What is an acceptable open rate for your email marketing campaign?
What should your click rate be?
In answer to those questions the answer is ‘it depends’ – mainly on the industry you operate in.
To give you a heads up, below is a table of statistics compiled by MailChimp outlining the average email campaign stats from their customers by industry:
Average Email Campaign Stats of MailChimp Customers by Industry
| Type of Company | Open Rate | Click Rate | Soft Bounce Rate | Hard Bounce Rate | Abuse Complaint Rate | Unsubscribe Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture and Food Services | 23.94% | 4.85% | 0.97% | 2.06% | 0.10% | 0.38% |
| Arts and Artists | 17.53% | 3.54% | 1.58% | 2.54% | 0.08% | 0.25% |
| Beauty and Personal Care | 14.94% | 2.65% | 0.71% | 1.54% | 0.09% | 0.28% |
| Business and Finance | 15.47% | 2.77% | 2.10% | 1.57% | 0.04% | 0.21% |
| Computers and Electronics | 15.51% | 2.97% | 1.12% | 1.71% | 0.08% | 0.30% |
| Construction | 28.70% | 8.01% | 4.51% | 5.81% | 0.11% | 0.35% |
| Consulting | 16.32% | 3.30% | 2.50% | 2.39% | 0.03% | 0.25% |
| Creative Services/Agency | 24.64% | 3.08% | 1.34% | 2.05% | 0.06% | 0.25% |
| eCommerce | 14.98% | 3.36% | 0.74% | 0.88% | 0.08% | 0.25% |
| Education and Training | 16.64% | 3.41% | 1.42% | 2.09% | 0.06% | 0.20% |
| Entertainment and Events | 16.09% | 2.98% | 0.85% | 1.55% | 0.08% | 0.19% |
| Government | 25.66% | 5.37% | 0.86% | 0.89% | 0.04% | 0.20% |
| Health and Fitness | 20.96% | 5.73% | 3.14% | 6.30% | 0.06% | 0.30% |
| Hobbies | 18.45% | 4.33% | 1.13% | 2.08% | 0.12% | 0.40% |
| Home and Garden | 28.20% | 4.38% | 2.93% | 2.68% | 0.02% | 0.41% |
| Insurance | 20.91% | 3.03% | 2.37% | 4.15% | 0.10% | 0.30% |
| Legal | 17.34% | 2.49% | 0.79% | 0.89% | 0.02% | 0.12% |
| Marketing and Advertising | 18.79% | 4.13% | 1.39% | 2.50% | 0.08% | 0.23% |
| Media and Publishing | 18.43% | 3.39% | 0.48% | 0.63% | 0.03% | 0.11% |
| Medical, Dental, and Healthcare | 13.76% | 2.59% | 2.18% | 4.09% | 0.06% | 0.18% |
| Music and Musicians | 13.95% | 2.43% | 0.68% | 1.07% | 0.06% | 0.18% |
| Non-Profit | 20.43% | 3.54% | 1.13% | 1.51% | 0.05% | 0.17% |
| Other | 33.52% | 10.90% | 0.83% | 1.66% | 0.09% | 0.40% |
| Photo and Video | 28.93% | 5.70% | 0.99% | 1.34% | 0.07% | 0.26% |
| Politics | 13.72% | 2.58% | 0.49% | 0.78% | 0.07% | 0.15% |
| Professional Services | 19.77% | 3.71% | 2.55% | 3.57% | 0.08% | 0.45% |
| Public Relations | 14.81% | 1.12% | 2.07% | 2.28% | 0.03% | 0.16% |
| Real Estate | 18.48% | 3.44% | 1.18% | 1.67% | 0.06% | 0.25% |
| Recruitment and Staffing | 15.31% | 3.35% | 1.37% | 1.75% | 0.07% | 0.31% |
| Religion | 23.04% | 3.24% | 0.52% | 0.68% | 0.05% | 0.15% |
| Restaurant | 20.07% | 2.41% | 0.70% | 1.11% | 0.09% | 0.30% |
| Retail | 17.80% | 3.54% | 0.61% | 1.00% | 0.08% | 0.24% |
| Social Networks and Online Communities | 22.37% | 2.85% | 6.94% | 5.44% | 0.11% | 0.74% |
| Software and Web App | 15.57% | 2.49% | 1.88% | 3.06% | 0.11% | 0.39% |
| Sports | 19.54% | 4.77% | 0.86% | 1.53% | 0.08% | 0.24% |
| Telecommunications | 21.20% | 3.22% | 1.60% | 2.85% | 0.10% | 0.41% |
| Travel and Transportation | 14.50% | 2.71% | 0.84% | 0.83% | 0.05% | 0.17% |
How do your results compare?
Congratulations if you’re about right (or above average) for your industry. But what if you’re a bit under par? Where are you going wrong?
Common causes for poor email results
There are a number of reasons why your emails aren’t performing as they should, but here are the most common ones:
1. Murky
The reason for sending your email has to be clear, that means your subject line has to tie in with the email’s content.
If you promise one thing just to get them to open the email and then fail to deliver (or deliver something different), you’ll lose their trust and they’ll probably unsubscribe.
So make sure you’re clear about why you’re sending the email, make sure the subject line and content tallies and make sure your message is clear – that means stick to one (or a maximum of 2) topic rather than trying to cover everything in one go.
2. Way too long
This one slots in nicely after number 1. If you try to cover too much your email will be too long and no one will read it.
If you want to bring the readers’ attention to an article, rather than placing the whole thing in your email, write a short teaser and link out to it.
The ideal length for a newsletter/email is about 400 words (600 would be an absolutely maximum).
3. You, you, you
Read your email back to yourself – who is it talking about, you or your customer?
If it is all about your company, how great you are, your products etc., without any mention of the benefits you will bring your customers, your readers won’t read it.
Email marketing is there to help you build relationships with your customers, which means every email should add value to them. It should offer them great information, give them tips, perhaps an offer or two – it should be about them and not you.
4. No call to action
Sending out emails that give great information is fantastic, but if you don’t ask your reader to do something, they’re a complete waste of time.
It could be something as simple as following a link to your website, downloading a top ten tips list, perhaps a report – basically, anything that will add value to them.
5. Typos
We are all human; mistakes happen and typos slip through, but do your utmost to make sure your email goes out error free.
If you do spot something after hitting the send button, send an apology and offer them something for the inconvenience – perhaps a voucher?
If you get it wrong, apologise and they won’t think badly of you.
Writing engaging emails
OK, we’ve looked at why your click and open rate may not be as high as it should, but what can you do to remedy it?
Well, what follows are a few simple tips that help you be more effective with your email marketing:
- Be yourself – write from the heart, don’t try and be corporate it doesn’t work. Be conversational if you want to boost engagement
- Be in a good mood – the best emails are those written when you’re in the right mood. Try and write a good one when you’re in a bad mood – it’s impossible
- Read out loud – by far the best way to check for errors
- Connection – make sure you write about something that your readers can connect with, if possible tie it in with topical events
- Email address – make sure the email address you send it from is real, i.e. it has your company name in it – it is far more likely to opened that way
There you go, a few simple tips to make the most of your email marketing. Give them a try and see how you get on.
1 comment so far ↓
Using email marketing is effective but you should remember to keep it simple. Short but precise. Thank you for sharing this post.
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