication medium.

E-mail Marketing

Purely in terms of metrics the previous paragraph illustrates just how valuable e-
mail could be to an online marketing program, and it is true to say this is
being followed up by marketers. An IPT email marketing survey (2004)
found that 92% percent of professional respondents currently used email
marketing with over half (51%) declaring that the budget would increase the
following year. It is perhaps not surprising that these figures are so positive given
the findings from the consumer part of the survey. According to IPT, 99% of
consumers use the internet for email creating a vast potential audience for
marketing messages. Even more encouraging for marketers is the medium
consumers felt were the most effective for marketing communication. Email
ranked second at 32%, a score only 7% behind television, but markedly higher than
press, radio and other forms. Clearly these statistics have to be approached with
caution, the answers consumers give, compared to their actual behaviour can
often be distinctly different. Still, the figures do show consumers are still receptive to
email communication despite that fact that "the average email user gets between
54 and 93 e-mails per week, a number that increases in direct proportion to the
length of time the person has been using email" (Brondmo, H. P., 2001).
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Utilised as a marketing tool email has both advantages and
disadvantages. The k e y advantages of email marketing are two-fold and
intrinsically linked. The first is low costs and the second is the ability to utilise a
digital work-flow.
Dave Chaffey (2006) estimates that "currently, e-mail costs range from $5 to $7
per thousand compared to $500 to $700 per thousand for direct mail." If e-mail
costs just 1% per thousand to reach customers compared to direct mail the casual
observer may question whether, in the words of the age-old idiom, "You get what
you pay for." According to Hans Peter Brondmo (2001) "the best email
marketing programs, in fact, routinely enjoy response rates above 30 percent,
while even fairly simple promotional marketing campaigns routinely see a 4 to
6 percent response (compared to 1 to 2 percent response rate from traditional
direct mail campaigns)." The figures are a positive re-enforcement for email. With
all the information consumers are exposed to on a daily basis, it's getting harder and
harder to separate the good from the bad." This viewpoint expanded by Windham
(2000) who suggests that email marketing has one major disadvantage, the scourge
that is spam, or unsolicited email. Not only does this taint the reputation of email as a
form of communication, but it directly affects response rates to campaigns. In
addition many counter spam measures introduced by ISPs and email providers
have had a significant detrimental effect on email open rates and created rendering
issues.

E-MAIL BY FORMAT
Evidence for Text-only
The following paragraph will assess evidence that suggests text-only email
messages are more effective than HTML. Evidence in favour of text-only is
underwhelming and, in addition, predominately based on figures from the
first couple of years of the twentieth century. A report on consumers' preferred e-

25
mail advertisement formats by eMarketer (2002) discovered that a staggering
62% of respondents preferred text email messages , with only 35% favouring
HTML. These results supported findings from another eMarketer report carried
out in 2001 assessing response rates to e-mail marketing campaigns. It found that
text email enjoyed an 18.5% click-through rate compared to 15.6% for the
HTML equivalent.
Finally, A DoubleClick (2005) email trend report for Q1 2005 notes
that "Despite performing the least well, text showed the greatest year-on-year
increase in click- through rates up 19.6%, from 5.6% to 6.7%", and "the UK, in
particular, saw its text click- through rates increase by 136.7%." The report
suggests this may be influenced by a trend towards email access on mobile
devices.

Evidence for HTML-only

The previous section alluded to a trend where earlier research favoured text email
and later HTML. The metrics suggest that this is indeed the case, however, an
eMarketer report (2001) focused on consumer attitudes towards e-mail formats
rather than email delivery statistics. The results are of particular interest
because they show a huge disparity with much of the research at that time.
The key finding was that 60% of respondents would rather receive HTML
over text email. This result supports more recent research suggesting that the case
for HTML email being the bastion of email marketing is stronger than that
for text. This viewpoint is supported by anecdotal alongside empirical data both
of which will be detailed in this section. In addition comments e-mailed to the
author by marketers strongly suggest HTML is now the de-facto standard for
email. Paul Maloy (2004) says "the newsletter list that I maintain favors HTML by
about 12 to 1", a sentiment shared by Paula Skaper (2004) who adds that "more
than 90 percent of readers choose the HTML version over text." And "until that
26
metric changes significantly, there's simply no solid business case for dumping
HTML."
Data from DoubleClick (2005) echoes the views given in the preceding
paragraph. Discussing email format trends the report writes "HTML was, by far,
the most popular email format in Q1 2005 with 64.3% of e-mails being sent in
this format. This was followed by Multi-part ... at 20.9% and Text at 14.8%."
The report continues "in Q1 2005, higher click- through rates were achieved by
formatted content with both HTML (11.5%) and Multi-Part
(11.0%) performing above the overall average of 10.0% for all types."
However "Text continued to perform least well at 6.7%". These results show
that e-marketers clearly feel HTML is the most effective method of
communication, with the metrics backing up their argument.
A higher click-to-open ratio suggests that the content of an email is effective in
stimulating click-through once an email has been opened with HTML the format
that can facilitate this.

Evidence for both formats

In a survey of 50000 readers split evenly between HTML "lite", HTML and text
based email, it was found that almost no difference in effectiveness could be
measured. The completion rates were 7.2%, 7% and 7.5% respectively casting
doubt on the supposition that either text or HTML are more effective than the
other (Marketing Sherpa, 2003). The article continues to suggest that if a strong
enough relationship between the business and consumer has been forged, email
format becomes a non-issue. In support of these findings, a survey of 600
people carried out by Lynda Partner (2003) for MarketingProfs discovered that just
over half preferred HTML email and just under half plain text.
Perhaps the most pertinent article is that of Tom O'Leary (2006) for
GroupMail. O'Leary proposes that due to technological advances in email
27
composition software and readers the best format to use is both. Using something
called a multi-MIME message, it is possible to send both HTML and text in the
same communication. If a reader cannot read the HTML correctly it can
degrade gracefully down to the text version included, or alternatively the
reader can be programmed to show only the text-based version when
available (Chaffey,
2006). To support the point O'Leary provides figures from a GroupMetrics report
on unique click-through from a list size of 10000.

TABLE 1: Comaparing unique click-throughs by formats

HTML Only 1436 unique clicks


TEXT Only 1353 unique clicks
HTML & TEXT 1518 unique clicks
Source: GroupMetrics

Text is the worst performer, though not significantly below the performance of
HTML. It is clear however that the combination approach yields the best
results. These results also suggest that HTML would perhaps perform better
without some of the technical and rendering difficulties that can be associated
with it, and which cause the reader to default to text.
Further Theory
A study conducted by Diameter for DoubleClick Media (2001) aimed to
analyse the effectiveness of each element of a web banner advertisement on
ad recall. The study concluded that in some situations visual images are second
to brand logo in eliciting recall. Whilst it did not discuss image versus text
formatted advertisements, the findings suggest that companies sending HTML
formatted email should pay close attention to the branding of the email above
other image content.
Utilising a similar comparison between image and text

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dominant web banner adverts, but focusing on click-through-rate, BannerTips
discovered that text dominant banners performed better than their image
dominant counterparts. In the context of email marketing these findings
suggest that the goal of each email communication should be reflected in
the formatting used, with the appropriate formatting utilised depending on whether
the email was designed to be a "call to action" or informative. The following
table summarizes these findings.
Table 2: Effectiveness of Image & Text dominant web banner ads

EFFECTIVENESS

ATTRIBUTE BRAND CLICK THROUGH


REINFORCEMENT

IMAGE DOMINANT INCREASE DECREASE

TEXT DOMINANT DECREASE INCREASE


Source: Park, M.H., 2002
It should be re-iterated that the findings in the studies preceding this paragraph provide
data based on the observation of banner adverts, not email. It is not then surprising that
research on the factors affecting click-through-rate in e-mail marketing (Chittenden, L. &
Rettie, R.,
2002) produced contradictory results. Comparing click-through rate to creative
information they noted that "the number of images is less in the lower responding group,
suggesting that the more colourful and attractive e-mails generate greater response."
If these results are considered representative they provide a strong argument that
not only are consumers receptive to HTML email, but using HTML to provide colour
and images actually improves performance.
Eyetrack III (2004) undertook research studying the recall of information presented in text
vs. multimedia format. Although this study did not measure how effective each format
was at eliciting a physical response (click-through), it is important to remember not
all email marketing efforts are for that purpose. According to the IPT Email Marketing
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Survey (2004),
75% of marketers use email for customer retention, 15% for acquisition, 9% for
cross selling and 1% for branding. Retention may include information or news
designed to keep the brand in the customers mind rather than be a specific call to action.
The aim of the research was to assess whether "the presentation of editorial content in
multimedia format [would] help readers understand and remember more [news] story
information." Half the participants viewed a news story in text only, and half in
multimedia after which they all completed the same recall quiz. Without delving too
far into the data the study uncovered three findings of relevance.

• Users that received information in text form seemed to have a better recall
of specific factual information, names, places etc.
• Information about an unfamiliar process or procedure was more
correctly recalled after viewing the multimedia.
• There was no significant difference between men and women regardless
of presentation format.
Source: Eyetrack III, 2004

In the context of e-mail marketing the first finding suggests that important information
should be presented to customers in text regardless of the format used. The second
suggests that new or unfamiliar products can be better represented through
multimedia or a combination of both. The final finding suggests that there will
be no discernible difference in the effectiveness of HTML or text email with regard
to gender.

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SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES

SCOPE
To explore the potential of HTML &Text only email users across the region in age group
of 20 -30 years.

OBJECTIVE
• To determine if there is quantifiable difference in effectiveness obtained by
utilising either multimedia (HTML) or text-only email communications.
• To identify if a sample groups attitudes toward multimedia (HTML) and text e-
mail matched their actions when presented with either type

HYPOTHESIS
"There is no difference in effectiveness between HTML and text-only email"

LIMITATIONS
There were three obvious limitation in the design of the experiment, one inherent
to the research methodology and the other two specific to this study.
• The inherent limitation of an experiment is that it does not find out why the
results have happened, in other words, it is difficult to extrapolate meaning from
quantified data. This limitation was bridged through the use of triangulation
(discussed above).
• The second imitation was a purely down to the technology available. The text-only
version of the e-mail had to be sent in HTML format. It is impossible to measure
open rates for text e-mail because in order for the measurement to take place a
tiny invisible image has to be requested from the host server, and this feature is
available only in HTML (Patterson, 2007).
• The final limitation is a limitation of format. It was impossible for both versions
of e-mail to be truly identical in everything except format due to constraints with

31
text-only formatting. Compromises had to be made, predominately due to the lack
of support for columns. The links down the left hand side of the multimedia e- mail
(appendix 1) had to be placed after the content of the e-mail for the text
version (appendix 2).

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CHAPTER II
E-MAIL MARKETING
INDUSTRY

33
HISTORY OF E-MAIL MARKETING

Email is probably a necessity to you, but there was a time when there was no email!
Today email is considered the backbone of all digital communications. Just like the
printing press 500 years before it, email is an effective and efficient means of mass
distribution. Email also provides an easy way to conduct personal one-on-one
dialogue.

Email is a way of sending messages or data to other people means of computers


connected together in a network. Email actually predates the Internet, and was first
used as a way for users of the same computer to leave messages for each other all the
way back in 1961. Ray Tomlinson is credited with creating the first network email
application in the year of 1971. He initiated the use of the @ sign and the address
structure that we use today (username@domainname.com). Email was used to send
messages to computers on the same network, and is still used for this purpose today.

It was only in 1993 that large network service providers, such as America Online and
Delphi, started to connect their proprietary email systems to the Internet. This began
the large scale adoption of Internet email as a global standard. Coupled with
standards that had been created in the preceding twenty years, the Internet allowed
users on different networks to send each other messages.

The first email spam dates back to 1978. Spam is defined as unsolicited commercial
or bulk email, and today is said to account for 80 to 85% of all email (Waters, 2008).

34
Direct marketing has long played an integral part in marketing campaigns, but the
high cost meant that only large companies were able to pursue this. However, with
the growth of the Internet, and the use of email to market directly to consumers,
marketers have found these costs dropping, and the effectiveness increasing. That is
the born of direct email marketing

E-mail marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses electronic mail as a


means of communicating commercial or fundraising messages to an audience. In its
broadest sense, every e-mail sent to a potential or current customer could be
considered e-mail marketing. However, the term is usually used to refer to:

• sending e-mails with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a


merchant with its current or previous customers and to encourage customer
loyalty and repeat business,

• sending e-mails with the purpose of acquiring new customers or


convincing current customers to purchase something immediately,

• adding advertisements to e-mails sent by other companies to their


customers, and

• sending e-mails over the Internet, as e-mail did and does exist outside the
Internet (e.g., network e-mail and FIDO).

Researchers estimate that United States firms alone spent US$400 million on e-mail
marketing in 2006.

There are advantages and disadvantages to using traditional advertising mail in


comparison to e-mail.

COMPARISON TO TRADITIONALMAIL
Advantages

E-mail marketing (on the Internet) is popular with companies for several reasons:
35
• A mailing list provides the ability to distribute information to a wide range
of specific, potential customers at a relatively low cost.

• Compared to other media investments such as direct mail or


printed newsletters, e-mail is less expensive.

• An exact return on investment can be tracked ("track to basket") and has


proven to be high when done properly. E-mail marketing is often reported
as second only to search marketingas the most effective online marketing
tactic.

• The delivery time for an e-mail message is short (i.e., seconds or minutes)
as compared to a mailed advertisement (i.e., one or more days).

• An advertiser is able to "push" the message to its audience, as opposed


to website-based advertising, which relies on a customer to visit that
website.

• E-mail messages are easy to track. An advertiser can track users via auto
responders, web bugs, bounce messages, unsubscribe requests, read
receipts, click-throughs, etc. These mechanisms can be used to
measure open rates, positive or negative responses, and to correlate sales
with marketing.

• Advertisers can generate repeat business affordably and automatically.

• Advertisers can reach substantial numbers of e-mail subscribers who have


opted in (i.e., consented) to receive e-mail communications on subjects of
interest to them.

• Over half of Internet users check or send e-mail on a typical day.[3]

• Specific types of interaction with messages can trigger (1) other messages
to be delivered automatically, or (2) other events, such as updating the
profile of the recipient to indicate a specific interest category.

36
• E-mail marketing is paper-free (i.e., "green").

• Tracking and response metrics enables tuning and optimisation of the E-


mail marketing channel by a process of testing different variants and
calculation of statistically significant results.

• E-mail is popular with digital marketers, rising an estimated 15% in 2009


to £292m in the UK.

Disadvantages

Many companies use e-mail marketing to communicate with existing customers, but
many other companies send unsolicited bulk e-mail, also known as spam.

Internet system administrators have always considered themselves responsible for


dealing with "abuse of the net", but not "abuse on the net". That is, they will act quite
vigorously against spam, but will leave issues such as libel or trademark
infringement to the legal system. Most administrators possess a passionate dislike for
spam, which they define as any unsolicited e-mail. Draconian measures—such
as taking down a corporate website, with or without warning—are entirely normal
responses to spamming. Typically, the terms of service in Internet companies'
contracts permit such actions; therefore, the spammer often has no recourse.

Illicit e-mail marketing predates legitimate e-mail marketing. On the early Internet
(i.e., Arpanet), it was not permitted to use the medium for commercial purposes. As a
result, marketers attempting to establish themselves as legitimate businesses in e-mail
marketing have had an uphill battle, hampered also by criminal spam operations
billing themselves as legitimate ones.

It is frequently difficult for observers to distinguish between legitimate and spam e-


mail marketing. First, spammers attempt to represent themselves as legitimate
operators. Second, direct-marketing political groups such as the United States Direct
Marketing Association (DMA) have pressured legislatures to legalize activities that

37
some Internet operators consider to be spamming, such as the sending of "opt-out"
unsolicited commercial e-mail. Third, the sheer volume of spam has led some users
to mistake legitimate commercial e-mail for spam. This situation arises when a user
receives e-mail from a mailing list to which he/she subscribes. Additional confusion
arises when both legitimate and spam messages have a similar appearance, as when
messages include HTML and graphics.

One effective technique used by established email marketing companies is to require


what is known as the "double opt-in" method of requiring a potential recipient to
manually confirm their request for information by clicking a unique link which
includes a unique identification code to confirm that the owner of the recipient email
address has indeed requested the information. Responsible e-mail marketing and
autoresponder companies use this double opt-in method to confirm each request
before any information is sent out.

A report issued by the e-mail services company Return Path, as of mid-2008 e-mail
deliverability is still an issue for legitimate marketers. According to the report,
legitimate e-mail servers averaged a delivery rate of 56%; twenty percent of the
messages were rejected, and eight percent were filtered.[5]

Due to the volume of spam e-mail on the Internet, spam filters are essential to most
users. Some marketers report that legitimate commercial e-mail messages frequently
get caught and hidden by filters; however, it is somewhat less common for e-mail
users to complain that spam filters block legitimate mail.

Companies considering the use of an e-mail marketing program must make sure that
their program does not violate spam laws such as the United States' Controlling the
Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM), the
European Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, or their Internet
service provider's acceptable use policy. Even if a company adheres to the applicable

38
laws, it can be blacklisted (e.g., on SPEWS) if Internet e-mail administrators
determine that the company is sending spam.

E-MAIL MARKETING COMPANIES

eMage E-Marketing - Services include media planning and buying, online publicity
and media relations, content development, and search engine optimization.
http://www.emage-emarketing.com/
Actis emarketing - An e-marketing company that offers direct opt-in email
marketing campaigns, search engine rankings, email newsletters, website design, and
optimization.
http://www.actis-emarketing.com/
emarketing Association - Professional association for companies and individuals
involved in the practice of e-marketing and the integration of on and off-line
marketing.
http://www.emarketingassociation.com
emarketing Answers - This emarketing company provides a database of emarketing
questions and answers, plus free website promotion tools.
http://www.emarketinganswers.com
Sevista emarketing Technology - This company does managing and publishing of
email-based communications.
http://www.sevista.com
Cowell emarketing LLC - Customized and pre-developed content management
systems - offer design, development, training, hosting and management services
around the CMS in either a hosted or self-hosted environment.
http://www.transcendwebtech.com
emarketing Solutions - This emarketing company provides services for website
optimization, pay-per-click set-up and management, and link popularity solicitation

39
consultants.
http://www.e-marketing-solutions.net/
Global EMarketing Solutions - PPC consultant review, improve adwords campaign
and analyse pay per click problems.
http://www.global-emarketing-solutions.com/
Cogite EMarketing - Website and graphic design company.
http://www.cognite.co.za
Catalyst emarketing - Affiliate program management and super affiliate recruiting.
http://www.catalystemarketing.com
CF Messaging Company, Inc. - Emarketing campaigns using high impact email
marketing techniques, customer profiling, and data tracking.
http://www.cfmessaging.com
Bluerock Solutions - Offers customized ecommerce solutions and various
emarketing services.
http://www.bluerocksolutions.com
Ractor Marketing - A full service Advertising Agency in the Bay Area, servicing
only high tech clients. Areas of expertise include Lead Generation, emarketing and
Print Advertisements.
http://www.reactr.com
Sporg - Provides complete event and member registration solutions, including
donation collection, invitations, credit-card processing, custom reporting, badge
printing, and emarketing tools.
http://www.sporg.com
emarketing Tutorials - Articles and links on website creation, emarketing and
search engine promotion.
http://www.mailworkz.com/tutorials.htm
Vancouver emarketing 101 - Offers internet marketing services and search engine
optimization. Includes description of services, articles on search engine ranking and

40
contact information.
http://www.emarketing101.net
Merely Providing Technology Solutions (MPTS) - Website analysts and business
to business consultants, providing total business solutions for ebusiness and
emarketing trading online companies.
http://www.ictadvisor.co.uk/
The Hacker Group - Bellevue, Washington company providing direct mail and
emarketing services. Design, list brokerage and fulfillment services also.
http://www.hackergroup.com/
Kern Communications - Develops custom emarketing solutions for companies and
agency clientele.
http://www.kerncomm.com
MarketSoft - A supplier of emarketing solutions that drives Internet demand by
improving the timeliness and relevancy of offers and promotions delivered to
customers. Combines eBusiness with traditional selling models to ensure that the
right leads get to the right people at the right time, and then measures results to
enable the highest return on marketing investments.
http://www.marketsoft.com/
Explore Commerce - An online emarketing company that hosts an online
application for developing, tracking, managing email marketing campaigns.
http://www.explorecommerce.com
Cyberserv, Inc. - Software developer that supplies eCRM software, including
Service Request Management, emarketing, and collaboration management solutions.
http://www.cyberserv.com
The Data Bureau - An on line emarketing bureau offering opt-in lists, message
delivery and tracking.
http://www.databureau.co.uk

41
Quirk Emarketing - Provides email marketing, viral marketing, search engine
optimization and design and development of your website.
http://www.quirk.biz/
This current list of emark

42
CHAPTER-III
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY

43
RESEARCH DESIGN
This dissertation tests the hypothesis "There is no difference in effectiveness
between multimedia and text-only email." Only one type of primary research was
used, i.e. a questionnaire. A questionnaire was used to assess whether the
measured results reflected their thought process . Those participants who took
part in the questionnaire remained anonymous. Upon the conclusion of the
primary research, the data could be cross-analysed and patterns, trends and other
conclusions could be drawn from the results.
The dissertation is broken down into five broad section, beginning with a review
of current literature in the subject area. This is followed by the Research
Questions and Research Methodology chapters that define the area of
research and how the research will be conducted.

RESEARCH CONSIDERATIONS

Quantitative vs. Qualitative


A positivist or scientific approach to research asserts that reality is stable
and may be observed objectively this approach is in contrast to an interpretivist
outlook which proposes that "only through the subjective interpretation of and
intervention in reality can that reality be fully understood" (Davison, 1998). In an
attempt to nullify the "paradigm wars" between positivists and interpretivists,
Benbasat (1984) and Pervan (1994) observe that the methodology chosen for
research should be suited to the problem being investigated and the objectives of
the research. The specific nature of the research and the ability to prove or
disprove the hypothesis with purely quantitative data influenced the decision
to follow a positivist rather than interpretivist approach.

44
Triangulation
Triangulation identifies the process of using multiple forms research in order to
get two or more viewpoints on topic being studied, utilising this technique
prevents anomalous results from one set of data biasing the overall findings. This
study has used three sources of data for analysis. Desk research conducted prior to
the primary research unearthed an abundance of metrics directly related to the
subject topic. This research was then supplemented by quantifiable primary
research in the form of an experiment and a survey.

RESEARCH METHODS
Experiment
The objective of the experiment used for the study was to discover whether
there is a measurable difference in effectiveness between multimedia HTML email
and text-only email. In order for this to be achieved, an email communication
formatted in both HTML and text was proposed. The sample was split in half with
each half receiving one format of email. The effectiveness of each format of email
would be assessed on two criteria. The first is open rate, the number of unique
opens from the sample. The second criteria is click-through, how many people,
after opening the email, ultimately went on to click one of the enclosed links.

PROCESS
In order for the experiment to be fully realised a set of variables first had to be
defined. This section will deal with each of these variables in turn which, in turn,
will describe the process undertaken to complete the experiment.

➢ Sample
To carry out a live experiment using e-mail, I have chosen most of the P.G. student
and some of the working couples. I have chosen this type of sample because there

45
should be a high level of awareness amongst these people which certainly helps in
the work get done in proper manner. I picked them all randomly for survey
purpose. The total numbers of samples are 166.

➢ Content
The next issue was providing the content for both formats of email. It is difficult
to obtain measurements of effectiveness if there is no incentive for the viewer to
open or respond to the email. The two e-mails were crafted to have identical
content as far as possible in order for the formatting of each to be the only
variable, and there-fore any difference in effectiveness between the two could be
measured. Both e-mails were hand-coded. Finally, because the text e-mail had to
be sent in HTML format (see Limitations below) a conscious decision was
made to format hyperlinks in HTML so that they were embedded in words.
This way the links looked the same to the recipient regardless of which format was
delivered.

➢ Measurement
In order to measure the open and click through numbers for both e-mail campaigns
Campaign Monitor, an on-line e-mail service provider was utilised. The browser
based software, allows the user to measure, amongst other occurrences, the
open rate and click-through metrics that will used as a measurement of
effectiveness in this study.

➢ Limitations
There were three obvious limitation in the design of the experiment, one
inherent to the research methodology and the other two specific to this study.
The inherent limitation of an experiment is that it does not find out why the
results have happened, in other words, it is difficult to extrapolate meaning from

46
quantified data. This limitation was bridged through the use of triangulation
(discussed above). The second limitation was a purely down to the technology
available. The text-only version of the e-mail had to be sent in HTML format. It is
impossible to measure open rates for text e-mail because in order for the
measurement to take place a tiny invisible image has to be requested from the host
server, and this feature is available only in HTML. The final limitation is a
limitation of format. It was impossible for both versions of e-mail to be truly
identical in everything except format due to constraints with text-only formatting.
Compromises had to be made, predominately due to the lack of support for
columns.

Survey
The objective of the survey questionnaire was to evaluate two things. The first,
whether or not the recipients views on e-mail format reflected the actions they had
taken when receiving the test campaign. And second, to identify if there were
any other significant patterns or trends that could be extrapolated from the
answers given. These could have included variables such as gender and e-mail
provider.

Process
The following section will outline the processes undertaken to enable the
questionnaire to be carried out. In similar circumstances to the experiment there
were a number of variables that needed to addressed and a number of compromises
that needed to be made.
Sample
In order for the sample used for the questionnaire to provide meaningful

47
results it was imperative that the recipients were the same ones who had received
the email campaign. The questionnaire was sent by e-mail invitation to 166
recipients.

Content
The final content of the questionnaire was written to satisfy the needs of the
study. The language used and nature of certain questions were written to appeal to
subscribers. The content of the questionnaire covered basic demographic
information, namely gender and age, alongside email usage and reasoning behind
email usage questions. The digital nature of the survey allowed changes to be
implemented instantly in response to feedback from test recipients improving the
quality and accuracy of the results obtained.

Measurement
Conducting the survey online enabled the questionnaire to be delivered to
recipients directly, and responses recorded and collated in real-time.

Limitations
There were two limitations observed with the design and execution of
the survey questionnaire. The first was a relatively minor issue concerning
the wording in certain questions. Uncommon words and jargon can be included
in questionnaires provided that the recipients are familiar with them. The majority
of terms were acceptable, however, "web-based e-mail" was deemed ambiguous
and this was changed in the live questionnaire to "browser-based e-mail"
with examples provided. In addition it was considered that "HTML"was too
technical in nature and may not be understood. "HTML" was subsequently
substituted with "multimedia" to signify the use of colour, formatting and images
within an e-mail. This definition was provided to participants along side the

48
question.
The major limitation of the survey was the sample used and the
consequences arising directly from this decision. In order to discover a set of
significant results it was necessary to use the same sample group for the
experiment and survey. Due to the remote nature of the sample the only viable
method of reaching them was to use e-mail. This in turn meant that the
questionnaire became vulnerable to the same problems that faced the e-mail
campaign. Indeed, the same metrics used to analyse the effectiveness of the e-
mail experiment (open- rate and click-through rate) would be significant factors
in the response rate for the survey "Low response is the curse of statistical
analysis" and it can "dramatically lower confidence in the results." In order
to aid response rates for the questionnaire two techniques were used. The
first was to place an article in the e-mail campaign outlining Jails intention
to conduct a survey. Participants who read the e-mail would there-fore be
expecting the questionnaire. The second technique was to provide the
recipient with an incentive to complete the survey.

49
CHAPTER-IV
ANALYSIS OF DATA

Multimedia

Metrics for Multimedia Campaign

Figure 1: Opens, Bounces & Unopened numbers for multimedia campaign


50
Sent to 83 recipients
Delivered 79 (95.18%)
Total Opens 47
Unique Opened 36 (43.37%)
Clicks 15 (41.67%) recipients clicked 25 unique links
Unsubscribed 0 (0%)
Bounced 4 (4.82%)
Total Unopened 47 (56.63%)

51
Figure 2: Total links clicked for multimedia campaign

Figure 2 show the total, not unique, clicks on hyperlinks from the multimedia campaign.
8
different links were accessed a total of 28 times.

52
Text-only

Metrics for Text-only Campaign

Figure 3: Opens, Bounces & Unopened numbers for text campaign

Sent to 83 recipients
Delivered 75 (90.36%)
Total Opens 32
Unique Opened 27 (32.53%)
Clicks 5 (18.52%) recipients clicked 5 unique links
Unsubscribed 1 (1.2%)

53
Bounced 8 (9.64%)
Total Unopened 56 (67.47%)

Figure 4: Total links clicked for text campaign

Figure 4 show the total, not unique, clicks on hyperlinks from the text-only
campaign. 3 different links were accessed a total of 5 times. Significantly less than
the multimedia campaign.

54
Experiment Analysis
figure 5: Comparisons

55
There is no significant difference in the delivery rate between the two
campaigns. This suggests that some technological issues such as ISP image
blocking have not directly affected the results. The same conclusion can be
drawn for the "unique opens" numbers which show that although there is a
declining trend for open rates, this has not influenced the results. The
two most significant comparisons are the "unique opens" and the "click-
throughs". Both criteria show the most disparate results between the two
campaigns. Using just the data from the table these two results strongly suggest
that the null-hypothesis should be abandoned in favour of declaring HTML more
effective.

Chi Squared
The Chi Squared analysis is used "to test whether the number of individuals
in different categories fit a null hypothesis" The result, after being compared to a
table of values for Chi Squared, indicates the probability that the
observations recorded in an experiment are significant. If there is a statistically
significant difference between the observed numbers and the estimated
numbers, this test provides the researcher with supporting evidence to reject
the null hypothesis. Conversely, a Chi squared value that is less than the tabulated
value for Chi squared gives the researcher no reason to reject the null
hypothesis. As a final note, "When there are only two categories (e.g.
male/female) or, more correctly, when there is only one degree of freedom, the
c2 test should not, strictly, be used. There have been various attempts to correct
this deficiency, but the simplest is to apply Yates correction to our data." It is
enough for this study to express that this deficiency has been noted, and the Yates
correction has been duly applied. Three Chi Squared analysis will be presented in
this section with accompanying explanation. Each of the three tables represents
one of the metrics extracted from the e-mail campaign that can be used to assess
effectiveness.

56
Table 3: Unique E-mail Opens Chi Squared Figures

When the Chi Squared Value of 1.02 is compared to the analysis table it can be
seen that with 1 degree of freedom a value of 3.84 is required for a 95%
probability that the result is significant. The recorded value is distinctly lower than
3.84 and, with a probability at less than 75% does not provide compelling evidence
for the null hypothesis to be abandoned.

Table 4: Unique E-Mail Clicks Chi Squared Figures

57
In the case of Unique Clicks the Chi Squared value of 4.05 at 1 degree of freedom
means that we can say with a 95% probability that this result is a significant
departure from the null hypothesis. (Note: the values used represent the number
of unique recipients who clicked on a minimum of one link, not the total number of
links clicked.)

Table 5: Total E-mail Opens Chi Squared Figures

The final table shows a Chi squared analysis for the total number of times the
e-mail was opened rather than just the unique open values. The Chi squared value

58
of 2.48 along with 1degree of freedom is lower than the value of 3.84 required for
a 95% probability. However, it does fall in the 90-95% probability range
suggesting it is still a significant finding.
Survey
Survey Statistics

Viewed 31
Started 24
Completed 21
Completion rate 87.5%
Drop outs (After Starting) 3

Survey Statistics analysis

The statistics show that from a sample of 166 e-mail recipients 31 (18.67%)
clicked through to the questionnaire from the invitation.
21 (12.65%) respondents completed the questionnaire. This
a small response rate that jeopardises the reliability of the observations recorded.
Only 3 recipients dropped out of the survey before completion suggesting that the
majority of respondents felt comfortable with, and understood the questions.

Figure 6: Q1: Respondent Gender

59
Gender Analysis

Table 6: Survey - Gender Chi Squared

The results show that there is a significantly higher proportion of male respondents
to female, and that this is significant. The value of 3.05 gives a 90-95% probability
of significance. There are a number of reasons this could be. The first possibility is
for the JailMail list to be gender biased. Gender statistics for the whole sample
group were unavailable to test this theory. The second possibility is that males
were more likely to respond to the questionnaire there-by biasing the results. The
final explanation is that the sample size and resultant response rate were too

60
low for the gender sample to even out. Whatever the reason, this finding will
bias findings drawn from the questionnaire.

Figure 7: Q2: Respondent Age

Age Analysis

The key finding that two thirds of respondents are between the ages of 18
and 27 is significant because it is likely to bias findings drawn from the
questionnaire. Jail Clothing has strong links with extreme sports, in particular
snowboarding, and whilst a young age is not a prerequisite for pursuing these
sports a Mintel (2005) report into extreme sports suggests that extreme sports
"have much higher penetration levels amongst those under 25 ... due to the

61
physical nature of the sports in question."

Figure 8: Q3: Respondent's e-mail software

E-mail software analysis

It is clear from the results that accessing e-mail via a browser is the preferred
method for the sample group. It is possible that this factor would influence e-mail
effectiveness. Most e-mail clients provide superior rendering for HTML than
their web-based counterparts and so this would certainly not have a negative
influence upon click through. However, many e-mail clients have preview panes
that automatically download tracking images thereby causing the tracking
software to register this as an open As 86% of the total respondents (21)
use browser-based e-mail, for the purpose of this research this factor can be
discounted as an influence on effectiveness.
Figure 9: Q3a: Respondent's browser based e-mail choice

62
Browser based e-mail analysis
Those users who selected browser-based e-mail in the previous question were
asked to clarify their choice. Over 60% chose Hotmail which is significantly high.
As a comparison, 40% of their test list email addresses were Hotmail or MSN. It is
certainly possible for the choice of e-mail provider to affect an e-mail
campaign, in particular a campaign utilising HTML code. A silverPOP (2005)
report suggests that 40% of e-mails contain missing or blocked images and this
would negatively impact a multimedia campaign. In the scope of this research
there is not enough evidence to form a conclusion as to whether the choice of e-
mail provider directly affects campaign metrics.

Figure 10: Q4: Frequency respondents check e-mail

63
Frequency respondents check e-mail analysis

These results show that checking e-mail everyday has been selected by close to
100% of the sample. The result is close enough to be classified as ubiquitous
and accordingly it be assumed that the presence of an e-mail will be detected
within one day of its delivery. We can also confidently predict that this
factor will not have had an influence on the effectiveness of the
campaign.

Figure 11: Q5: Respondents preference of e-mail format

64
E-mail format analysis

Table 7: Survey - Multimedia vs Text Chi Squared

The Chi Squared table above uses the numbers of respondents from the
questionnaire who selected a preference for either multimedia (HTML) e-mail
and text-only. The expected numbers are, in this case, derived from the null

65
hypothesis, assuming no difference between the two formats of e-mail. The Chi
squared value of 4.76 is very high signifying a 95-99% probability that this is a
significant result. It is interesting that this result is so distinctive from the "total
opens" numbers recorded in the experiment. If this result, on its own, is linked back
to the second research aim (8.2), we can see that there is a disparity. The
sample claim to prefer multimedia by a ratio of 3:1, however this is not born out
in the total opens for each format. The ratio is however almost identical to the
"click through" numbers observed in the experiment (Figure 12) which suggests a
strong positive correlation between the two.

Figure 12: Click-through compared to Preferred Format

66
The previous section shows that there is a significant difference between recipients
preferred format of e-mail and the null-hypothesis that states there will
be no difference in effectiveness between the two. In order to fulfil the
research aims it is necessary to repeat the Chi Squared analysis using
estimated figures calculated from the numbers observed in the experiment.
In this way we can observe whether there is a significant difference between
the actions and attitudes of the sample group. Table 9 uses expected numbers
derived from the ratio of unique opens observed in the experiment.
Table 8: Survey - Revised Multimedia vs Text Chi Squared

We can see that there is still a difference between the observed numbers
and the revised expected numbers though not as evident. A Chi squared value
of 2.42 suggests a 75-90% probability that the result is significant.

Figure 13: Q5a: Reasons for choosing multimedia e-mail

67
Reasons for choosing multimedia e-mail analysis

The responses to this follow up question are distributed relatively evenly across
the answers. Taken in context with the recipients preferred choice of e-mail
format these figures suggest that "the more colourful and attractive e-mails
generate greater response." This factor could have been the driver behind the
click- through effectiveness of the multimedia campaign being dramatically higher
than that for the text-only message.

Figure 14: Q5b: Reasons for choosing text-only e-mail

68
Reasons for choosing text-only e-mail analysis
The number of responses recorded for a preference for text-only e-mail is
too low to extrapolate any significant findings from this follow up question. Of
the answers received the predominant reason for choosing text-only e-mail was to
not be distracted by the colour and images contained in a multimedia approach.
This is perhaps due to the quantity of e-mails received each week, 54 - 93 on
average, limiting the time some users fell they can spend reading each one.
However, to reiterate the earlier point, there are not enough responses to make
confident assertions and the above analysis is conjecture only.

69
Figure 15: Q6: Respondent's preferred hyper-link format

Respondents preferred hyper-link format analysis

The results show that respondents were split between preferring links to be shown
in full, and embedded in a word or phrase. These results are slightly
contradictory to both the observations taken in the experiment and the
responses given thus far in the questionnaire. One would expect the results for
"embedded in a word or phrase" and "embedded in an image" to be
significantly greater than "link shown in full" which would then correlate with the
preference shown by respondents to multimedia e-mail and the higher click-
through numbers observed in the experiment. This is not the case suggesting one
of two possible causes. Firstly those respondents did not fully understand the
question signifying an inadequacy in the piloting of the questionnaire. Or, the
second possibility is that there is a difference between the sample groups actions
and their attitude towards this question. Further research would be needed to
fully assess the influence the format of a hyperlink has on effectiveness as it
falls just outside of the scope of this study.

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Figure 16: Q7: Respondent's preferred frequency for e-mail communications

Preferred frequency for e-mail communications analysis


The results show a clear preference in the sample group for monthly e-mail
communications.. Response rates tend to drop due to a high frequency of e-mail
messages which can annoy recipients. This is definitely an area that, given the
time and resources, would be beneficial to study more closely. E-mail is so easy to

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filter and delete that any actions leading to the disenfranchisement of customers
could be costly.

Figure 17: Q8: Behaviour towards unwanted commercial e-mail communication

BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS UNWANTED COMMERCIAL E-


MAIL COMMUNICATION ANALYSIS
This last question, and the follow-up where applicable, primarily relate to the
formatting of future JailMail campaigns. There is one important observation that

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can be made that has the potential to impact performance metrics. Over 50% of
respondents did not select unsubscribe as the option they would take if they no
longer wished to receive messages. This is significant because each would
classify as a delivered message even though it were unlikely to be read, and
thus would lower the open rate accordingly. If we plot the figures for the two
campaigns (open % from delivered) next to the projected unsubscribe rate from
the table above there is a significant relationship between the two, in
particular with the multimedia campaign.

Figure 18: Open & Unsubscribe Percentages comparison

It is not in the remit of this study to explore this in depth although some
indicators may be found in the next section, these findings should be

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observed as stimulation for research focusing solely on this factor.

Figure 19: Q8a: The reasons respondents gave for not choosing to unsubscribe

The reasons respondents gave for not choosing tounsubscribe


analysis

The final question in the survey was a follow up to the previous question for
those people who chose one of the option that was not "unsubscribe." The even
spread of answers suggests that there is not a unanimous reason why people
choose not to unsubscribe given the choice. The answers given by the respondents
in this section, could, combined with the data from the last section be used as a
starting point for more focused research.

Survey Analysis

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Comparisons
The key question in the survey that relates to the hypothesis is the question
that asks the respondent "which format e-mail communications they would
prefer to receive." The questionnaire research method provided extra
variables that can be used to analyse this question in more depth. This section
will compare two sets of data at a time in an attempt to discover trends or draw
conclusions that the previous analysis has been unable to provide.

Gender Vs. E-Mail Format

Table 9: Gender vs Preferred E-Mail Format

The table above compares gender to preferred e-mail format. It was noted that
there is a gender bias in the sample. The table shows that 72.73% of respondents
were male. The table also shows no significant difference between the genders
with regards to e- mail format preference. A higher percentage of females
preferred multimedia, but the sample size is too small to infer anything of value
from this. The male sample is larger and the 3:1 ratio in favour of multimedia
strongly suggests that males prefer the format, however, this cannot be assumed
for females. As noted in the Research Methods chapter the inherent flaw in the
research is the sample size used for the questionnaire, and in order to get an
accurate finding for female’s further research is required with a significantly larger
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sample size. With this limitation in mind, it is still valuable to visualise the data,
clearly showing a correlation between the two genders responses
Figure 20: Gender vs Preferred E-Mail Format

Age Vs. E-Mail Format

This section will assess what effect, if any, age has upon e-mail format preference.
Table 10: Age vs Preferred E-Mail Format

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The most significant finding that can be drawn from the table is that
68.18% of the respondents were aged between 18 and 27. Delving deeper into
the data reveals that out of this age group 80% prefer multimedia e-mail. These
two results observed side by side suggest that age is a factor in determining e-mail
format preference, and whilst conjecture, is likely to have been a significant factor
in the results observed in the experiment.

Figure 21: Age vs Preferred E-Mail Format % by Age

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Figure 22: Age vs Preferred E-Mail Format Frequency by Age

Figure 21 illustrates the percentages of each group that selected a preference for
each format of e-mail. These results should be viewed with caution, and in
relation to Figure 22 which shows the number of respondents who answered in
each section. The three columns denoting
100% are misleading due to only having 1 or 2 respondents in each. The sample list
used and the small list are the likely causes of this anomaly. Figure 22 clearly
shows the correlation between the age ranges and the format preferred. Jail
Clothing's links to extreme sports is likely to be the cause of the age bias in this
research; however, there is room for additional research in this area. It is possible
that older age groups view the e-mail paradigm in a different way to the
younger audiences, and this would likely be an influencing factor in e-
Maileffectiveness.

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CHAPTER-V
SUMMARY AND
CONCLUSION

79
Key Conclusions

Experiment
This section details the conclusions that can be drawn from the research
experiment. They are presented in such a way to build a convincing argument
with respect to the null hypothesis outlined in the Research Questions section as
the following;

"There is no difference in effectiveness between HTML and text-only email".

Open Rate
The "unique opens" observed for each format of e-mail appear to clearly favour
the HTML campaign, a result that, viewed alone, leads to the conclusion that the
null hypothesis maybe invalid. Further, statistical analysis using the Chi Squared
method revealed a probability of less than 70% that this finding was
significant and so cast some doubt on the previous finding. There is a high
probability that the findings were obtained through chance instead of indicating a
trend, and therefore this study suggests that the data from "unique opens" is not
conclusive enough to disprove the hypothesis, but does suggest there may be
some grounds for this to occur.
The next conclusion that can be made is extrapolated from the
"total e-mail opens" metric. Unsurprisingly the figures show a strong correlation
to the "unique opens" figures indicating a significant trend in favour of HTML e-
mail. The statistical analysis for these numbers produced a 90-95% probability that
the result is significant and so we can confidently assert that the "total opens"
figures give a strong indication that HTML is more effective. If this assertion is
assessed along side the conclusion outlined in the preceding paragraph then there
is now plausible evidence in place to conclude that HTML is indeed more effective
rendering the null hypothesis invalid.
There is an inherent problem with both conclusions drawn so

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far, they both rely on open rates.

Click-through Rate

Click-through as a measure of effectiveness is significantly more accurate because


a recipient has to open, digest, and respond to an e-mail for a measurement to
take place. The figures used to analyse this factor were the number of unique
recipients who clicked on a minimum of one link. This method therefore
produced results that showed for how many unique recipients the e-mail
campaigns had effected a response. The click-through numbers recorded are
compelling in their own right. 15 unique clicks to 5, or a 3:1 ratio in favour of
HTML formatted e-mail. This result is supported by the findings from a
DoubleClick (2005) report that found that the click-to-open ratio for HTML
had increased from 26.5% to 32%. In context "a higher click-to-open ratio
suggests that the content of an email is effective in stimulating click-through
once an email has been opened with HTML the format that can facilitate
this." In support of this, Chittenden and Rettie (2002) found that "more
colourful and attractive e-mails generate greater response." Finally, when the Chi
Squared value, showing a >95% probability of significance, is factored in to
the findings, this study concludes that the results provide overwhelming
evidence to render the null hypothesis invalid. With the supporting evidence
derived from the open-rate conclusions drawn above with respect e-mail format
choice. Both genders favoured HTML e-mail by a significant margin.

Questionnaire
The second research question posed in this study related to the follow up
questionnaire, and asked whether the recipient’s attitude towards e-mail reflected
the behaviour observed in the experiment. The crucial question in the
questionnaire asked the recipients to select whether they prefer to receive
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multimedia or text-only e-mail. The results were definitive and showed a strong
preference for Multimedia e-mail. The Chi Squared analysis confirms this and
so this study concludes that the recipient’s attitude toward e-mail format is in
accord with their behaviour.
Finally, the results from the questionnaire showing gender and e-mail format
preference were cross-tabulated to determine if there were any correlation. This
study concludes that gender appears not to be an issue

Qualifying Statement
This study has concluded that HTML e-mail is more effective at eliciting a
response, regardless of recipient, than text-only e-mail. The null hypothesis
proposed in the Research Questions should be rejected and replaced with a
hypothesis stating "HTML e-mail is more effective than text-only e-mail".

Limitations
Limitations anticipated prior to the research being conducted have been covered in
the Research Methodology Chapter and will not all be repeated here.
However, a number of limitations were identified during and post the
research being conducted and they will be included in this section. The first
limitation was acknowledged earlier in the study, and it is an important one. The
sample size for questionnaire was very low and as a consequence this factor is
likely to have caused gender bias and age bias in the results.

Further Research
There is a multitude of variables that could be used as the basis for
further research, with many highlighted in the questionnaire findings. The
following table outlines a number of areas where, given the time and resources,
further research could have been used to obtain more conclusive findings.

Table 11: Further Research Possibilities

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APPENDICES

83
Appendix 1: JailMail Multimedia Format

84
85
Appendix 2: JailMail Text-only Format

86
87
Appendix 3: Questionnaire

1. What is your gender?


a) Male
b) Female

1. How old are you?


a) Under 18
b) 18-22
c) 23-27
d) 28-32
e) 33-37
f) 38 and over

1. How do you receive email? (Select all that apply)


a) Browser based (Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.)
b) Email client (Outlook, Thunderbird, etc.)
c) Mobile devices (Blackberry etc.)
d) Other (please specify)______________

1. You selected that you use a browser-based email service, which do you use?
(Select all that apply)
a) Hotmail
b) Yahoo
c) Gmail
d) AOL
e) Other_____________

1. How often do you check your email?


a) Everyday
b) 2-3 times a week
c) Weekly
d) Bi-weekly
e) Monthly
f) Other______________

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1. There are two mainformats an email newsletter can take; multilmedia is
defined as “using html to display pictures, images and colors in an email”.
Text emails are just that, text only.
Given choice of one of the following options, which would you prefer to
receive?
a) Multimedia emails
b) Text-only emails

1. You selected a preference for multimedia email. Would you able to provide a
reason for your choice? Select as many options as you need.
a) I like how multimedia (HTML) emails can be presented
b) I like the use of color in emails
c) I like to see images and picture in my emails
d) I like changes in text fonts & styles
e) Others___________________

1. You selected a preference for text only emails. Can you provide us with some
more information about your choice? Select as many options as you need.
a) My email client or reader does not render multimedia (HTML) correctly
b) I just want the “meat” of the email without the distraction of colors or
images
c) I like to read my email off-line and don’t like broken image links
d) I have slow internet access and multimedia (HTML) emails take longer to
download
e) Other___________________

1. When you are reading an email, in which situation are you most likely to click
on a hyper link?
a) When the link is shown in full
b) When the link is embedded in an image or picture
c) Other___________________

1. How often do you prefer to receive email newsletters?


a) Daily
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b) Weekly
c) Bi-Weekly
d) Monthly
e) Quarterly
f) Other_________________

1. If you no longer wish to subscribe to an email newsletter which of the


following are you most likely to do?
a) Unsubscribe
b) Bounce the email
c) Delete without reading
d) Filter in junk/spam

1. You didn’t select unsubscribe as the option you would take if you no longer
wanted to receive email communications. What is the reason for this?
a) It is difficult to find unsubscribe links in most emails
b) I don’t trust the unsubscribe links given, they can leads to more spam
c) It takes less effort just to filter or block an email
d) Other________________
Is there anything you like to add about mail marketing that has not been covered by
the questionnaire?

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Appendix 4: Chi Squared Test Table

91
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Source: Adapted from (Deacon, J., n.d)

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Internet:

i. DoubleClick, Online brand Effectiveness Study,


http://www.doubleclick.com/us/knowledge_central/documents/RES
EARCH/dc_online_branding_0107.pdf
ii. DoubleClick, 2005, DoubleClick EMEAQ12005 Email Trend
Report, http:/
/emea.doubleclick.com/WEB_ADMIN/documents/
dc_Q1_05%20EMEA%20email%20trend%20report.pdf
iii. DoubleClick, 2005, DoubleClick EMEA Q2 2005 Email Trend
Report, http:/
/emea.doubleclick.com/WEB_ADMIN/documents/
dc_Q2_05%20EMEA%20email%20trend%20report.pdf
iv. Electronic Telegraph/Ogilvy & Mather, 1997, How Internet
Advertising Works, http://www.intelliquest.com/resources/
whitepapers/interadvert.pdf
v. Emailcenter, Can your customers read your email newsletters?
http://www.emailcenteruk.com/maxenews/
html_email_client_compatability.pdf
vi. eMarketer, Response Rates of US E-Mail Marketing Campaigns,
by Campaign Format,
2001 (as a % of respondents), http://www.emarketer.com
vii. eMarketer, US Internet User Attitudes toward Commercial E-Mail
Formats, 2001 (as a
% of respondents), http://www.emarketer.com
viii. eMarketer, Consumers’ Preferred E-Mail Advertisement Formats

93
Worldwide, 2002 (as a % of respondents receiving commercial e-
mail), http://www.emarketer.com
ix. Eyetrack III, Recall of Information Presented in Text vs.
Multimedia Format,
http://www.poynterextra.org/eyetrack2004/multimediarecall.htm
x. MarketingSherpa. “Email Benchmark Guide.” 2008.
www.marketingsherpa.com.
xi. eMarketer. “Social Media and E-Mail Spending to
Rise.” www.emarketer.com.
xii. Direct Marketing Association. “The Integrated Marketing Media
Mix.” 2008. www.the-dma.org.
xiii. Forrester Research. “US Email Marketing Volume Forecast 2009 to
2014.” 16 June 2009. www.forrester.com
xiv. – Direct Partners. 2008. www.directpartners.com.
xv. Direct Partners. 2008. www.directpartners.com
xvi. eMarketer. 2008. www.emarketer.com.
xvii. Direct Magazine. 2008. www.directmag.com.
xviii. Direct Magazine. 2008. www.directmag.com.
xix. MarketingSherpa. “E-Mail 2008: Top 10 Research Findings and
Practical Ways to INcrease E-Mail Performance.” 2008.
www.marketingsherpa.com.
xx. MarketingSherpa. “E-Mail 2008: Top 10 Research Findings and
Practical Ways to Increase E-Mail Performance.” 2008.
www.marketingsherpa.com.
xxi. Merkle Inc. “Merkle’s View from the Inbox.” 2009.
www.merkleinc.com.
xxii. Forrester Research. “The Resilience of Email Marketing In Tough
Times.” 14 Apr. 2009. www.forrester.com.

94
xxiii. Forrester Research. “The State of Retailing Online 2009:
Marketing” 5 June 2009. www.forrester.com.

95
SACHIN AWASTHI
Ph 09450540527(M), 09415596124 (H),

Email: sachin.bme.abs@gmail.com

58, Ganeshpur, Chinhat, Lucknow-227105, U.P.

OBJECTIVE

Exploring best opportunities and capitalizing for the growth of organization


and for self.

EDUCATION

QUALIFICATIO UNIVERSITY/BOAR %TAGE YR - MAJOR


N D or CGPA PASSOUT SUBJECTS

MBA AMITY UNIVERSITY First 2010 Marketing &


IT

B.Tech Bundelkhand Univ, First 2007 Biomedical


Jhansi Engineering

Intermediate U.P. Board First 2000 Science side

High School U.P. Board Second 1998 Science side

EXPERIENCE

• Designation: Biomedical Engineer

• Organization: Max Balaji Hospital (Max Healthcare Pvt. Ltd.),

• Duration: 01 Year

• Job profile:

➢ Providing technical assistance and training to personnel from the


facility in maintenance and use of medical equipment.

➢ Coordinating and evaluate the work performed by service contractors


including maintenance, calibration, installation and verification of service
documentation.
96
➢ Planning & scheduling of preventive maintenance.

➢ Executing monthly schedule of planed preventive maintenance.

➢ Repairing, maintain & collaboration of medical equipments.

➢ Ensuring maintaining of optimum stock of spares to reduce


breakdown.

➢ Auditing processes according to ISO related to the delivery of


medical gases.

➢ Maintaining professional development through attending seminars,


workshops.

Achievements

• Summer Internship Project selected as amongst the best


project in the college.

Projects Undertaken

MBA (Marketing & IT), Final Year from AMITY BUSINESS SCHOOL, AMITY
UNIVERSITY

Summer Internship Project:

1. Title: To Analyze competition Dominating Banks on Retailing of


Tractors & taking Leverages from analysis

Organization: Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.

Duration: 08 weeks

97
Objective of the study: To identify the opportunity in retailing of
tractors with

banks

2. Title: A detailed analysis on the marketing strategy of BIG BAZAAR

3. Title: To study & analyze Customer Perception about multiplexes in


Lucknow

B.Tech (Biomedical Engineering),

Project Undertaken

1. Title: “Message Detection System for Speechless Paralytic


Patients”
Duration: 02 months

2. Title: Industrial Training

Organization: Max Hospital, Noida (Max Healthcare Pvt. Ltd.)

Duration: 04 months

Objective: To get familiar with the maintenance process of medical


equipments according to ISO PROCESSES.

RELEVENT SKILLS

98
• SIX SIGMA (Green Belt) certification

• Good computer (MS office, internet, softwares) knowledge

• Done academic project as a group leader

• Having good interpersonal skills

• Attended National and International Conferences

EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES:

• Active member of Organizing Committee for Amity’s Annual Function


“SAMANYAV 09”.

• Underwent one week MILITARY TRAINING in Manesar, Gurgaon.

• Actively participating during Admissions as Volunteer.

PERSONAL DETAILS

Father’s Name Mr. R. P. Awasthi

Birth Date 01-03-1984

Mother’s name Mrs. Kamini Awasthi

Date: (SACHIN
AWASTHI)

99
Reference

Asst. Prof. (Dr.) Nimish Gupta

Amity Business School,

Amity University,

Lucknow,

Email id- ngupta@lko.amity.edu

Mob- 9415435438

100

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