Email Metrics on The Decline

Email open and click rates continue to decline. Why is this the case?

According to a study by eMarketer.com, the reason points to list fatigue. Open rates had a decline of 12% in the first half of 2009 and 11.2% in the second half.

The study in the article was conducted by MailerMailers, and the reasons noted for the decline were:

• Cluttered in boxes
• Use of mobile devices
• Habit of turning email images off, which can prevent an open being triggered

I would also add that emails going to the junk file in addition to over inundating business owners/consumers with email newsletters. In a focus group study that I personally conducted I found that business owners/consumers were frustrated after attending a networking event to suddenly end up on attendees newsletter lists. There was no permission given to receive these email newsletters and in many cases email news letters were not relevant to what these business owners/consumers would choose to read.

The study further detailed the industries that had the highest and lowest open rates:
Highest open rate:

• Agriculture
• Transportation
• Religion
• Large Business

Lowest open rate:

• Entertainment
• Banking
• Marketing
• Medicine

In terms of click rates, the decline was much higher with a descent of 38% in the second half of 2009. According to the article this may be due list fatigue, but also noted that anti-phishing security measures sometimes stop links from going live. Email recipients must then take two actions—one to enable the links, and a second one to click on them.


What are some key marketing tactic to consider to increase open rates:

• Identify your target market
• Personalize to attract your target market to read on
• Keep it short, concise and to the point
• Always ask permission/opt in options, don't assume everyone wants to be on your list.