Mutual fund investors and distributors are most likely to open emails between 10 am to 12 pm, says a survey on email marketing outlook for the Indian mutual fund industry published by netCORE. It says that users were most active on emails during 10 am – 12 pm, with open rates peaking to 13.5%. The next best optimal sending time is between 8 pm and 10 pm.
The survey was done by analyzing over 49 crore emails that were sent by AMCs through netCORE which includes majority of top 11 fund houses dominating the MF market. The survey was done to understand the effectiveness of email marketing for MF industry. The data was analyzed for the year 2014 for key performance metrics of email marketing.
The survey found that Monday and Wednesday get the best responses from subscribers. On a scale of 1-5, Monday and Wednesday scored the highest 5 points each. This trend was followed by Tuesday and Saturday with a score of 3 each. The report observed that fund houses refrain from sending emails on Sunday. A few fund houses who have sent such emails on Sunday have witnessed poor results.
In terms of months, the survey found that May month had the highest open rates of both promotional and informational emails. It has recorded open rates of 7.7% and 6.6% for promotional and informational email respectively. Surprisingly, equity funds had witnessed net inflows of over Rs. 2,000 crore during the same month which was highest in 3 years. Similarly, July was the best month for email campaigns with high average click rates.
Another key finding of the survey is use of mobile technology. Around 35% of mutual fund mailers were checked on mobile devices and tablets in 2014. It shows that increasing number of people open mails on phones these numbers reiterate the massive opportunity for the industry to reach out to such customers. In fact, an independent research organization has predicted that the mobile internet users in India will touch 213 million in 2015.
Meanwhile, the survey found that click to open rate (CTOR) or chances of getting response to mails coming from mutual fund industry is comparatively lower than other financial services sectors. However, the silver lining is that the industry has very low opt out rates, which indicates that very few subscribers want to disengage from the email communication.
Adopting new and innovative approaches in email such as giving attractive headline, jargon free content and using graphics can help fund houses grab the eyeballs of investors.
