Email Marketing Metrics, June 2009

email marketing  ���9 report Most Popular Words in Subject Lines New Design Tip Case Study  11 Which Industries Get the Best Response Rates Even In This Recession Designing Mobile Friendly Emails ® © © 2009 byMailerMailer. All Rights Reserved. 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. ® EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Table of Contents Introduction Why Do We Do This? State of the Industry: Effects of the Recession and Technology Trends Email Rocks, Even in a Recession Executive Summary 1 2 2 3 Open Rates Unique Open Rates Why have open rates declined in the past? Open Rates by Industry Open Rate Comparison 4 4 5 6 Click Rates Click Rates Click Rates by Industry Click Rate Comparison 7 8 9 Open and Click Rates By Day 10 Design Tips Case Study Maximizing Opens, Clicks and Sales in Terrible Times 11 Subject Line Length Opens by Subject Line Length Clicks by Subject Line Length 14 15 Subject Line Content Subject Line Trends: Most Popular Words 16 Personalization How Personalization Affects Open and Click Rates 17 Message Format and Links Click Rates by Format Clicks by Number of Links Designing mobile-friendly emails 18 18 19 Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page I EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Table of Contents Bounces Deliverability and Bounces Bounce Rates by Industry Bounce Percentage by Mailing Frequency 20 21 22 Stabilization Stabilization of Open Rates Total Emails Opened by Hour (Cumulative) 23 23 Open and Click Rates by List Size and Industry Banking and Finance Computer and Internet Consulting Consumers: General Education and Training Entertainment Government Large Business: General Manufacturing Marketing and Advertising Media and Publishing Medical, Dental, and Healthcare Nonprofit and Trade Association Real Estate Religious and Spiritual Restaurant and Food Service Retail Establishments Small Business: General Telecommunications Transportation and Travel Wholesale and Distribution 24 24 25 25 26 26 27 27 28 28 29 29 30 30 31 31 32 32 33 33 34 Closing Remarks Methodology About MailerMailer 35 35 Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page II EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Introduction Why Do We Do This? The MailerMailer team is once again excited to publish our popular bi-annual email marketing metrics report. This is our ninth one. It takes a good deal of time and effort to create these reports, but we do it for three reasons: •  Email marketing is extremely measureable and we happen to have loads of data at our fingertips. •  It helps our industry. We enjoy sharing benchmarks that anyone can use to gauge and improve their own email marketing results. •  Most importantly, it gives our customers very useful information to see how their campaigns perform relative to others. To find out the latest information on email marketing trends, subscribe to MailerMailer’s newsletter at http://www.mailermailer.com/newsletter-signup.rwp and read our blog, at http://blog.mailermailer.com. Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 1 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Introduction State of the Industry: Effects of the Recession and Technology Trends This report, more so than previous editions, shows how societal and economic trends are reflected in the email performance of several industries. Given the state of the economy, it may not be a surprise that Banking/Finance and Real Estate dropped from their top open and click rate positions. Yet it’s not all doom and gloom. On the other side of the spectrum, others, such as the Religious/Spiritual industry, for example, continue to see growth in their subscriber response. The key to leading winning campaigns in the midst of a recession is to move with the ebb and flow of changing subscriber needs and preferences. A recent trend in subscriber reading habits is that many are now viewing email messages on mobile devices. Many marketers are designing image-heavy emails optimal for image-enabled, computer monitor viewing experiences. However, they are failing to cater to the unique needs of their mobile email crowd. So we decided to include a special section in this report to help email marketers address the changing reading preferences of their audience. Email Rocks, Even in a Recession The Direct Marketing Association has consistently reported that email garners the highest ROI among all direct response methods. Their recent study shows email marketing’s average ROI to be $45.06 for every dollar spent, more than double Internet marketing’s ROI of $19.94 for every dollar spent. Companies, nonprofits, and other organizations can all take advantage of email marketing’s amazing ROI, and this report will help. Marketers faced with tightening budgets have options to make their dollars stretch further. Rather than removing email marketing from their mix, they can explore low cost providers that will allow them to continue reaping the benefits of email marketing. Tip In good times and bad, email marketers can and do succeed. Check out savvy strategies of several successful companies in our new eBook, “Turning Emails Into Customers” Get your free copy at: http://www.mailermailer.com/email-marketing-ebook.rwp Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 2 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Introduction Executive Summary This reports tracks email messages sent through MailerMailer between July 1 and December 21, 2008. It also includes data from earlier reports to show trends. See Methodology for details about how this data was collected and measured. •  How Soon Do People Open Their Email? – 74.5% of opens occur within the first 24 hours and 84.3% occur within the first 48 hours. •  Open Rates – The overall unique open rates stand at 12.52% which is a marginal decline from the 13.20% open rate experienced in the first half of 2008. •  Click Rates – Click rates held steady. Subscriber clicks in the second half of 2008 were comparable to those in the previous six months, rising a mere 0.08%. •  Best Days to Send – Though weekends and the beginning of the week outperform the other days, Monday is the clear winner having both the highest open rate and click rate. •  Subject Lines – Yet again, emails with subject lines shorter than 35 characters were opened more than emails with subject lines longer than 35 characters. •  Personalization – Personalization can be good. Data shows when only the message is personalized, there are more opens and clicks. However, emails with only the subject line personalized garnered the least amount of opens and clicks. •  Deliverability – For the second year now, deliverability continues to increase and bounces continue to decrease. This means more messages are reaching recipients’ inbox. •  Number of Recipients – Messages delivered to small and medium lists have far greater open and click rates than messages delivered to lists containing 1000 or more subscribers. A smaller list does not directly affect open and click rates, but mailings to smaller lists may be targeted better, contain more relevant content or have more recent subscribers. Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 3 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Open Rates 16% 14% 12% 10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% H2 2007 H1 2008 H2 2008 13.98% 13.20% 12.52% Unique Open Rates The overall unique open rate for emails sent by customers in all industries in the last six months of 2008 declined slightly, less than 0.7%. This is a smaller decrease than the previous six months, which saw a similar decline. Last half of 2008: First half of 2008: 12.52% 13.20% Why have open rates declined in the past? Open rates began declining in late 2004 as more email programs began disabling automatic image downloading by default. That said, click rates are holding somewhat steady, suggesting that people are still reading their emails, just not with images enabled. 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. In our last report, we mentioned that 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. Unique Open Rates Tip Use “alt” tags proving a description of your images to people who have images disabled. 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. Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 4 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Open Rates Open Rates by Industry Religious/Spiritual Telecommunications Transportation/Travel Banking/Finance Government Nonprofit/Trade Association Wholesale/Distribution Real Estate Media/Publishing Large Business: General Retail Establishment Consumers: General Education/Training Small Business: General Manufacturing Marketing/Advertising Consulting Restaurant/Food Service Computer/Internet Entertainment Medical/Dental/Healthcare 0% 5% 25.75% 22.63% 20.75% 20.35% 19.68% 17.43% 17.34% 15.31% 14.32% 14.09% 14.04% 13.65% 13.46% 12.42% 11.66% 10.72% 10.36% 9.58% 9.53% 8.75% 7.11% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% The industries which earned the highest unique open rates in the first half of 2008 were mostly the same as the prior six months. Banking/Finance, however, lost its reign, dropping down to the number four spot. Religious/Spiritual now has the highest open rate from the industries. Government also fell from third to fifth place. H2 ‘08 H1’ 08 Religious/Spiritual Telecommunications Transportation/Travel Banking/Finance Government 25.75% 26.69% 22.63% 25.17% 20.75% 24.86% 20.35% 27.75% 19.68% 25.60% Emails sent by the following industries were least likely to be opened: H2 ‘08 H1 ‘08 Computer/Internet Entertainment Medical 9.53% 8.75% 7.11% 8.82% 9.07% 5.85% Tip Make sure your subscribers can recognize your Sender, or “From,” name. Also, be careful with the words you use in your subject line. Subject lines that read like spam are often confused with spam. Including your brand name can help increase recognition with your readers. Open Rates By Industry Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 5 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Open Rates H1 2008 Banking/Finance Computer/Internet Consulting Consumers: General Education/Training Entertainment Government Large Business: General Manufacturing Marketing/Advertising Media/Publishing Medical/Dental/Healthcare Nonprofit/Trade Association Real Estate Religious/Spiritual Restaurant/Food Service Retail Establishment Small Business: General Telecommunications Transportation/Travel Wholesale/Distribution 0% 5% 10% 9.87% 9.58% 15.98% 14.04% 16.49% 12.42% 25.17% 22.63% 24.86% 20.75% 19.25% 17.34% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 5.85% 7.11% 14.60% 17.43% 17.74% 15.31% 26.69% 25.75% 8.82% 9.53% 9.31% 10.36% 13.30% 13.65% 15.72% 13.46% 9.07% 8.75% 25.60% 19.68% 16.43% 14.09% 13.80% 11.66% 12.72% 10.72% 14.40% 14.32% H2 2008 27.75% 20.35% Open Rate Comparison Open rates for some industries increased while most decreased. Biggest Winners: Nonprofit/Trade Association Medical/Dental/Healthcare Consulting Biggest Losers: Banking/Finance Government Transportation/Travel Small Business: General Tip Common things subscribers desire when they open an email message include: high-quality writing, good design and brevity. Include these three elements in your campaigns. Open Rate Comparison Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 6 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Click Rates 4.0% Click Rates Click rates record how many time the links in an email message were clicked. It includes clicks from both text and HTML versions of a message. Overall click rates rose slightly by .07% since our last report six months ago. Second half of 2008: First half of 2008: 2.80% 2.73% 3.0% 2.90% 2.73% 2.80% 2.0% 1.0% Tip Use the power of social networks to increase your subscriptions, as well as your open and click rates. For example, you could post an update on Facebook or Twitter urging your audience to subscribe and check out your latest newsletter. Include a blurb about special content you are featuring and what unique value you are providing. Sample tweet: “Sent out our May Newsletter for the Safe Haven Project. Talks about our new financing program! Subscribe here (link).” 0.0% H2 2007 H1 2008 H2 2008 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 rate. Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 7 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Click Rates Click Rates by Industry Religious/Spiritual Transportation/Travel Consumers: General Banking/Finance Retail Establishment Real Estate Computer/Internet Media/Publishing Medical/Dental/Healthcare Wholesale/Distribution Nonprofit/Trade Association Education/Training Consulting Large Business: General Manufacturing Telecommunications Small Business: General Government Entertainment Marketing/Advertising Restaurant/Food Service 0% 4.44% 4.22% 3.68% 3.64% 3.47% 2.87% 2.71% 2.54% 7.04% There has been a lot of change since our last report six months ago. Religious/ Spiritual first appeared as a top performing industry last year, and has continued to dominate, taking the number one spot yet again in the second half of 2008. Consumers is a new industry to this list, while Real Estate, a usual top industry, did not make the list this time around. This is not surprising given the state of the economy and the real estate market. H2 ‘08 H1 ‘08 2.43% 2.37% 2.21% 2.06% 1.99% 1.94% 1.77% 1.68% 1.56% 1.31% 1.20% 0.64% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% Religious/Spiritual Transportation/Travel Consumers: General Banking/Finance Retail Establishment 7.04% 4.44% 4.22% 3.68% 3.64% 6.66% 4.65% 3.61% 5.74% 4.61% Emails sent by the following industries in July - December 2008 were the least likely to be clicked on: H2 ‘08 H1 ‘08 Government Entertainment Marketing/Advertising Restaurant/Food Service 1.56% 1.31% 1.20% 0.64% 2.01% 1.58% 1.39% 0.78% Click Rates By Industry Government is new to this list and has taken the place of Consulting, which has experienced a rise in click rates. Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 8 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Click Rates H1 2008 Banking/Finance Computer/Internet Consulting Consumers: General Education/Training Entertainment Government Large Business: General Manufacturing Marketing/Advertising Media/Publishing Medical/Dental/Healthcare Nonprofit/Trade Association Real Estate Religious/Spiritual Restaurant/Food Service Retail Establishment Small Business: General Telecommunications Transportation/Travel Wholesale/Distribution 0% 1% 3.16% 2.43% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% 2.11% 1.68% 1.80% 1.77% 4.65% 4.44% .78% .64% H2 2008 5.74% Click Rate Comparison Some industry click rates saw major fluctuations compared to six months ago. Only two of the five industries that were top performers in our last report maintained their positions. Those two industries are Religious/Spiritual and Consulting. Biggest Winners: Consumers: General Consulting Nonprofit/Trade Association Religious/Spiritual Computer/Internet Biggest Losers: Real Estate Banking/Finance Medical/Dental/Healthcare Retail Establishment 3.68% 2.50% 2.87% 1.46% 2.06% 3.61% 4.22% 2.80% 2.21% 1.58% 1.31% 2.01% 1.56% 1.79% 1.99% 2.41% 1.94% 1.39% 1.20% 3.09% 2.71% 3.87% 2.54% 1.83% 2.37% 3.47% 6.35% 6.66% 7.04% 4.61% 3.64% Click Rate Comparison Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 9 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Open and Click Rates By Day In general, the earlier in the workweek the emails were sent, the better. Open rates peaked on Mondays and decreased as the workweek continued. Emails sent on Sundays saw a drop in open rate. Those sent on Mondays generated the highest open and click rates. Click rates hardly changed compared to the first half of 2008, though days in the latter half of the workweek showed a slight increase in clicks. To increase your open and click rates, the data points to sending earlier in the week. 16% 14% 12% 10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% Sun Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Sat Open Rate H2 2008 Open Rate H1 2008 Click Rate H2 2008 Click Rate H1 2008 Best day to send: Monday Open and Click Rates By Day Tip Avoid these common newsletter complaints that cause people to stop opening your emails and clicking your links: • Overly frequent deliveries • Irrelevant content • Format problems • Large file size • Too many pictures or ads • Broken links Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 10 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Design Tips Case Study Maximizing Opens, Clicks and Sales in Terrible Times Situation: When times are tough, the household dollar is often on a tighter string. This presents a challenge for many theatre companies, whose sales mostly depend on theatre-goers’ disposable income. When newspaper headlines are screaming about bank failures and job layoffs, the last thing Jessica Daugherty wants to do is present another headline about a new tragic drama. Action Plan: Focus on Positives No matter what show is playing, Daugherty highlights the upbeat nature of the story. She strives to make the email marketing message itself a nice escape-kind-of-experience to draw people in to buy tickets and watch the show. Implementation: Here are some ways Daugherty presents the positives: •  Bigger graphics, bolder colors, less text - more splashy look •  Positive text in the subject lines and message itself, while still staying true to the integrity of the play - that way even if the play is a gripping drama, she would play up the quirkiness of the characters, without mentioning the illness eating up that character inside. •  Poignant images - one woman went to see the play, “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” because of the touching graphic Daugherty infuses an uplifting strategy into her nonprofit’s campaigns to help retain engaged subscribers and make ticket sales, even in difficult times. Though the general theatre industry is seeing the effects of the recession, Daugherty’s focus on positive appeal continues to draw patrons to Theatre IV and Barksdale Theatre. Theatre IV & Barksdale Theatre Profile Email Marketer: Jessica Daugherty Position: Webmaster Company: Theatre IV, America’s largest children’s company in the schools touring to 35 states and performing on a main stage. Barksdale Theatre, a professional theater in central Virginia. Theatreiv.org Though living in New Zealand herself, Daugherty is able to telecommute and schedule emails to her subscribers on the other side of the world. Tip See 5 other design case studies in the free eBook, Successful Email Marketer’s Playbook: Real Examples of Campaigns That Generate Buzz and Bring in Sales Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 11 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Subject line: Theatre IV’s Sideways Stories and 2 Show Subscription Savings Theatre IV: The Children’s Theatre of Virginia From: Fun subject line Alliterative subject line rolls off the tongue. Using this technique appeals to readers’ sense of hearing when they read out loud. Bright, bold colors Using colors that POP brings life into your email. These particular color choices also reflect the fun and quirky mood of the play. Discounts Showing monetary value - “Save” - especially useful when people’s wallets are tight. Powerful imagery The overbearing size of the teacher, the expressions on the faces and the shadows all work together to create a compelling statement. Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 12 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Subject line: Barksdale: Rave Reviews, Video & Discounts for Children of a Lesser God Barksdale Theatre From: Poignant pictures Scenes straight from the drama gives subscribers a preview of what they will see on stage. Reviews Seeing testimonials of other people and publications give a sense of what people can expect and can attract people to the show. Dynamic content Including an image with a video link helps readers to engage and connect with the play’s characters. Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 13 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Subject Line Length Opens by Subject Line Length Our data confirms, yet again, the correlation between shorter subject lines and higher open rates. Succinct subject lines containing less than 35 characters tend to get more attention than subject lines with more than 35 characters. Though, in general, open rates decrease as subject line length increases, this is not an absolute rule. You should test what your readers respond to. Open rates are very closely tied to the relationship you have with your recipients. The numbers and charts shown here represent aggregate information across a broad range of senders. Shorter subject lines continue to result in dramatically higher open and click rates. 25% Tip 18.98% 15.38% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% less than 35 more than 35 Opens By Subject Line Length Before sending an email message, ask if your readers could confuse your email subject line for spam. “Renew Your Service” is a vague, innocuous subject line that, without mention of a recognizable brand name, may seem like a spammer trying to get attention. “FREE,” “!!!” and “$$” are also common spam words to avoid. Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 14 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Subject Line Length Clicks by Subject Line Length Subject line length also appears to have an effect on click rates. Similar to open rates, the shorter the subject line, the better the response. Readers may have clicked more links in emails with shorter subject lines because more of those emails were opened. 4% 3.52% 3% 2% 1.75% 1% 0% less than 35 more than 35 Clicks By Subject Line Length Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 15 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Subject Line Content Subject Line Trends: Most Popular Words We broke down every subject line analyzed in this report into the individual words used to determine the 100 most popular words. We accounted for different variations of the same word so “desk” and “desks” are counted as being the same but “new” and “news” are counted as being different. The “word cloud” below depicts a visual representation of the most popular words used in subject lines. The larger and darker the words appear, the more frequently they were used. Ten Most Popular Terms 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. news party newsletter free night sale com update holiday 10. week Post this word cloud on your blog. Get a web-ready version at http://www.mailermailer.com/metrics.rwp Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 16 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Personalization How Personalization Affects Open and Click Rates Our data shows that personalization can be good. Personalizing the message itself is associated with higher click rates. It is also correlated with higher open rates, though open rates are generally more influenced by the subject line, sender name, and subscribers’ relationship with the sender. Emails with personalization in the subject lines had the worst performance, generating the least amount of click rates. Personalizing subject lines is a tactic used by some to get recipients to open unsolicited email. Thus, the decrease in opens due to personalized subject lines is likely caused by people becoming conditioned to delete such messages because they are often unsolicited. Not Personalized Subject Line Only Personalized Message Only Personalized Both Subject Line and Message Personalized 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 12.40% 6.14% 14.89% 13.19% 14% 16% 18% Open Rates By Personalization Not Personalized Subject Line Only Personalized Message Only Personalized Both Subject Line and Message Personalized 0% 1% 2% 2.73% 1.94% 4.38% 2.69% 3% 4% 5% Click Rates By Personalization Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 17 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Message Format and Links Click Rates by Format There was virtually no difference in click rates between HTML and text messages. Our data shows about a 0.1% difference in click rate but the vast majority of our customer’s recipients, over 95%, opted to receive HTML formatted messages instead of text. As a result, we had far fewer textonly messages in our data set so the click rate may be less statistically valid. In the last few years, HTML messages have seen a slight decline in click rates. This may partially be due to an increase of email viewing on mobile devices. 4% Text Messages 2.95% HTML Messages 3.05% 0% 1% 2% 3% Click Rates By Format Clicks by Number of Links more than 20 3.99% between 11 and 20 1.75% Emails containing more items to click on garnered higher click rates than messages with fewer links, with a sharp increase for messages having over 20 links. between 5 and 10 1.25% Tip To increase the number of clicks your message receives, link to a variety of content and include multiple links to your destination pages. 3% 4% 5% between 1 and 5 1.49% 0% 1% 2% Clicks By Number of Links Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 18 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Designing mobile-friendly emails Recently, MarketingSherpa, in partnership with SurveySampling, found that 64% of key decision makers view emails on their Blackberrys and other mobile devices.1 Yet the Email Experience Council found that fewer than 50% of marketers are creating emails that actually render appropriately. Many email messages are not fully being displayed on mobile devices because of blocked images. To get around this, email marketers can create a third format for their email messages: Mobile. It would be a shorter version of their original message, designed for easy skimming, with minimal use of images. Though there are smartphones such as the Apple iPhone and the Blackberry Storm that do display email images, many users are carrying mobile phones that do not. Here is a simple 3-step guide to get higher read rates: 1. At the signup page, include a checkbox for users to select a “Mobile phone edition” of the newsletter. 2. Create a separate issue that’s optimized for a mobile phone’s screen. Avoid images and ensure the content is easy-to-read text that can be read through quickly. 3. Provide a link to the “full” edition of the newsletter that readers can click on. (Note: Those who do not want to spend the extra time creating an abbreviated version of email content can add this text to the “Text only” option of the signup page: “Text only (no images, great for Blackberry and other mobile devices)” It is important to get readers the information they want in the way they want it. The more their desires are addressed, the better the email campaigns will perform. Note More than 50% of mobile devices being used are Blackberry devices, followed by Windows Mobile- and Treos-branded devices. Though the iPhone accounts for only about 5% of corporate users, significant growth in the use of iPhone is expected in the next two years. Osterman Research (2008) 2 1 MarketingSherpa, in partnership with SurveySampling. (2007). EmailStatCenter.com. Retrieved April 28, 2009 from http://www.emailstatcenter.com/HTMLvTEXT.html. 2 Osterman Research. Black Diamond, WA. (2008). NeverFailGroup.com. Retrieved April 28, 2009 from http://extranet.neverfailgroup.com/download/OR%20 Executive%20Summary%20-%20Mobile%20Messaging%20Market%20Trends%20 2008-2011%20v2.pdf. Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 19 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Bounces Deliverability and Bounces For the second year now, deliverability continues to increase and bounces continue to decrease. All email campaigns result in a percentage 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 Inbox is full 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. 5% 4% 3% 2% 1% 0% 3.32% 2.69% 1.46% 1.29% H1 2008 H2 2008 H1 2008 H2 2008 First Five Mailings Sixth and subsequent mailings Tip Bounce 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 by Mailing Frequency. Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 20 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Bounces Banking/Finance Computer/Internet Consulting Consumers: General Education/Training Entertainment Government Large Business: General Manufacturing Marketing/Advertising Media/Publishing Medical/Dental/Healthcare Nonprofit/Trade Association Real Estate Religious/Spiritual Restaurant/Food Service Retail Establishment Small Business: General Telecommunications Transportation/Travel Wholesale/Distribution 0% .91% .6% First Five Mailings 2.96% Sixth and Subsequent Bounce Rates by Industry Industries that received the lowest bounce rates for their first five mailings (and therefore, the best delivery rates) were: Consumers: General 1.96% Transportation/Travel 2.12% Nonprofit/Trade Association 2.19% The following industries earned the lowest bounce rates (and therefore, the best delivery rates) on their sixth and subsequent mailings with MailerMailer: Banking/Finance Manufacturing Telecommunications 0.60% 0.91% 1.01% 2.72% 1.08% 7.39% 1.78% 1.96% 1.05% 3.59% 2.49% 2.63% 1.19% 4.26% 1.98% 3.13% 1.90% 3.42% 3.83% 1.20% 3.01% 1.50% 3.78% 3.39% 2.19% 1.26% 3.33% 2.71% 1.77% 2.37% 1.12% 4.07% 2.55% 2.25% 1.63% 3.19% 1.01% 8.47% 2.12% 1.39% 3.71% 2.19% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% 9% Bounce Rates By Industry Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 21 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Bounces 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 for spam if they receive emails from you frequently. Deliverability also affects bounce rates. According to SenderScore, MailerMailer’s deliverability was 99.31% during the period covered by this report. 6% 5% 4.90% Deliverability is higher for frequent senders. Bounce Percentage 4% 3% 2.10% 2% 1% 0% Once a day or Few times a more week Once a week Few times a Once a month Less than once month a month 0.51% 0.73% 1.40% 1.01% Mailing Frequency Tip Follow an established publishing schedule. That way, your subscribers will not forget that they signed up, and will come to expect and perhaps even anticipate your newsletter. Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 22 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Stabilization Stabilization of Open Rates There was a slight decrease in the number of opens that occur within the first 2, 24, and 48 hours of a message send, compared to six months ago. Nearly one-third, 29.64% to be exact, of all opens occur within the first two hours. This is a drop from 32.36% of emails being opened within the first two hours six months ago, and more similar to the 29.57% a year ago. The number of people opening their messages within the first 24 hours stayed about the same, 74.5% versus 74.8% six months prior. In the first 48 hours, 84.3% of opens will have occurred, compared to 84.6% in our last report. Messages Opened in the Hour 100% 90% 84.3% 80% 74.5% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% H2 2008 H1 2008 Cumulative Percent Opened 0 24 48 72 96 120 144 168 192 216 240 264 288 312 335 Hours After Delivery 14% 12% H2 2008 H1 2008 10% Total Emails Opened by Hour (Cumulative) Most of your recipients will open your email within 4-6 hours of delivery if they are going to open it at all. You will receive most of your customer responses within two days. Tip Make sure your images, links, and landing pages remain accessible to subscribers long after the actual email send date. Some recipients store their emails and return to them long after they were originally sent. 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% 0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 Hours After Delivery Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 23 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Open and Click Rates by List Size and Industry Banking and Finance 15% 45% 41.33% 12% 11.78% 10.62% 36% 33.53% 9% 27% 18.72% 6% 18% 3.32% 3% 9% 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates By List Size Click Rates By List Size Computer and Internet 9% 30% 27.09% 7.20% 24% 6% 18% 19.76% 3% 2.88% 2.15% 12% 9.35% 6% 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates By List Size Click Rates By List Size Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 24 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Open and Click Rates by List Size and Industry Consulting 14% 25% 22.11% 12% 11.65% 20% 10% 8% 15% 6% 10.38% 10% 4.26% 4% 8.69% 2% 2.02% 5% 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates By List Size Click Rates By List Size Consumers: General 8% 35% 31.95% 6.81% 28% 6% 5.50% 21.78% 4.17% 4% 21% 14% 13.57% 2% 7% 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates By List Size Click Rates By List Size Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 25 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Open and Click Rates by List Size and Industry Education and Training 4% 35% 28.70% 3% 29.66% 2.92% 2.61% 2.18% 28% 21% 2% 14% 12.22% 1% 7% 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates By List Size Click Rates By List Size Entertainment 5% 25% 23.41% 4% 3.84% 3.50% 20% 19.21% 3% 15% 2% 10% 8.68% 1.30% 1% 5% 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates By List Size Click Rates By List Size Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 26 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Open and Click Rates by List Size and Industry Government 9% 30% 24.63% 6.74% 6% 24% 18.82% 18% 19.70% 3.46% 3% 3.28% 12% 6% 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates By List Size Click Rates By List Size Large Business: General 5% 25% 23.79% 20.37% 4% 3.92% 20% 3% 15% 13.95% 2.05% 2% 1.96% 10% 1% 5% 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates By List Size Click Rates By List Size Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 27 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Open and Click Rates by List Size and Industry Manufacturing 12% 35% 9.52% 9% 9.58% 29.15% 28% 26.44% 21% 6% 14% 11.63% 3% 1.89% 7% 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates By List Size Click Rates By List Size Marketing and Advertising 5% 4.56% 30% 4% 25% 24.60% 20% 3% 17.80% 15% 2% 10.63% 1.41% 10% 1.19% 5% 1% 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates By List Size Click Rates By List Size Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 28 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Open and Click Rates by List Size and Industry Media and Publishing 5% 35% 4.33% 4% 28.92% 28% 24.84% 3% 2.74% 2.69% 21% 14.22% 2% 14% 1% 7% 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates By List Size Click Rates By List Size Medical, Dental, and Healthcare 9% 30% 7.57% 24% 6% 26.64% 21.98% 18% 12% 3% 2.08% 2.44% 6.75% 6% 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates By List Size Click Rates By List Size Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 29 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Open and Click Rates by List Size and Industry Nonprofit and Trade Association 4% 35% 32.99% 3.19% 3% 28% 2.82% 2.33% 23.49% 21% 2% 16.85% 14% 1% 7% 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates By List Size Click Rates By List Size Real Estate 7% 25% 6.17% 6% 5.36% 5% 20% 19.88% 20.74% 15.21% 4% 15% 3.40% 10% 3% 2% 5% 1% 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates By List Size Click Rates By List Size Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 30 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Open and Click Rates by List Size and Industry Religious and Spiritual 9% 45% 7.43% 6.46% 6% 6.80% 36% 33.31% 35.45% 27% 25.21% 18% 3% 9% 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates By List Size Click Rates By List Size Restaurant and Food Service 7% 35% 31.77% 6% 5.88% 28% 5% 4% 21% 21.10% 3% 2.24% 2% 14% 9.46% 7% 1% 0.62% 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates By List Size Click Rates By List Size Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 31 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Open and Click Rates by List Size and Industry Retail Establishments 12% 35% 28.68% 9.21% 9% 8.97% 28% 22.47% 21% 6% 14% 13.96% 3.56% 3% 7% 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates By List Size Click Rates By List Size Small Business: General 4% 3.72% 3.49% 25% 22.39% 20% 23.64% 3% 15% 2% 12.26% 1.64% 10% 1% 5% 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates By List Size Click Rates By List Size Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 32 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Open and Click Rates by List Size and Industry Telecommunications 12% 35% 30.78% 9.32% 9% 28% 22.64% 21% 17.55% 6% 14% 3% 2.02% 1.73% 7% 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates By List Size Click Rates By List Size Transportation and Travel 35% 35% 32.69% 28% 27.61% 24.02% 28% 27.17% 21% 21% 20.74% 14% 14% 7% 4.19% 7% 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates By List Size Click Rates By List Size Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 33 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Open and Click Rates by List Size and Industry Wholesale and Distribution 8% 30% 26.95% 25.11% 6.20% 6% 24% 18% 4% 16.87% 12% 2.35% 2% 1.27% 6% 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ 0% 25-499 499-999 1000+ Open Rates By List Size Click Rates By List Size Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 34 EMAIL MARKETING METRICS REPORT JULY - DECEMBER (H2) 2008 Closing Remarks 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, 2008, 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 3,000 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. Copyright 2009 by MailerMailer LLC. All Rights Reserved. Page 35