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I was leafing through the soon-to-be-lamented November issue of Revolution (specifically the Insider Guide to Digital Marketing) when I came across the following quote:

“The DMA estimates that marketers gain $45.06 (£28.28) in ROI for every dollar they spend on email campaigns.”
Mike Hilts, president & general manager, Yesmail

Now, speaking pedantically, this is factually correct. But so wrong.

This (frequently quoted) statistic is a ratio, that was converted into US dollar terms to help present the finding in meaningful terms to an American audience. So far so good. But why the half-conversion? If it’s $45.06 to $1, then it’s £45.06 to £1, right?

To be fair to Mike, he’s by no means the first to make this error – but surely as an industry it’s in our interest to get the facts right?

Unless, of course, Mike is saying that we’re only getting a little better than 60% of the return in the UK that our trans-Atlantic counterparts achieve? I thought not.

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I then decided that I didn’t want to keep getting their emails. This happens, marketers, get over it.

What I saw is probably the worst opt-out in the world.

Who wants to fill THIS out to unsubscribe from an email blast?

It is a minefield of unnecessary information across a range of brands in the Diageo group. It is almost certainly against the rules set out in the UK under the wonderfully named PECR legislation (pronounced ‘pecker’). It is definitely against best practice.

Oh well. Yahoo! mail has a ‘This Is Spam’ button. Just got hit again.

Come on, Diageo, get a grip!

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