Unlocking the power of authority in email marketing

In digital marketing, the authority principle is a potent tool. This psychological concept suggests that people are more likely to follow advice or instructions from a figure perceived as an authority. Leveraging this idea, researchers Laurens Defau, Alexander Zauner, and Anna Sycik from Johannes Kepler Universität Linz conducted a detailed study to explore its application in email marketing. Their paper, titled "How to Improve the Performance of Email Marketing Campaigns? A Field Experiment Using the Authority Principle to Improve Email Performance," investigates whether emails from a CEO can influence recipient behavior more effectively than those from a less authoritative source.

Findings from the experiments

The results from the first experiment, focusing on potential new customers, were quite revealing:

Open Rates: Emails sent by the CEO saw an open rate of 41.3%, compared to 37.6% for the control group. This 9.8% increase indicates that the CEO’s authority compels more recipients to open the email.

Click-Through Rates: More impressively, the click-through rate for the CEO’s emails was 2.1%, a significant jump over the 1.2% in the control group, marking a 75% increase.

Unsubscribe Rates: Interestingly, the unsubscribe rate also rose significantly, from 0.39% in the control group to 1.08% in the treatment group, an increase of 176.9%. This suggests that while authority can drive engagement, it can also set higher expectations, leading to greater disengagement if those expectations are not met.

The second experiment mirrored the first but targeted existing customers, showing similar trends, albeit with less pronounced differences. This variation suggests that the relationship history with the company moderates the authority effect.

The impact of authority in marketing

These findings underline the nuanced role of authority in email marketing. While authority can undoubtedly enhance engagement metrics, it also raises expectations among recipients. Marketers need to balance the use of authority with the message’s content and the audience’s expectations.

Strategies for leveraging authority in your emails

Here are a few strategies based on the study’s insights that marketers can apply to optimize their email campaigns:

Utilize A/B testing: Regularly test different sender titles and monitor how they affect engagement. This will help you understand what resonates best with your audience.

Keep it credible: Ensure that the authority figure used is relevant to the content and credible. Misplaced or non-credible authority can lead to negative reactions.

Monitor all metrics: Pay attention not just to open and click-through rates but also to unsubscribe rates to gauge negative responses and adjust strategies accordingly.

By strategically employing authority figures in email marketing, companies can significantly enhance the effectiveness of their campaigns, making every email count.

At It’s Personal we see authority adds gravitas to the messages brands send, and we often encourage the founders and senior executives of our mission driven brands to include personal messages in the email content. We see the metrics reflect that the customers value those messages very much, and it adds a personal touch to the communication too. It’s also worth considering the exact moment when we decide to use the power of authority in brand’s communication. Using it in the welcome flow may for example result in setting up engagement early.

The study's structure and methodology

The research was structured around two field experiments involving over 3,000 participants, categorized into control and treatment groups. Each group received the same promotional content via email, but with one critical difference: the sender’s identity. While the control group received emails from a regular company employee, the treatment group received theirs from the company's CEO. This simple change aimed to assess the impact of perceived authority on email engagement metrics.

References

Guadagno, R., & Cialdini, R. (2005). Online persuasion and compliance: Social influence on the Internet and beyond. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

DeAnglo, T., & Feng, B. (2020). From Inbox Reception to Compliance: A Field Experiment Examining the Effects of E-mail Address and Subject Line on Response and Compliance Rates in Initial E-mail Encounters. Social Science Computer Review, 38(6), 766-778. Link to article

Cialdini, R. (2007). Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. New York: Collins Business.