Opening rate for marketing emails increases

The opening rate for marketing-related emails increased for a third consecutive quarter in the first quarter of 2009 and also increased over the same figures a year ago, according to new research from Epsilon.

The ‘Epsilon Q1 2009 Email Trends and Benchmarks’ report found a 22.1% hit-rate, an increase of 11.2% from the figures during Q1 2008. The study, which was compiled of six billion emails sent to over 200 clients, was conducted in January to March.

The report also shows that the highest opening rate was found in the financial services category, which reached 31.4%, while emails in the retail apparel sector saw just a 14.3% open rate, the worst result.

The study argues email hit rates are important, as those openings are often converted into sales. A separate Epsilon study found 59% of Asia Pacific customers made offline purchases due to emails they had received.

Epsilon senior vice president of Strategic Services Kevin Mabley told Clickz.com that the most important part of e-mail marketing is relevance, in “content, timing and frequency”.