News & Press Releases

EmailLabs Survey Implications: Use of Preview Pane and Image Blocking Will Drive B2B Marketers to Rethink Their Email Newsletter Design Strategy

69 Percent of B2B Subscribers Frequently or Always Use a Preview Pane; 45 Percent Rarely or Never Download Images

MENLO PARK, Calif. (Nov. 15, 2005) - Results of a new study were issued today by EmailLabs (www.emaillabs.com), the leader in high-performance email marketing technology and a subsidiary of J.L. Halsey (OTCBB:LYRI.OB), revealing that the majority of subscribers to business-to-business email newsletters use the preview pane function of their email client and nearly half do not enable blocked-images. The results of this study are expected to drive many publishers and B2B marketers to rethink the design of their email newsletters to better accommodate the significant adoption of preview panes and image blocking function.

Download the Preview Pane Survey Special Report (PDF)

In the survey sent to EmailLabs' Intevation Report newsletter subscribers, 90 percent of email newsletter subscribers have access to a preview pane, and 69 percent say they frequently or always use it. Nearly 53 percent of respondents' email clients or ISPs automatically block images in some or all email messages and 45 percent of email readers rarely or never download images within their preview pane. Furthermore, 50 percent of subscribers rarely or never place an email address on their email client's safe sender list.

Survey data indicates that 49 percent of email readers only look at the first few lines in the preview pane to decide if they want to continue reading the message. Whether targeting respondents who use the horizontal format (75 percent) or the vertical format (25 percent), survey results suggest it is critical that marketers design emails that will maximize the preview pane's limited real estate -- which is typically set by users at 2-5 inches. If insufficient information is displayed in the preview pane -- due to blocked images, advertisements or poor design -- nearly 19 percent of respondents will simply delete the message.

"This survey confirms our suspicions that a large percentage of B2B email subscribers do not download images and prefer to scan or read their emails within the preview pane and never fully open the email," said Loren McDonald, EmailLabs vice president of marketing. "Moving forward, we advise marketers to re-evaluate and, if necessary, redesign their emails to better address how their subscribers are actually interacting with their email newsletters," he added.

To help alleviate the impact preview panes and disabled images have on email performance, EmailLabs is recommending the following best practices:

-- Redesign the top of emails to include a 2-3 inch preview pane header area that is HTML and text only (no images). This "header" area should include only copy such as article teasers, key offers and "In This Issue" information that enables the subscriber to determine whether to read further and/or open the email. Publishers may want to test using HTML/Text-based ads in this area and consider charging a premium to advertisers based on the increase in impressions.

-- Redesign email templates so that both content blocks and advertisements can be viewed entirely within a 2-3 inch window as readers scroll through an email.

-- Minimize the use of images unless necessary as in ecommerce-oriented emails that display multiple product photos. Avoid using images that are more than 2-3 inches tall. Instead use HTML fonts, colors and backgrounds when possible to liven up the email.

-- Publishers should consider eliminating use of skyscraper ads and move to more HTML/text-based ads; ads with images should be limited to the horizontal banner format.

-- Examine preview pane area for extraneous or administrative information that can be relocated elsewhere, such as an administrative footer at the bottom of the email. Do, however, consider including text links for key actions such as "View Web Version" and "Update Profile" at the bottom of the preview pane area.

Additional key findings include:

-- The sender's name and/or email address remains the most important factor readers look for in the preview pane when deciding whether to read further or open the email (60 percent). Subject lines, headlines and teaser copy follow at 54.3 percent, 53 percent and 30.3 percent, respectively.

-- Only 31 percent of email users report they always or frequently add the B2B newsletters they asked to receive to their safe-senders list or address books in order to potentially avoid having them routed to their bulk or junk folders.

-- Sixty percent of survey respondents read messages in either Outlook 2003 or Lotus Notes, the two clients that block images by default. The number rises to 86 percent when considering those who use all versions of Outlook, Outlook Express and Lotus Notes.

"Email marketers and publishers need to be aware of these factors that are greatly affecting their email performance. While this latest study focuses on business-to-business marketers, we expect this issue to increasingly affect business-to-consumer marketers, driven by developments such as the Yahoo! Mail preview pane currently in Beta," concluded McDonald.

The EmailLabs survey was designed to better understand how B2B email newsletter subscribers are using or interacting with preview panes and image blocking functions, and the resulting effect on marketers and newsletter publishers. Conducted in September 2005, 498 EmailLabs' Intevation Report subscribers responded to the 13-question survey. Respondents were primarily marketing professionals from companies of all sizes and a broad range of industries.

To download a copy of the study "Strategies for Addressing the Challenges of Preview Panes and Disabled Images," please visit: http://www.emaillabs.com/reports/preview_pane_survey.html

   Key Questions and Results:

   1. Which of the following best describes your use of the preview
pane function for reviewing/reading B2B email newsletters?

   I always use the preview pane                     52.2%

   I frequently use the preview pane                   17%

   I rarely use the preview pane                      8.6%

   I never use the preview pane                      19.4%

   Other                                              2.8%

   2. How much of an email message do you usually read in the preview
pane?

   All of it, even if I have to scroll               32.9%
   down to read the entire message

   Just the first few lines to determine whether     49.1%
   it's an email message I want to read

   As much as my preview pane allows, without        15.1%
   having to expand the pane or scroll down
   to read the entire message

   Other                                                3%

   3. Do you use vertical or horizontal display option of the preview
pane?

   Horizontal                                        74.4%

   Vertical                                          25.6%

   4. If images are blocked, how often do you allow images to load in
the preview pane and in fully-opened emails?

                 I always    I frequently    I rarely      I never
                  download      download      download     download
                   images       images         images       images

In preview pane      34%          21%           20%           25%
In opened emails     50%          33%           12%            6%


   5. If your email client contains a safe senders function, how
often do you place requested B2B email newsletters on the safe senders
list?

   I always place requested B2B email                  8.5%
   newsletters on the safe senders list

   I frequently place requested B2B                   22.4%
   email newsletters on the safe senders list

   I rarely place requested B2B email                 21.4%
   newsletters on the safe senders list

   I never place requested B2B email                  28.6%
   newsletters on the safe senders list

   My email client does not have a                    19.1%
   safe senders function

   6. Which email client (i.e. Outlook, Eudora, etc.) do you use most
often at work?

   Outlook Express/Outlook 2000, 2002, 2003             79%

   Lotus Notes                                           8%

   Other                                                13%

About EmailLabs
EmailLabs is a leading provider of high-performance email marketing solutions to agencies, publishers and marketing departments of middle-market and Global 2000 companies. The EmailLabs email marketing platform is provided as an ASP (Web-based) service, and is easily integrated with a company's Web site, sales force automation and CRM technologies through EmailLabs' application programming interface (API). For the fourth consecutive year, EmailLabs has been recognized by ASPnews.com as one of the Top 50 ASPs worldwide and as a Top 25 Service Provider for the Software-as-a Service (SaaS) and Business Service Provider category. The company provides email marketing solutions to more than 550 companies, including Nokia, Agilent, PalmSource and Jupitermedia. Headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif., EmailLabs was founded in 1999 and is a subsidiary of Lyris, Inc. (OTCBB:JLHY). For more information, visit www.EmailLabs.com.