How do your response rates stack up?
I spoke to a client this morning who had recently sent out his first-ever e-newsletter. When the conversation turned to email marketing statistics he told me that he had received direct replies from around 20% of the list. I said “That’s brilliant”. His response: “Is it?” There is no question that a 20% direct response rate to an e-newsletter is excellent, but my client’s question shows how there is a lack of certainty as to just what does count as a good response. When people start with e-newsletters, particularly when they are being sent to a list of customers and other ‘well-known’ contacts, they are surprised that not everyone opens the email. Yet the same person, sending a mailshot to the same list will normally be happy with a 1% response. Just goes to show that what constitutes success can be very subjective and actually, a lower response producing real business can be much more valuable than lots of ‘tyre kickers’ clogging up your inbox. Email marketing benchmarks are notoriously difficult to pin down as there are so many variables. There is no doubt that the ‘measureability’ of email is powerful but it is important you avoid data overload. It is better to take some key stats and then use common sense and your own knowledge of your own business to draw conclusions appropriate for you. Here is a recent post suggesting 5 useful email metrics Nevertheless it is useful to have a starting point and some benchmarks against which to set your own experience. Subscription email marketing SWAS (software as service) company Sign-Up-To produces an annual report giving an overview of email marketing response rates across industry. The report makes interesting reading. Download a copy (pdf) here. If you have any questions re benchmarking your own email marketing, get in touch
