How is your e-mail marketing measuring up?

Our clients frequently ask us how the performance of their e-mail campaigns compares against industry standards. A recent study by Marketo of more than 1,000 marketers sheds light on this critical question.

Read on to see how your e-mail campaign goals and metrics stack up against industry norms:

1. The top goals for e-mail marketing were identified as lead generation, online sales, and offline sales.
2. Custom Web landing pages are almost always being used by top performing companies as landing and conversion points for their campaigns. The pages generate a moderate ROI boost. In addition, 80% of those surveyed are using registration forms on their landing pages.
3. Most companies surveyed do not engage in lead nurturing. However, top performing companies often do it and see a significant increase in ROI.
4. E-mailing frequency was reported as follows:
   • Product and service promotions: 1 to 2 times per month
   • E-newsletters: monthly to quarterly
   • Lead nurturing e-mails: Quarterly, when used
   • Event announcements: quarterly to occasionally
5. More than half of the respondents named SalesForce.com as their customer relationship management (CRM) solution.

E-mail campaign execution metrics

The following metrics provide a good benchmark for e-mail campaign execution:

1. The average e-mail open rate was reported at 16% to 20%.
2. The average e-mail click-through rate was 2% to 5%. Top performers reported up to 10%. (The click-through rate is the fraction of all delivered emails that get clicked on.)
3. The average unsubscribe rate ranged from 0.1% to 0.2% of the total e-mailing.
4. The bounce rate averaged 2% to 5%.

Compare your e-mail campaign results against these metrics to measure your success. Most Tiziani Whitmyre clients are performing at or above these levels. If you are not, stay tuned for our next blog that will review the best practices for e-mail marketing.