Understanding email open rates - Part 2
How accurate is my open rate?
Overall, your statistic will be a fairly good representation of your true open rate. However there's two important aspects to be aware of. First, assuming not all your 'true opens' are being counted, your open rate is probably higher than reported.
Second, there's a high probability that it's not the same people who open every time ... even if your reported open rate remains consistent. Let's say in your October e-newsletter, Bob and Jane open the email but Fred doesn't. In November's edition, Bob and Fred open the email but Jane doesn't. Your open rate has remained constant at 66.6 per cent, but over the two month period you've stayed in communication with 100 per cent.
How do I judge my open rates?
How long is a piece of string? That's how hard it is to judge your open rates. Just like with direct marketing, there are many variables and different factors to take into account. For example, a 95 percent open rate is the benchmark for one of Image 7 Group's clients, but for another we are happy with 25 per cent. The first is an employee communication across an international company, the second is an email to a loosely associated community group. You can see my point.
One starting point is to compare your open rates with wider industry averages. MarketingSherpa's Email Benchmark Guide 2006 quotes the most common range for B2C open rates for 2004 and 2005 at 30 - 39 per cent. The B2B range was 10 - 29 per cent. Open rates also vary by industry. Restaurants are frequently quoted as the category having the highest open rates and retail the lowest.
The most important criteria to judge your open rate performance against is your own history. Map your trends. When did you get the best open rate? What did you do that generated a better open rate?
Why is my open rate going down?
In the beginning, the novelty factor is very apparent in open rates. Your recipients are checking out your emails to see what to expect and whether they perceive it as relevant to them. After a few emails their curiosity has been satisfied. As an aside, this is a good argument to make your emails perform well from the beginning, but keep a killer improvement or benefit for edition three.
Inbox competition is another factor in declining open rates over time. Quite simply, there's more in your recipient's inbox to read so they have to be more selective. This is why content must be valuable to the reader. You can't send self serving hype and expect to keep readers. You have to build value and trust over time.
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