EMAIL MARKETING

OUTLOOK 2015 for the

INDIAN MUTUAL
FUNDS INDUSTRY

FOREWORD

Hello fellow marketer,

I am pleased to present to you the Email Marketing Outlook for the Mutual Funds
industry.
The journey of netCORE taking up this study was fuelled by one simple question
that marketers ask whenever we present email metrics: How relevant is this
metric to our industry?. Fact is email responses widely vary across different
industries and what we require is an apple to apple comparison to draw
conclusions. Our study aims to provide a holistic review of email marketing for the
mutual funds industry and answers some basic questions that every email
marketer has what kind of open rates are other people in your industry getting?
How much is too much for unsubscribes? Is there any best day/ time to send
emails? Learning answers to these questions will help email marketers improve
their email marketing and maximize their revenue potential.
This report will uncover what 491 million emails have to say about the when, what
and why of email marketing in mutual funds industry insights you won't nd
elsewhere. After every observation, we provide recommendations on how you can
adjust your email strategy to get better ROI.
Technology has always been a motivational force for development, an enabler and
we predict email marketing in 2015 will be driven by Analytics & Automation. In the
Trends section, netCORE focuses on ve email marketing trends that are
emerging, keeping in view the new consumption patterns and buying behaviour of
Investors and IFAs. You can use this as a backdrop for your strategy.

Happy reading!

Kalpit Jain
Chief Customer Ofcer
netCORE Solutions

INDEX

Why read this report

Executive Summary and highlights

Overview of Mutual Funds Industry

About the Industry

About the Indian Investor

Major challenges faced by the Indian Mutual Funds Industry

Email Marketing in Mutual Funds Industry

How Email Marketing helps the Mutual Funds Industry

Type of emailers the industry sends

Research Findings & netCORE Insights

Future Trends for Email Marketing in the Mutual Funds Industry

Conclusion

Methodology

About netCORE

About netCORE Research Laboratory

WHY READ THIS REPORT?

The mutual funds industry's AUM crossed the 10 trillion mark for the rst time in May
2014 1 and the key drivers for this increased participation has been attributed to the
awareness initiatives by SEBI and various mutual funds houses. For an email
marketer, this encouraging number accentuates the opportunity email marketing
has to unleash the business potential in the untapped demand and expand the
existing markets. This report is a rst-of-its-kind study on email marketing for the
mutual funds sector that reects how customers are responding to your email
marketing efforts to educate, engage and inspire conversions. Essentially, this
report will provide you with benchmarks to gauge your own email performance and
helps you increase the value of your email programs.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY & HIGHLIGHTS

Over 491 million emails sent by mutual funds companies, including majority of
India's top 11 mutual funds that contribute to 86% of the total assets under
management (AUM) 2 were analysed for the year 2014. The report covers email
marketing trends in Mutual Funds industry for the year 2014 and provides the key
performance metrics that shaped the success of netCORE client's email programs.
The report includes netCORE's observations on the current trends and gives
insights on how the industry can respond to maximise the revenue potential from
email programs. It concludes with a forecast on how email marketing can enhance
the industry outcomes in the near future, predictions that will help marketers
determine their strategy and plan ahead.

1. Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) 2. Morningstar, an independent mutual fund data provider
01
Copyright 2015 by netCORE Solutions. All Rights Reserved

KEY EMAIL PERFORMANCE METRICS FOR

THE MUTUAL FUNDS INDUSTRY
(Source : netCORE Research Laboratory)

6.15%

0.3%

4.6%

Open rate

Click rate

Click to Open rate

(CTOR)

XII

XI

10 am
to 12 pm

IX

VIII

emails sent per month

per user (average)

III

Monday &
Wednesday

IV

V
VII

II

VI

Best time to
send emails

T
W

Best Day for

sending emails

OVERVIEW OF THE MUTUAL FUNDS INDUSTRY

`

44 fund houses
Assets worth INR 10 trillion

Money is invested in only equities or debt

instruments or a mixture of both

ABOUT THE
INDUSTRY

Push' product where the distributors play a huge

role in selling them
Top ten fund houses contributing 77% of the total assets
under management and the bottom ten a mere 1%

3. Indian Mutual Funds Industry report, KPMG report 2014 | Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) | Penetration of Mutual
Funds in India: Opportunities and Challenges | The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Study | Indian mutual fund
industry at a glance, PwC report 2013
02
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OVERVIEW OF THE MUTUAL FUNDS INDUSTRY

Risk averse
Past performance of Mutual Fund is the most important
determinant of investment decision
ABOUT THE
INDIAN
INVESTOR

Newspapers and magazines are the most important basis

of investment decisions
Too many mutual funds and many schemes, not sure how
many he should invest in

Willing to have more information on mutual funds

Low Mutual Fund penetration

Low levels of investor awareness
MAJOR
CHALLENGES
FACED BY
THE INDIAN
MUTUAL
FUNDS
INDUSTRY

Lack of ability to communicate value to investors

Perceived Risk as compared to xed assets investments
Limited incentives for distributors for MF products
as compared to other nancial products
Evolving Regulatory Framework
Lacklustre Marketing strategy of most mutual funds

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EMAIL MARKETING IN MUTUAL FUNDS INDUSTRY

HOW EMAIL MARKETING HELPS THE MUTUAL FUNDS INDUSTRY

Increases connectivity by reaching to a wider network of IFAs, Investors

and Prospects

Efcient medium to educate IFAs and investors about the product

Non-intrusive way to effectively increase user engagement and build long

term relationship

Attract attention in a market ooded with hundreds of funds

Cost effective marketing channel

Inuence purchase decisions by consistent and personalized

communications (*Research says investors are likely to buy funds that attract
their attention through exceptional performance, marketing, or advertising)

Simplify communications related to KYC paper work, sending CAS on half

yearly basis

Removes the distribution layers and connecting directly with customer

without relying on agent's skill to communicate

TYPE OF EMAILERS THE INDUSTRY SENDS

NFO announcements
Newsletters
Cross sell and upsell products
Daily Quiz
Mascots to simplify the concepts and jargons
Short videos on mutual funds concepts
Series of videos to bring forth investment
planners' perspective
Thought for the Day

04
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RESEARCH FINDINGS AND netCORE INSIGHTS

(Source : netCORE Research Laboratory)

The following are the key ndings on email marketing by Mutual Funds Industry
from netCORE Research Laboratory.
Email goes mobile: 35% check emails on mobile devices like mobile phones and
tablets
The Indian Mutual Funds Industry emulates the global trend of steady increase in
people accessing email on mobile devices, with 35% of users checking email on
mobile devices. IAMAI also predicts that the number of mobile internet users in
India will touch 213 million in 2015 from the current 173 million mobile internet
users. Mobile email is on the rise and these numbers reiterate the massive
opportunity for the industry to reach out to customers and scale business rapidly.

Device Distribution

7%
65%
28%

Fig 1: 35% Mobile opens observed in the Indian Mutual Fund industry

netCORE insights: We predict mobile opens to cross 50% by end of 2015. Marketers should
respond to the evolving customer preferences and make their emails mobile compatible
(responsive email).

05
Copyright 2015 by netCORE Solutions. All Rights Reserved

RESEARCH FINDINGS AND netCORE INSIGHTS

(Source : netCORE Research Laboratory)

70% of the emails sent in the rst quarter of the nancial year were
promotional ones.

India's 2014 elections, the largest ever election in the world, set huge expectations
on the investor community plagued with failing economy and falling rupee. Most
mutual fund companies sent promotional emails to aggressively market mutual
funds as protable investment vehicle, fuelled by hope of an economy correction.

Informational vs Promotional distribution

100%

50%

0%
JAN

FEB

MAR

APR

MAY JUNE JUL

Informational emails

AUG

SEP

OCT

Promotional emails

Fig 2: Rising markets from April-June lead to an increased promotional emails by Mutual Funds Companies

06
Copyright 2015 by netCORE Solutions. All Rights Reserved

RESEARCH FINDINGS AND netCORE INSIGHTS

(Source : netCORE Research Laboratory)

May month had the highest open rates of both Promotional and
Informational emails
Subscriber interest was at its peak during May, with highest open rates of 7.7% &
6.6% respectively for Informational and Promotional emails. During this period, the
equity mutual funds recorded the highest net inows since the past 3 years and
crossed the Rs 2000 crore mark.

Open rates
10.00%
8.00%
6.00%
4.00%
2.00%
0.00%
JAN

FEB

MAR APR

Informational emails

MAY JUNE JUL

AUG

SEP OCT

Promotional emails

Fig 3: Highest opens observed during the month of May

netCORE insights: Calendar your email campaigns based on predicted market movements, to
reach your customers at the right time.

07
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RESEARCH FINDINGS AND netCORE INSIGHTS

(Source : netCORE Research Laboratory)

July was the best month for email campaigns with the average click through
rates doubling
Improving global sentiment and the push for economy reforms back home made
the market upbeat. Investor interest was at its peak and the total equity MF sales
4
soared to 17,634 crores, the highest since January 2008.

Click through rates

0.80%
0.60%
0.40%
0.20%
0.00%
JAN

FEB

MAR APR

Informational emails

MAY JUNE JUL

AUG

SEP OCT

Promotional emails

Fig 4: Click through rates doubled in July

netCORE insights: Plan Real time campaigns based on market movements and customer
sentiment to improve responses.

4. Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI)

08
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RESEARCH FINDINGS AND netCORE INSIGHTS

(Source : netCORE Research Laboratory)

Low Click-To-Open Rate (CTOR) compared to other industries

Email works effectively to increase product awareness. However, the low CTOR (of
5.4%) indicates that subscribers still prefer the traditional route of calling their agent
or going to the branch to invest in mutual funds to buying online. Brands too seem
to concur with this thought and provide a call back number prominently in emails.

Subscribers are most likely to open emails during 10 am 12 pm

Over 491 million emails from different mutual funds companies were analysed for
each user's engagement in deciding the best time to send emails. The typical
distribution of email opens over different time intervals shows that users were most
active on emails during 10 am 12 pm, with open rates peaking to 13.5%. The next
best optimal send time is 8 pm - 10 pm.

Optimal send times by hour of day

16.00%
14.00%
12.00%
10.00%
8.00%
6.00%

22:00 - 24:00

20:00 - 22:00

18:00 - 20:00

16:00 - 18:00

14:00 - 16:00

12:00 - 14:00

10:00 - 12:00

08:00 - 10:00

06:00 - 08:00

04:00 - 06:00

02:00 - 04:00

00:00 - 02:00

4.00%
2.00%
0.00%

Fig 5: 10am-12noon receives highest user engagement

netCORE insights: Time is one of the most important factors affecting campaign performance;
marketers should study subscriber behaviour and send out email when the customer is highly
likely to respond.

09
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RESEARCH FINDINGS AND netCORE INSIGHTS

(Source : netCORE Research Laboratory)

Monday and Wednesday get the best response

The best day for sending emails was analysed and each day of the week was
ranked on a scale of 1 to 5 based on email opens and email clicks. A score of 5
represents best day and 1 represents the worst day to send emails. Monday and
Wednesday get the best response.

Saturday

Friday

Thursday

Wednesday

Tuesday

Monday

Sunday

Optimal send times by hour of day

score

score

score

score

score

score

score

Fig 6: Monday and Wednesday are the best performing days

It is observed that Marketers refrain from sending emails on Sunday. The few of
them who have sent on Sunday have witnessed poor performance.

netCORE insights: The performance of campaigns during weekends is set to increase with the
increase in mobile opens.

10
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RESEARCH FINDINGS AND netCORE INSIGHTS

(Source : netCORE Research Laboratory)

Subscribers are less likely to opt out from mutual funds emails
Opt-out rate over emails sent
60 Cr

0.07%
0.06%
0.05%
0.04%
0.03%
0.02%
0.01%
0.00%

50 Cr
40 Cr
30 Cr
20 Cr
10 Cr
JAN

FEB

MAR

APR

MAY

JUNE

JUL

AUG

SEP

OCT

NOV

DEC

Fig 7: Subscribers opting out are less than the industry average of 0.1%

The low opt-out rate witnessed is indicative that very few subscribers want to
disengage from the email communication. They might choose to ignore or delete
emails rather than opt out entirely as they do nd value coming from these emails.

Impact of Gmail on Email Marketing effectiveness

As Gmail celebrates 10 years of
dominance in the email space with more
than 500 million users, our research
ndings suggest that Gmail dominance is
signicant even in the Mutual Funds
Industry. Out of the total emails sent over
the entire year, Gmail constitutes 42% of
the market share (less compared to the
average gmail market share of 50-55%).
However, it is a substantial number and the
industry must closely watch for constant
improvements and changes in inbox
delivery rules made by Gmail to improve
customer experience and adjust its email
marketing strategy accordingly.

Signicant Gmail Dominance

58%
Others

42%
Gmail

Fig 8: Substantial number of

customers are Gmail users

netCORE insights: MSPs make a huge impact on your email campaign success. Test the
campaign on various email clients, especially Gmail before you execute the campaign

11
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FUTURE TRENDS FOR EMAIL MARKETING IN

MUTUAL FUNDS INDUSTRY
Mobile optimization
As more and more email is being read on mobile, the mutual
funds industry should respond to this changing customer
preference and make their emails easily readable on every
device available. By designing responsive emails, the emails
would look less cluttered, easy to read and create the best
possible mobile experience to customers

01

Email marketing will continue to focus on Investor & IFA education

02

Increasing awareness and building trust will continue to be the

primary focus of the industry's email marketing programs. Email
will use different elements to educate the investors and IFAs
such as video newsletters, webinar invitations, gamication and
animation to convey the message to the user, enhance their
knowledge levels and encourage sales.

More brands will plan event triggered automated email campaigns

Currently very few brands send out automated emails but this will
soon change with triggered emails having 50% higher open rates
compared to non-triggered emails. Routine batch-and-blast
emails will pave way for intelligent emails that are highly targeted
based on 360 degree customer view that takes into account all
available and meaningful information about customer to engage,
retain and drive revenue.

03

Multi-channel email communications

04

Email communications will include touch points across multiple

channels to create a one-of-a-kind personalized experience to
customers and drastically improve customer satisfaction. Call
patching in emails will enable instant communication between
the investor and his respective IFA agent and improve
conversions. Cohesive marketing by using mediums like Email,
mobile, voice & social maximizes the impact, as can be seen in
the Banking, Retail and Travel sectors.

Email to ease the Distribution and Purchase Process

05

Even though all the fund houses support online purchase of

mutual funds, they haven't been actively promoting the feature
as customers are wary to invest online. But with the Indian
mobile payment market poised for massive growth fuelled by the
increasing number of smartphone users, experts predict that
more payments and money transfers will be made via mobile.
There will be a shift in focus and mutual funds companies will
utilize email marketing to not just educate and engage but also
encourage transactions through mobile.

12
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CONCLUSION
The Indian Mutual Funds Industry is continually evolving adapting to the investor
needs and changing regulations. The industry leveraged on the phenomenal
internet penetration growth in India to mitigate its biggest challenge of low
penetration and low awareness. Email marketing is primarily used to create
awareness, position the products and become increasingly popular with the
investors. Companies have been continuously adopting new and innovative
approaches in email to retain customer's attention. The industry can utilize the
implications of the research ndings on customer behaviour and effectively align its
email marketing strategy to drive revenue.

METHODOLOGY
netCORE Research Laboratory, a dedicated research centre carried out this study
by analysing more than 491 million emails that were sent by netCORE's mutual
funds clients, which includes majority of the top 11 fund houses dominating the
mutual funds market. A survey was conducted to understand the effectiveness of
email marketing for this sector, which included industry leaders, in-house
marketers, agents, investors and prospects as respondents. The data was
analysed for the year 2014 for key performance metrics of email marketing.
Advanced data mining and analytics was performed to capture the user behaviour
on emails and derive useful conclusions that will help build effective email
programs.

13
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ABOUT netCORE
netCORE is India's largest Email & Mobile Marketing technology provider, offering
solutions for Enterprise Communication & Digital Marketing. Some of the biggest
and best brands in India have been successfully delivering effective email
marketing programs by using netCORE's Email Marketing tool. With more than 3
billion emails sent monthly through Email Marketing platform, the company is at a
unique advantage of being the storehouse of data to observe trends and deliver
valuable insights on email marketing.

ABOUT netCORE RESEARCH LABORATORY

netCORE Research Laboratory is a powerhouse of email scientists who work
relentlessly and solely towards delivering exceptional email marketing. Every day,
a team of Consultants analyse millions of mails being sent, search for patterns and
observe trends. The valuable and meaningful insights from these huge datasets
helps us establish the best practices for email marketing and gives direction to our
clients' email marketing program, helping them stay ahead of competition. The
resources, reach and expertise have helped netCORE develop award winning
email programs for its clients.

The information contained herein is of a general nature and is not intended to address the circumstances of any
particular individual or entity. Although we endeavour to provide accurate and timely information, there can be no
guarantee that such information is accurate as of the date it is received or that it will continue to be accurate in the future.
No one should act on such information without appropriate professional advice after a thorough examination of the
particular situation. The opinion is based on established criteria and methodologies that netCORE is continuously
evaluating and updating. Therefore, this report is a collective work product of netCORE and no individual, or group of
individuals, is solely responsible for the report. netCORE neither accepts or assumes any responsibility or liability to
any reader of this publication in respect of the information contained within it or for any decisions readers may take or
decide not to or fail to take.

14
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