Email subscribers are not turning away from brands, but increasingly clicking to open
Email open rates have grown 4% quarter over quarter, with an open rate at 16%, the highest it has been in four years, according to an email marketing report which claims that subscribers are increasingly opening brand emails.
Additionally, although it is generally believed that buyers that are also businesses don’t want personalized content, B2B brands have seen the highest CTO rate (19.3%) this past quarter. The report found that using personalized, relevant subject lines and marketing the right products, projects and services to the right customers remains key.
While B2B email marketing is seeing growth in CTOs, retail and hospitality have seen lower engagement, the report notes. With most of the products and services in these industries deemed non-essential, brands in these industries benefit from triggers, personalization and content strategies to capture consumers’ attention and boost engagement.
"Our findings show that, contrary to what some may believe, consumers actually want to receive marketing emails," said Michael Fisher, president of Yes Lifecycle Marketing. "At the same time, however, to maintain an engaged subscriber base, marketers need to offer valuable, relevant, and personalized information at every stage of their customers' lifecycles."
The report also reveals one of the best ways for marketers to combat engagement challenges is by implementing triggered campaigns. While triggers are growing in adoption, they made up less than 7%t of total emails sent in Q1 2017. And yet, they generated almost five times the click rate, almost double the open rate and nearly triple the CTO rate of business-as-usual emails.
Deploying campaigns on the right day of the week can also lead to a significant ROI increase, the report suggests. Depending on the industry, subscriber base, and business objectives, there is plenty of value for marketers to keep a close eye on when their audience is most likely to engage with and, equally as important, convert.
A solid email program can include multiple emails deployed throughout the week, depending on each subscriber’s frequency settings . However, both B2B and B2C marketers will be smart to incorporate Fridays into their mailing schedules as it has proven to have the highest engagement and the highest conversion rates.
Additional findings include that the average order value for triggered retail messages was $61.54 compared to $56.34 for non-triggered messages, a 9% increase. Additionally, the average click to open rate was 8.9%, which remained about the same QoQ and decreased 13% YoY.