JupiterReseach forms measurement group

JupiterResearch is forming the E-mail Measurement Accuracy Coalition to recommend guidelines for measuring e-mail deliverability and other e-mail marketing performance indicators.

David Daniels, vice president and research director at JupiterResearch, will lead the group. This announcement comes after a report led by Mr. Daniels titled, "E-mail Marketing Measurement," and the E-mail Experience Council's report, "State of E-mail Metrics and Bounce Management Report," found there was no industry standard for e-mail measurement.

"The group will try to build a framework that will accurately measure delivery and standardize definitions of other metrics," Mr. Daniels said. "It is the next logical thing to happen after our findings."

JupiterResearch's study, "E-mail Marketing Measurement," found there is no standard despite 45 percent of e-mail marketers claiming to be satisfied with e-mail vendors' methodology for determining metrics.

"Unfortunately, it is a political thing," Mr. Daniels said. "Marketers make choices based on that metric, so vendors are concerned about ... changing their system and having poor metrics. But metrics are meaningless unless you know the methodology behind them."

The Email Experience Council found similar issues in its report "The State of Email Metrics and Bounce Management." The study found a significant variance in how senders calculate metrics for delivery, open and click rates. This lack of consistency in calculating performance metrics creates a challenge when trying to establish industry benchmarks or compare results.

The coalition was formed to deal with such issues. A steering committee will be formed with eight or nine representatives from the industry. The group will be comprised of industry leaders and marketing professionals, including principals from e-mail and delivery service providers. The complete list of charter supporters can be found at www.emacoalition.org/members.

Do not expect standardization overnight.

"We expect it to take a few months before we have recommendations to publish," Mr. Daniels said.