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: 21.9% - Epsilon Q3 2009 Email Trends and Benchmark (Jan 2010)
• Average Click-Through Rate: 6.2% - Epsilon Q3 2009 Email Trends and Benchmark (Jan 2010)
• Average Delivery Rate: 80% - ReturnPath (2009)

General Trends & Findings

Email Marketing

• 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?

BrightWave's invaluable insight has helped Chick-fil-A plan and execute its email communications strategy with maximum effectiveness and efficiency. I consider BrightWave a critical part of our team.
- Michael McCathren, Interactive Digital Marketing, Chick-fil-A

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