CHART CLOSE-UP FROM THE STORY:
Q209 Email Open Rates Average 22% »
(scroll down to read the full story)
Q209 Email Open Rates Average 22%
The average second-quarter email open rate across 16 industries now stands at 22.2%, and has increased for the fourth quarter in a row, according to Epsilon’s quarterly US email benchmark report for Q209, which measured an 18.2% total increase over Q208.
As was the case in Q208, financial services - general, had the highest open rates among tracked industries, at 35.6%.
Click-through rates averaged of 5.9% for the quarter, down slightly from 6.1% in Q109, but consistent with 5.9% measured in Q208. CPG and financial services - general, had the highest click-through rates of the industries tracked:
Average volume per client increased 10% from Q109 and 20% from Q2 2008.
Moreover, 14 of the 16 industries measured by Epsilon saw increases in open rates over Q208, while business publishing/media, consumer products, pharmaceutical, telecom, general retail, specialty retail and travel/hospitality all saw year-over-year increases in three of the major email metrics - deliverability, opens and clicks.
“Our research has shown that while email marketing volumes have increased substantially, email remains a highly-effective channel for communication,” said Kevin Mabley, SVP of strategic & analytic consulting, Epsilon. “The top performers are those taking advantage of lifecycle triggers to send timely, relevant emails. These marketers are capturing preferences, both explicit through preference centers and opt-in pages and implicit such as web activity, response and engagement activity.”
Though an earlier study from Return Path found that only 79.3% of permission-based emails sent in the US and Canada during H109 reached recipients’ inboxes, Epsilon noted that Return Path’s deliverability for Epsilon clients was 90% in Q109 and 87% in Q209, significantly higher than the industry benchmark.
About the report: The quarterly analysis is compiled from 6.5 billion emails sent by Epsilon in April, May and June 2009, across multiple industries and approximately 200 clients. The analysis combines data from both of Epsilon’s proprietary platforms, DREAM and DREAMmail.
