Industry Email Marketing Statistics & Benchmarks

For the most up-to-date research, please visit EmailStatCenter, the Web's Definitive Source of Statistical Data for the Email Marketing Industry.

Benchmarks

• Average Open Rate: 22.0% - Epsilon Q3 2010 Email Trends and Benchmark (Jan 2011)
• Average Click-Through Rate: 5.4% - Epsilon Q3 2010 Email Trends and Benchmark (Jan 2011)
• Average Delivery Rate: 96.1% - ReturnPath (2010)

General Trends & Findings

Email Marketing

• Nearly two-thirds of companies will increase spending on email marketing, and 57% will put more dollars toward social media marketing in 2011. - Strongmail (Dec 2010)
• Friends-and-family emails had an open rate of 20.4% vs. 14.3% for identical promotions without the friends-and-family messaging sent by the same companies. - Experian (Nov. 2010)
• Email consumption on mobile devices equals almost ½ of every hour spent on mobile internet - Nielson Mobile Media View Internet (May 2010)
• Email marketing is the top area of investment growth among marketers and business leaders (65%) for 2011, followed by social media marketing (57%) and search marketing (41%). - StrongMail (2010)
• Facebook is the most commonly used social media site to be integrated into email campaigns, with 80% of North American online marketers having used it. - Lyris Inc "The Lyris Annual Email Optimizer Report" (2010)
• 45 percent of mobile users stated the best time for companies to send e-mail is only when it is necessary as compared to 39 percent of their non-mobile peers. - e-Dialog "Manifesto for E-mail Marketers: Consumer Demand Relevance" (2010)
• 94% of daily email users subscribed to marketing messages - ExactTarget "Subscribers, Fans, and Followers: The Social Profile" (2010)
• Just 38% of email marketers have used email click behavior to segment their messaging. - Revelancy Group (2010)
• 85% of smartphone users check their email on their smartphones (e.g. read the subject line and from address), and 82% actually read their email on their smartphone. – ExactTarget (2009)
• Email's ROI in 2009 was $43.52 for every dollar spent on it. - DMA (2009)
• Nearly a third of survey respondents (32%) said they have stopped doing business with at least one company altogether as a result of its poor email practices - Merkle (Feb 2009)
• 42% percent of email marketers do not know their return on investment from email marketing. Econsultancy and Adestra - Email Census (2009)
• Email drove an average of $0.14 in revenues per delivered message. - Epsilon "Q3 2008 Email Trends and Benchmark" (Jan 2009)
• Between the U.S. and Canada, more than 20% of commercial, permission-based email doesn't reach the inboxes of intended subscribers. - Return Path (2009)
• Subscribers who receive promotional permission-based email estimate that they delete 55% without opening. - Merkle Interactive Services (2009)
• 44% of email users said email inspired at least one online purchase and 41% said it prompted at least one offline purchase. - JupiterResearch's The Social and Portable Inbox (2008)
• 84% of mobile users' permission-based email is viewed on PCs. - Merkle Interactive Services (2009)
• 57% of consumers feel they have a more positive impression of companies when they receive email from them. - Epsilon "Branding Survey" (Feb 2009)
• 59% of email users spend more than 20 minutes a week with permission email and 27% spend an hour or more weekly. - Merkle Interactive Services (2009)
• Subject lines with brand names in them were shared more often than those with offers. - Silverpop "Emails Gone Viral: Measuring 'Share to Social' Performance" (2009)
• Emails with shorter subject lines significantly outperformed emails with longer subject lines. - MailerMailer (2008)
• 89% of retailers cited email is the most mentioned successful tactic overall. - Forrester Research and Shop.org "Retailing Online 2009: Marketing Report" (2009)
• Only 28% of those between ages 18 and 24 say the email they currently get from companies is relevant to them. - PMN and Pace University's Lubin School of Business'(IDM) Lab (2009)
• 65% of whose email software has spam filters have noticed permission-based emails that have been filtered incorrectly, down four points since last year. - Merkle Interactive Services (2009)
• 75% of respondents say lack of relevance is the biggest reasons subscribers choose to opt out, followed closely by sending too frequently (73%). - Merkle Interactive Services (2009)
• The average retailer can generate an additional $2.9 million annually by integrating cross- and up-sell messages into transactional email. - JupiterResearch (2009)
• 55% of marketers are not optimizing transactional emails at all. - StrongMail (2009)

Did You Know?

I can only extend the highest recommendation possible of BrightWave if you plan on developing a more impactful and profitable eCommerce business. We were beyond satisfied.
- Ken Ungaro, Email Specialist, Lowe's

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