74% of All Opens Occur Within the First 24 Hours Deliverability Continues to Increase + many other email marketing trends! email marketing MARCH 2008 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Contact us: 1-800-475-1415 http://www.mailermailer.comEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page I Introduction Why Do We Do 1 Email Marketing Metrics and Trends 2 Open Rates Unique Open Rates 3 Why have open rates declined in the 3 Open Rates by Industry 4 Open Rate Comparison 5 Case Study: Increasing Opens 6 Click Rates Click Rates 7 Click Rates by Industry 8 Click Rate Comparison 9 Open and Click Rates By Day 10 Opens by Subject Line Length 11 Clicks by Subject Line Length 11 Personalization How Personalization Affects Open and Click Rates 12 Message Format and Links Click Rates by Format 13 Clicks by Number of Links 13 Bounces Deliverability and Bounces 14 Bounce Rates by Industry 15 Bounce Percentage by Mailing Frequency 16 Stabilization Stabilization of Open Rates 17 Total Emails Opened by Hour (17 Table of ContentsEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page II Open and Click Rates by List Size and Industry Banking and Finance 18 Computer and Internet 18 Consulting 19 Consumers: General 19 Education and Training 20 Entertainment 20 Government 21 Large Business: General 21 Manufacturing 22 Marketing and Advertising 22 Media and Publishing 23 Medical, Dental, and Healthcare 23 Nonprofit and Trade Association 24 Real Estate 24 Religious and Spiritual 25 Restaurant and Food Service 25 Retail Establishments 26 Small Business: General 26 Telecommunications 27 Transportation and Travel 27 Wholesale and Distribution 28 Closing Remarks Methodology 29 About MailerMailer 29 Table of ContentsEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 1 Why Do We Do This? As we were preparing this -our seventh Email Marketing Metrics Report -we asked ourselves why we invest the manpower and time to create these twice a year. Well, first of all, because we can. Email Marketing is extremely measurable and we happen to have loads of data at our fingertips. Secondly, it helps our industry. We enjoy sharing benchmarks that anyone can use to gauge and improve their own email marketing results. Thirdly, and most importantly, it is a service that we provide to our own customers. Having access to historical industry averages of open, click, and bounce rates gives them an idea of what to expect from their own newsletters and campaigns. The data and reports are also being integrated directly into MailerMailer’s service so our customers can compare their newsletters and campaigns to industry benchmarks instantly. Subscribe to MailerMailer’s blog at http://blog.mailermailer.com for more tips, trends and metrics to improve your email marketing efforts. IntroductionEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 2 Email Marketing Metrics and Trends This report tracks email messages sent through MailerMailer between July 1 and December 31, 2007. It also includes data from earlier reports to show trends. See Methodology for details about how this data was collected and measured. Open Rates -Overall open rates took a nosedive compared to the first half of 2007, • dropping over 2% -and more than 3% from the same period a year ago. 74% of all opens occur within the first 24 hours. Click Rates -Average click-through rates declined ever so slightly, around a quarter of • one percent, but remain fairly stable. Best Days to Send -Mondays, Tuesdays, and the weekends continue to earn higher open • and click rates. Subject Lines -Emails with shorter subject lines significantly outperformed emails with • longer subject lines. Personalization -Emails that used personalization received higher click and open rates. • Deliverability -Overall bounce rates declined slightly in the first half of 2007. • Number of Recipients -In general, as in previous years, emails sent to fewer people were • opened and clicked on more. A smaller list size does not directly affect open and click results. However, mailings to smaller lists may be targeted better, contain more relevant content, or have more recent subscribers. IntroductionEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 3 Unique Open Rates The overall unique open rate for emails sent by customers in all industries in the last six months of 2007 declined over 2%, continuing the downward trend we have seen for the last several years. This period’s drop, however, was the most significant, possibly due to the proliferation of emails being viewed on handheld devices. Last half of 2007: 13.98% First half of 2007: 16.11% Why have open rates declined in the past? Open rates began declining in late 2004 as more people started using email programs that disable automatic image downloading by default. To track open rates, HTML emails contain a 1x1 pixel invisible image. When a recipient enables images to display when they read the message, the sending servers are able to track when the image was displayed and by whom-this is the “open rate” information you see in your reports. When images are blocked, the “open” cannot be tracked. Open rates are becoming less accurate with many people reading email from hand held devices and disabling image downloading. The fact that click rates remained fairly steady suggests that people are still reading the messages even though fewer opens are being reported. Not all industries experienced a decline in open rates, as the next page shows. Open Rates 17.20% 16.11% 17.90% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% H2 2006 H1 2007 H2 2007 Unique Open Rates 13.98% Definition Unique opens are calculated as the number of addresses which were tracked as having viewed a message divided by the total number of HTML messages sent. Each address, even if it opened the message more than once, was counted only once; hence, showing unique opens.EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 4 Tip The biggest factor in determining whether someone will open your message is your subject line and your “from” address. Subject lines that read like spam are often confused with spam so be sure to include your brand name to help increase recognition with your readers. Open Rates by Industry Industries that earned the highest unique open rates in the last half of 2007 were the same as the first half, but in a different order: H1 H2 Banking/Finance 28.07% 28.84% Religious/Spiritual 23.78% 26.76% Transportation/Travel 26.53% 25.69% Telecommunications 26.46% 24.91% Emails sent by the following industries were least likely to be opened: H1 H2 Entertainment 10.38% 9.04% Consulting 10.80% 7.60% Medical 13.72% 6.64% Open Rates 6.64% 7.60% 9.04% 9.85% 10.41% 13.33% 13.66% 13.78% 14.25% 15.79% 16.19% 16.53% 17.11% 17.23% 17.54% 17.86% 18.17% 24.91% 25.69% 26.76% 28.84% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% Medical/Dental/Healthcare Consulting Entertainment Restaurant/FoodService Computer/Internet Marketing/Advertising Consumers: General Education/Training Manufacturing Nonprofit/TradeAssociation Media/Publishing Small Business: General Government Wholesale/Distribution Retail Establishment Real Estate Large Business: General Telecommunications Transportation/Travel Religious/Spiritual Banking/Finance Open Rates by IndustryEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 5 Tip Send a welcome message to subscribers as soon as possible after they sign up. Ask them to put your email address on their safe senders list to increase the chances of delivery into their inbox, not bulk mail folder. Open Rate Comparison Open rates for some industries increased while most decreased. Biggest Winners: Banking/Finance Religious/Spiritual Wholesale/Dsitribution Biggest Losers: Medical/Dental/Healthcare Computer/Internet Government Restaurant/Food Service 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% Wholesale/Distribution Transportation/Travel Telecommunications Small Business: General Retail Establishment Restaurant/FoodService Religious/Spiritual Real Estate Nonprofit/TradeAssociation Medical/Dental/Healthcare Media/Publishing Marketing/Advertising Manufacturing Large Business: General Government Entertainment Education/Training Consumers: General Consulting Computer/Internet Banking/Finance Open Rate Comparison H1 2007 H2 2007 17.23% 25.69% 24.91% 16.53% 17.54% 9.85% 26.76% 17.86% 15.79% 6.64% 16.19% 13.33% 14.25%18.17% 17.11% 9.04%13.78% 13.66% 7.60% 10.41% 28.84% 9.26% 26.53% 26.46% 19.32% 22.61% 17.10% 23.78% 20.75% 15.78% 13.72%17.44% 15.76% 15.59% 18.71% 23.75% 10.38% 16.64% 15.55% 10.80%15.16% 28.07% Open RatesEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 6 Open Rates 32.75% 26.17% 31.27% 37.75% 27.58% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% Setting Strategic Goals for the New Year, Dec 18 What Your Competition Might Learn About You This Year, Jan 9 How we wrote our 2008 business plan, Jan 14 2008 Business Planning Guide, Jan 22 Generating New Leads, Feb 5 Subject Lines Open Rates Case Study: Increasing Opens Increasing Opens 10% by Knowing Your Readers’ Hot Buttons Our MoreBusiness.com site is a fairly popular destination for small business owners looking for information on business and marketing plans – it is a top search result on the term “sample marketing plan”. Thousands of individual small business owners visit the site every day, many of whom signed up for our bi-weekly newsletter (to sign up, visit MoreBusiness. com -the newsletter info is on the top For each issue, we look over the articles featured in the newsletter and toy with variations for our subject line. Over time, we found that terms that included or were related to business planning garnered a significantly higher open rate than other terms. Even when we thought that readers interested in business planning would be interested in other business related topics, such as lead generation, our results proved otherwise. Example: Notice the pattern. Every time the subject line includes terms like “planning”, “strategy”, or “goal” – all related to business plans – the open rate is over 30%. The moment we deviate and include other terms that we think people might respond to, like “competition” or “generating leads”, the open rate drops below 30%. Look at the last two subject lines. There is a 10% increase in the open rate for the one about our 2008 Business Planning Guide compared to our information on Generating New Leads. These numbers make it clear: our MoreBusiness.com readers want information to help them set goals and write a business plan. It is not surprising -we have over 100 free sample business plans they can view on our site. The surprising point is how connected our readers are with terms related to business planning, strategy, and goal setting. These terms are our audience’s hot buttons. Identify your recipients’ hot buttons and you can increase your open rate overnight.EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 7 TipsReaders click more often on attractive, well designed emails that offer useful and interesting information. Knowing your reader’s hot buttons (terms or offers they historically react to) can also increase click rates. Give your readers a reason to click. Include a “Buy Now” button or a link to “Read the full story.” Put just enough content to whet their appetite so they want more. Click Rates Click rates record how many times the links in an email message were clicked. It includes clicks from both text and HTML format recipients. Overall click rates declined slightly since our last report. Last half of 2007: 2.90% First half of 2007: 3.18% Although open rates experienced a sharp decline, the fact that click rates edged downward by only a marginal amount suggests that emails are probably still being opened at earlier rates but that the tracking ability is dimished due to image downloading being disabled. Click Rates 3.21% 3.18% 2.90% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% H2 2006 H1 2007 H2 2007 Click Rates Definition Click rates are defined as the total number of unique clicks (i.e., the first time a person clicks on a link) divided by the total number of opportunities to click. It is calculated as follows: the total number of unique clicks divided by the product of the number of links in each message and the number of total recipients. For example, a message sent to 100 people with 5 unique links in it that get 10 unique clicks would have a 10/(100*5) = 2% click rateEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 8 Click Rates by Industry The same industries that topped the best click-through rates in the first half of 2007 continued to dominate the second half: H1 H2 Real Estate 5.10% 7.01% Banking/Finance 6.52% 6.98% Retail Establishments 6.30% 5.20% Transportation/Travel 5.42% 5.19% Emails sent by the following industries in July -December 2007 were least likely to be clicked on: H1 H2 Marketing/Advertising 1.88% 1.53% Entertainment 1.29% 1.22% Restaurant/Food Service 1.60% 0.81% Consulting 1.47% 0.75% Click Rates 0.75% 0.81% 1.22% 1.53% 1.70% 2.06% 2.09% 2.16% 2.44% 2.64% 2.70% 2.90% 2.99% 3.20% 3.79%4.77% 4.85% 5.19% 5.20% 6.98% 7.01% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% 9% Consulting Restaurant/FoodService Entertainment Marketing/Advertising Telecommunications Large Business: General Small Business: General Nonprofit/TradeAssociation Education/Training Government Manufacturing Computer/Internet Wholesale/Distribution Media/Publishing Consumers: General Medical/Dental/Healthcare Religious/Spiritual Transportation/Travel Retail Establishment Banking/Finance Real Estate Click Rates By IndustryEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 9 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% Wholesale/Distribution Transportation/Travel Telecommunications Small Business: General Retail Establishment Restaurant/FoodService Religious/Spiritual Real Estate Nonprofit/TradeAssociation Medical/Dental/Healthcare Media/Publishing Marketing/Advertising Manufacturing Large Business: General Government Entertainment Education/Training Consumers: General Consulting Computer/Internet Banking/Finance Click Rate Comparison H1 2007 H2 2007 H1 2007 H2 2007 2.99% 5.19% 1.70% 2.09% 5.20% 0.81% 4.85% 7.01% 2.16% 4.77% 3.20% 1.53% 2.70% 2.06% 2.64% 1.22% 2.44% 3.79% 0.75%2.90% 6.98% 1.29% 5.42% 1.81% 2.49% 6.30% 1.60% 4.07%5.10% 2.07% 3.84% 3.41% 1.88% 1.85% 2.07% 3.55% 1.29% 2.55% 3.90% 1.47% 4.59% 6.52% Click Rates Click Rate Comparison Although overall click rates remained steady, several industries saw some fluctuation compared to six months ago. Biggest Winners: Real Estate Wholesale/Distribution Medical/Dental/Healthcare Manufacturing Banking/Finance Biggest Losers: Retail Establishment Government Computer/Internet Small BusinessEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 10 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18% 20% Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Open Rate H1 2007 Open Rate H2 2007 Click Rate H1 2007 Click Rate H2 2007 Open and Click Rates by Day TipsTo increase your open and click rates, try sending early in the week or on the weekends. Keep in mind that some organizations such as entertainment venues, restaurants or retail establishments may get better results later in the week. Experiment and find out what works best for you! By Day Emails sent early in the work week or on the weekends earned higher open and click rates; Mondays being the best. Weekend readership experienced an increase. Like the first half of 2007, recipients were least likely to open emails sent on Fridays and messages sent on Tuesdays garnered the highest click rates. Open and Click Rates Best days to send: Monday, Tuesdays, and Weekends.EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 11 3.28% 2.05% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% less than 35 more than 35 Clicks by Subject Line Length Open and Click Rates Tip Avoid words and symbols that spammers use such as “FREE,” “!!!,” or “$” as these can hinder delivery. 20.10% 15.28% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% less than 35 more than 35 Opens by Subject Line Length Opens by Subject Line Length Continuing a trend we have seen for a few years now, email recipients were significantly more likely to open messages that used short subject lines (35 or fewer Clicks by Subject Line Length Readers also continued to click more often on emails with short subject lines. Always use short, descriptive subject lines. Shorter subject lines result in dramatically higher open and click rates.EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 12 1.85% 4.54% 1.68% 2.66% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% Both Subject Line and Message Personalized Message Only Personalized Subject Line Only Personalized Not Personalized Click Rates by Personalization How Personalization Affects Open and Click Rates Personalizing only the subject line shows a decrease in open and click rates, possibly because it is becoming a tactic commonly used by spammers to trick people into opening messages. Personalization 17.69% 15.17% 12.43% 13.48% 0% 4% 8% 12% 16% 20% Both Subject Line and Message Personalized Message Only Personalized Subject Line Only Personalized Not Personalized Open rates by PersonalizationEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 13 1.82% 2.18% 1.46% 3.84% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% between 1-5 between 11-20 between 6-10 more than 20 Clicks by Number of Links 3.03% 3.72% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% html messages text messages Click Rates by Format Tip To improve your click rates, try including multiple links to your landing page. Click Rates by Format There was a slight difference in click rates between HTML and text messages. Our data shows about a 0.7% difference in click rate but the vast majority of our customer’s recipients, over 95%, opt to receive HTML formatted messages instead of text. As a result, we had far fewer text-only messages in our data set so the click rate may be less statistically valid. In prior years, HTML messages showed a slightly higher click rate. Clicks by Number of Links Emails containing a roster of items to click on garnered higher click rates than messages with fewer links, with a sharp increase for messages having over 20 links. Message Format and LinksEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 14 TipsBounce rates for the first five mailings depend largely on how well an existing list was managed prior to using our service. We use several screening procedures for our new customers and for new lists that minimize inclusion of older or unreliable addresses. The average bounce rates for the sixth and subsequent mailings are affected by several factors including the frequency in which a customer sends messages to a particular email list. See Bounce Percentage per Mailings. H1 2007 H2 2007 H1 2007 H2 2007 4.55% 1.86% 4.34% 1.62% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% First Five Mailings Sixth And Subsequent Mailings Overall Bounce Rates Deliverability and Bounces For a full year now, deliverability continues to increase (bounces reversing a trend seen in years past. All email campaigns result in a percent of messages that are undeliverable. An email may “bounce back” due to several reasons: Subscriber’s email address has changed • Receiving server is temporarily unavailable • Message inadvertently flagged as spam • MailerMailer automatically records and purges email addresses that result in bounces from our customers’ lists after their fifth mailing with us. Due to this, our customers’ bounce rates generally decrease noticeably after their fifth delivery using our system. BouncesEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 15 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% Wholesale/Distribution Transportation/Travel Telecommunications Small Business: General Retail Establishment Restaurant/FoodService Religious/Spiritual Real Estate Nonprofit/TradeAssociation Medical/Dental/Healthcare Media/Publishing Marketing/Advertising Manufacturing Large Business: General Government Entertainment Education/Training Consumers: General Consulting Computer/Internet Banking/Finance Bounce Rates by Industry Sixth and Subsequent First Five Mailings 1.83% 1.49% 1.50% 1.84%2.56% 1.30%1.85% 2.21% 1.90% 3.26% 1.97% 0.94% 0.95% 1.43% 2.23% 1.02% 2.36% 1.53% 1.68% 1.46% 1.10% 6.59% 2.96% 4.00% 3.75% 3.25% 4.04% 3.07% 5.30% 3.31% 5.43% 5.21% 2.91% 5.66% 4.08% 4.28% 3.02% 4.61% 3.46% 5.93% 4.09% 4.23% Bounce Rates by Industry Industries that received the lowest bounce rates for their first five mailings (and therefore, the best delivery were: Marketing/Advertising 2.91% Transportation/Travel 2.96% Entertainment 3.02% The following industries earned the lowest bounce rates (and therefore, the best delivery on their sixth and subsequent mailings with MailerMailer: Marketing/Advertising 0.94% Manufacturing 0.95% Entertainment 1.02% BouncesEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 16 Bounce Percentage 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% Once a Day or More Few Times a Week Once a Week Few Times a Month Once a Month Less than Once a Month Mailing Frequency 2.35% 2.02% 2.59% 4.91% 5.43% 13.57% Bounce Percentage by Mailing Frequency A percent of people change jobs and/or email addresses at any given time which results in natural attrition (for all email lists. There is also a relationship between the frequency in which you send emails to a list and the bounce percentage per mailing. Bounce percentages are most likely lower for more frequent senders due to inactive addresses being purged from their lists regularly. In addition, recipients are less likely to mistake your message as spam if they receive emails from you frequently. Deliverability also affects bounce rates. According to SenderScore, MailerMailer’s deliverability was 98.9% during the period covered by this report. Bounces Deliverability is higher for frequent senders. Tip Send emails to your list at least once a month so your recipients don’t forget they signed up.EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 17 TipsSome recipients will open your email a couple of weeks or even longer after delivery. Make sure that your images, links, and landing pages remain accessible to them. 26.4% of all opens occur after the first 24 hours. Stabilization of Open Rates How soon do recipients open This chart shows how soon after delivery a percent of those subscribers who would eventually open a message actually opened it. Nearly three quarters of all opens occur in the first 24 hours. (This data is based on unique open rates and does not include forwarded emails or those opened multiple times by a recipient.Total Emails Opened by Hour (Cumulative) Most of your recipients will open your email within a few hours of delivery if they are going to open it at all. Be prepared to receive the majority of customer responses within two days. Stabilization 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 Hours After Delivery H2 2007 2007 H2 2007 H1 2007 Cumulative Percent Opened 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 0 48 96 144 192 240 288 335 73.6% 24 83.4% Hours After Delivery H 2007 H2 2007 H2 2007 H1 2007 Messages Opened in the HourEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 18 Open Rates by List Size 35.56% 40.87% 26.95% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates by List Size 23.82% 13.43% 10.33% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Click Rates by List Size 10.67% 10.24% 6.69% 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Click Rates by List Size 5.14% 4.06% 2.89% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Banking and Finance Computer and Internet Open and Click Rates by List Size and IndustryEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 19 Open and Click Rates by List Size and Industry Open Rates by List Size 8.59% 18.01% 7.47% 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18% 20% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates by List Size 33.25% 21.95% 13.51% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Click Rates by List Size 4.74% 7.99% 0.67% 25-499 499-999 1000+ 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% 9% Click Rates by List Size 7.59% 4.16% 3.77% 25-499 499-999 1000+ 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% 9% Consulting Consumers: GeneralEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 20 Open and Click Rates by List Size and Industry Open Rates by List Size 30.90% 28.71% 12.55% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates by List Size 21.51% 20.05% 8.92% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Click Rates by List Size 4.08% 3.90% 2.33% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Click Rates by List Size 4.72% 6.29% 1.17% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Education and Training EntertainmentEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 21 Open and Click Rates by List Size and Industry Open Rates by List Size 33.00% 18.73% 16.68% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates by List Size 27.16% 22.88% 18.09% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Click Rates by List Size 8.70% 6.26% 2.35% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% 9% 10% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Click Rates by List Size 8.94% 5.78% 2.01% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% 9% 10% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Government Large Business: GeneralEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 22 Open and Click Rates by List Size and Industry Open Rates by List Size 32.75% 30.81% 14.21% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates by List Size 27.01% 9.26% 13.32% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Click Rates by List Size 10.03% 13.60% 2.68% 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Click Rates by List Size 7.62% 6.64% 1.51% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% 9% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Manufacturing Marketing and AdvertisingEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 23 Open and Click Rates by List Size and Industry Open Rates by List Size 33.50% 24.84% 16.05% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates by List Size 21.58% 21.14% 3.45% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Click Rates by List Size 25-499 499-999 1000+ 4.45% 3.45% 3.19% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% Click Rates by List Size 6.65% 4.29% 4.77% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Media and Publishing Medical, Dental, and HealthcareEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 24 Open and Click Rates by List Size and Industry Open Rates by List Size 32.22% 27.29% 14.89% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates by List Size 18.11% 34.15% 17.71% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Click Rates by List Size 4.11% 4.30% 2.03% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Click Rates by List Size 11.91% 5.23% 6.98% 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Nonprofit and Trade Association Real EstateEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 25 Open and Click Rates by List Size and Industry Open Rates by List Size 37.42% 38.28% 26.09% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates by List Size 38.13% 17.49% 9.63% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Click Rates by List Size 7.25% 8.38% 4.66% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% 9% 10% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Click Rates by List Size 7.21% 3.92% 0.77% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Religious and Spiritual Restaurant and Food ServiceEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 26 Open and Click Rates by List Size and Industry Open Rates by List Size 30.84% 30.98% 17.50% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates by List Size 25.34% 27.11% 16.34% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Click Rates by List Size 7.29% 11.84% 5.18% 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Click Rates by List Size 4.20% 4.07% 2.04% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 25-499 499-999 1000+ List Size Retail Establishments Small Business: GeneralEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 27 Open and Click Rates by List Size and Industry Open Rates by List Size 21.02% 13.72% 24.95% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates by List Size 33.86% 23.53% 25.69% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Click Rates by List Size 1.92% 0.29% 1.70% 25-499 499-999 1000+ 0.0% 0.5% 1.0% 1.5% 2.0% 2.5% Click Rates by List Size 9.67% 8.52% 5.16% 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Telecommunications Transportation and TravelEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 28 Open and Click Rates by List Size and Industry Open Rates by List Size 18.93% 24.29% 16.94% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Click Rates by List Size 4.88% 3.22% 2.97% 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Wholesale and DistributionEMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY -DECEMBER (H2) 2007 Copyright 2008 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 29 Methodology We regularly analyze and report aggregate industry data based on our customers’ email use. The data for this report is based on email messages sent to 25 or more recipients between July 1 and December 31, 2007, by a sampling of MailerMailer customers. Only industries that were represented by a significant number of unique customers and/or subscribers were reported independently in this report. Click rate calculations excluded emails that contained no links. Aggregate statistics from over 300 million email messages sent by a sampling of over 3,200 permission-based email senders were analyzed for this report. However, due to the fact that email senders self-reported their industry affiliation and other factors beyond our control, this document does not represent a scientific study. About MailerMailer MailerMailer is a web-based email list management service for creating and tracking opt-in newsletters and email campaigns. Create and send personalized, targeted emails based on your subscribers’ interests and demographics. This low-cost, do-it-yourself service automates email list set up and maintenance and includes templates for easy management. Visit http://www.mailermailer.com for more information and a free trial. Closing Remarks