E-Mail Delivery, Open Rates Up, Clicks Down

First-quarter 2009 e-mail deliverability rates stood at 94.1%, up from 93.4% in first-quarter 2008. Similarly, open rates reached 22.1%, an increase from first-quarter 2008’s 19.9%, and the third consecutive quarter in which they rose.

But click-through rates for the quarter, which were 6.1%, were below the 6.4% seen a year ago, and well under the 7.2% reached in first-quarter 2007, according to Epsilon’s Global Consumer Email Study.

Open rates rose among 12 of 16 industries, with business products and services; business publishing and media; consumer packaged goods; consumer products; pharmaceutical products; consumer publishing; telecom; financial services; non-profits and education; retail apparel; general retail; and specialty retail showing rises.

Open rates for consumer services; credit cards and banks; retail electronics and travel and hospitality services fell.

But click-through rates fell for more industries, with consumer products; consumer publishing; consumer services; financial services; retail apparel; retail electronics; specialty retail and travel and hospitality all showing declines.

Business publishing and non-profits and education held to their year-ago levels, in terms of click-throughs, while business products and services; consumer packaged goods; pharmaceuticals; telecoms, financial services and banks; and general retail registered increases.

Epsilon also noted that average volume per client is up 12% from first-quarter 2008.

According to the study, e-mail does stimulate offline purchases. Fifty-nine percent of customers in the Asia-Pacific region made an offline purchase as a result of receiving an e-mail message, as did 53% of consumers in the United States and 37% in Europe.

Epsilon based its research on more than 6 million messages it sent on behalf of clients during the first quarter of 2009.

The Cynic’s Take: So e-mail volume’s up, and click-throughs are down, hmm? Might it be that consumers are still opening messages from trusted senders, but there’s been a drop in relevant messaging? As for the specific industries which are showing increases: Epsilon’s executive summary didn’t indicate what sort of offers were being sent (although the full report might), but given the sectors – general retail and consumer packaged goods, for instance – one wonders if these were more oriented toward discounts or coupons that had to be activated with clicks.