In the current situation report on email security by Mimecast, more than one billion emails were checked, and 1,225 executives were surveyed. The results for German companies are disastrous. 37% have no data security concept for email traffic – even though 65% of all CIOs expect more and smarter email attacks. More than half of the respondents have already suffered ransomware attacks. The consequences ranged from data loss to an IT shutdown lasting for several days and associated financial losses. This is also confirmed by a brand-new study by Sophos, which shows that although the total number of ransomware attacks in Germany has fallen from 57 to 46% compared to the previous year, the damage potential of targeted attacks is growing. On average, a ransom of EUR 115,00 had to be paid – with just 8% of those affected receiving all their data back and a third receiving at least half of their data back.
In addition to the lack of IT security, 37% of the companies surveyed by Mimecast consider inattentive employees the biggest risk. However, only 15% regularly instruct and train their employees. This begs the question of why? It is not only required by data protection law, but also simply important to raise awareness again and again.
Another new study shows an interesting change of perspective, which looks at emails from a completely different angle: as a marketing tool that is still extremely promising. How does that square with all the negative experience and poor security scenarios? Probably because we are human who look for relevant information every day at work – and our mailbox is a good platform for this.
The data basis for the "Email Marketing Benchmark 2021" from Inxmail consisted of more than 460 million anonymized emails in the B2B sector from around 61,500 mailings sent with an average sending frequency of 3 mailings per month. These were analysed in detail and while showing industry-related differences, some strategically valuable tips can be useful across all industries:
- Unusual mailing times pay off. For example, mailings sent at night are clicked on more than 10 times as often as the average. The reason may be the chronological "working off" of the inbox in the morning. The opening rate is highest on Fridays. In addition, unusual sending times prevent the recipients mail server from being overloaded.
- The subject should not be underestimated: It is and remains decisive whether recipients open and read the email or not. Don't forget a responsive design and put the most relevant information at the beginning as only the first 30 characters are displayed on mobile devices.
- Trust and recognition value also play a major role in the opening rate, meaning the sender's name and a stringent corporate design are very important. No-reply sender addresses, on the other hand, are a no-go, because they deny recipients a quick response option and at the same time jeopardize the deliverability of the mailings.
- It is best, of course, if the email is not only opened, but an included link is also clicked on. For this purpose, place call-to-actions with high-contrast colours. Put them once already at the beginning and repeat them throughout the mail. What is also important: Always focus on only one action target per mailing.
- Last but not least: Only send relevant content. This is actually a matter of course, but its importance never ceases. Relevant content increases the chance that with each mailing the email will also be read with pleasure.
Clever email marketing is still a promising tool to generate attention for your company. In this context, email security and mailings that are proper in terms of data protection are crucial for success.