Q3 E-mail Click, Open Rates Rise: Epsilon

E-mail marketers’ average click and open rates in the third quarter of this year edged up over the same period in 2008, according to a recent study by marketing services provider Epsilon.

Average open rates—an “open” is recorded when the receiving computer calls for graphics from the sending machine—in the study of more than 6 billion e-mails sent by about 200 clients during the third quarter of 2009 were 21.9% compared to 19.8% during the same period in 2008, according to Epsilon.

The figure was down slightly, however, from 22.2% in the second quarter of 2009.

While open rates don’t necessarily measure the number or percentage of e-mails that were actually opened—messages can be opened and read without graphics, for example—the metric is a barometer of how engaged recipients are with the sender’s messages. A high open rate means people are making the effort to turn on the graphics in the sender’s e-mails.

As a result, it should come as no surprise that financial services firms—which presumably tend to deliver more critical information to account holders than other marketers send to their subscribers—had the highest open rates of all the sectors Epsilon tracks.

General financial services firms’ average open rates for the third quarter of 2009 were 34.2% while banks’ open rates for the period were 28.9%, according to Epsilon.

The retail apparel sector registered the lowest average open rates for the fourth quarter of 2009, coming in at 14.5%, according to Epsilon.

The non-profit/educational sector showed a significant improvement in its open rates in the third quarter of this year, coming in at 30.4% compared to 19.8% in the same period last year and 16.6% in the fourth quarter of last year, according to Epsilon.

Meanwhile, average click rates across all the sectors Epsilon tracks were 6.2% in the third quarter of 2009, compared to 5.9% in the second quarter and 5.9% in the third quarter of last year, according to Epsilon.

The consumer products sector registered the highest click rates—9%—during the third quarter of 2009 while general financial services registered 8.3% and banks averaged 7.8%, according to Epsilon.

Pharmaceuticals had the second highest click rates—8.4%—while the non-profit/educational sector registered the lowest, coming in at 3.1%, according to Epsilon.

And while retail apparel scored the lowest open rates, the sector’s click rates weren’t the lowest, but were significantly less than average, coming in at 4.1%.