2019 in Numbers: Open Rates Hit 17.92% Average January 09, 2020, | Posted by erin

Free Quote

Call Now

Newsletter Sign Up

Sign Up

Company Cookbook

View Now

One of the most important metrics in email marketing efforts is open rate. The number of people who open your emails out of the total number of people you sent them to is--understandably--a major indicator of the success or failure of your campaign. In the industry as a whole, open rates are monitored because knowing how email is doing across all the niches that use it is valuable information; it tells us how email itself continues to perform. And the good news is that studies show increased engagement for 2019, with open rates going up to 17.92% on average. This doesn’t necessarily seem--in theory--like a huge amount, but given that this represents an industry-wide increase, it’s a very important benchmark that indicates that email isn’t going anywhere. Site Impact always likes to keep informed on how the state of the industry goes--so we’re going to dive into what that increase represents and how it affects the future of email.

 

Why open rate is important

Functionally, at the most basic level: if people aren’t opening your emails, they can’t act on them. In order to get the conversion, you have to first get the open. For that reason, one of the defining metrics of any campaign is the open rate--the number of unique opens that an email gets out of the number of people it’s sent to. We’ve written about the importance of various metrics before, both on this blog and in white papers to explain the industry in more depth to those who are new to the game. The fact that open rates have increased over the past year is a big indicator that email marketing is strong--even with other channels available, it continues to provide consistent results for brands of all kinds.

 

Increased open rates mean more engagement

The big takeaway from this finding, however, is that email isn’t just staying strong as a marketing function for businesses; it’s that engagement with email has continued to increase in the past year. This is largely due to efforts on the part of marketers to fine-tune email and what it does for the consumer and the brand alike. Personalization, segmentation, and new functionalities within email platforms have driven a lot of performance increases that everyone benefits from--but, of course, you can only see those benefits if you do the work. Brands that continue to lag behind, using the old strategies and methods, are only going to see diminishing returns--while brands that stay on the cutting edge of what email can do will continue to see growth and engagement with their campaigns.

 

Getting started on the year’s marketing efforts, it’s important to look at how the industry as a whole did in 2019--not just where successes happened, but where opportunities exist as well. 17.92% open rates for the email industry as a whole means that marketers are listening to the public and giving audiences what they want without belaboring the point too heavily. By continuing to offer more personalized content and more targeted marketing messages, brands can ensure that their engagement will grow and develop, with open rates at or above industry average. Contact Site Impact to learn how we can help your brand build greater success in your email marketing efforts.