Email Marketing Statistics: Email Open Rates and Click-Through Rates 2010-2011
Subject Lines: Emails with shorter subject lines tend to outperform those with longer lines: Subject lines of 4-15 characters generated a 14.1% open rate, whereas those containing 51 or more characters had the least amount of opened emails (9.9%). The highest click rates were generated by emails with subject lines between 16 and 27 characters long (4%). Interestingly, the category which generated the most opens did not generate the highest click rate: Subject line lengths with 4-15 characters generated a 3.1% click rate.
Bounces by mailing frequency: Marketers sending emails more frequently garner fewer bounces. Emails sent to subscribers less than once a month (5.1%) generated the highest bounce rate, whereas those sent more frequently, such as once a day or more, registered the smallest bounce rate (0.4%).
Personalization: Emails containing personalization in the actual message registered open rates of 12.6% on average, compared with those containing personalized subject lines only (4.1%). Click-rate trends closely mirror open-rate trends: Messages that contained a personalized subject line only generated a 0.8% click rate, whereas personalization in the message portion of the email generated a 3% click rate. SEE THE CHARTS BELOW!
Click Rates by Industry
Click rates also varied widely by industry, with some sectors' click rates at 9% or more and others' at 1% or less. The top-performing industries in 2009 were the following:
Consumer: 4.9%
Transportation: 4.6%
Consulting: 4.5%
Real-Estate : 4.4%
The industries with the lowest click rates were the following:
