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eMS Statistics for Small Business
Average open, click, bounce and abuse complaint rates by industry
July 10, 2007
Customers often ask us, "What kind of open rates should
companies like mine be expecting?" and "How many bounces are too many?"
or, "What's an acceptable abuse complaint rate?"
Based on over 80 million emails delivered by our system (where
campaign tracking was activated), average open rates,
average click rates, average soft bounces, average hard bounces, and
average abuse complaint rate by industry was calculated (see table below)
60% of our customers are 1-15 employees, and they're
design-it-yourselfers. If you run a small organization, and you do your
own email marketing, now you have an "apples to apples" comparison with
others in your industry.
Average E-mail Campaign Statistics of BEZA.NET eMS Customers by Industry |
| Type of Company |
Open Rate |
Click Rate |
Soft Bounces |
Hard Bounces |
Abuse Complaints |
Unsubscribes |
| Advertising* |
31.39% |
14.63% |
5.97% |
11.23% |
0.07% |
0.23% |
| Art |
40.15% |
26.03% |
2.75% |
5.38% |
0.16% |
0.50% |
| Arts - Music |
23.80% |
5.52% |
4.62% |
6.45% |
0.17% |
0.49% |
| Church |
41.01% |
13.17% |
2.91% |
9.49% |
0.07% |
0.23% |
| Consulting |
32.50% |
19.73% |
6.36% |
10.58% |
0.03% |
0.18% |
| Creative Agency* |
35.46% |
15.41% |
5.67% |
9.14% |
0.04% |
0.24% |
| Creative Other* |
27.24% |
11.16% |
2.61% |
5.73% |
0.05% |
0.87% |
| E-commerce |
27.67% |
11.14% |
5.32% |
9.37% |
0.10% |
0.51% |
| Education |
37.50% |
7.08% |
4.80% |
7.39% |
0.02% |
0.11% |
| Entertainment |
22.16% |
6.63% |
5.67% |
8.80% |
0.04% |
0.08% |
| Financial Services |
27.01% |
18.30% |
10.01% |
7.47% |
0.00% |
0.29% |
| Freelancer* |
34.06% |
13.23% |
7.69% |
7.93% |
0.06% |
0.17% |
| Government |
32.01% |
10.46% |
2.02% |
1.49% |
0.03% |
0.17% |
| Graphic Design* |
31.94% |
11.46% |
6.21% |
9.53% |
0.05% |
0.31% |
| Hardware |
34.55% |
6.84% |
2.51% |
4.17% |
0.06% |
0.37% |
| Healthcare |
30.71% |
11.13% |
4.65% |
9.57% |
0.14% |
0.62% |
| Hotel |
38.02% |
15.71% |
6.24% |
15.15% |
0.08% |
0.86% |
| Insurance |
14.75% |
52.67% |
9.89% |
22.66% |
0.04% |
0.26% |
| Internet/Web Services |
40.48% |
32.01% |
5.92% |
10.01% |
0.05% |
0.31% |
| Legal Services |
42.62% |
12.18% |
10.36% |
5.54% |
0.03% |
0.26% |
| Manufacturing |
29.58% |
22.91% |
7.12% |
12.03% |
0.04% |
0.68% |
| Marketing* |
26.48% |
35.91% |
7.08% |
9.22% |
0.02% |
0.06% |
| Multimedia* |
38.61% |
21.31% |
3.69% |
2.32% |
0.08% |
0.18% |
| Music |
24.93% |
5.93% |
2.37% |
5.03% |
0.09% |
0.42% |
| Non-profit |
36.59% |
11.67% |
4.92% |
7.58% |
0.03% |
0.09% |
| Other1 |
9.38% |
12.31% |
1.78% |
1.95% |
0.03% |
0.04% |
| Photography |
38.14% |
23.93% |
4.04% |
5.92% |
0.08% |
0.61% |
| Public Relations |
25.60% |
29.80% |
7.48% |
12.39% |
0.12% |
0.33% |
| Real Estate |
26.73% |
8.71% |
5.31% |
6.75% |
0.09% |
0.64% |
| Recruitment/Staffing |
32.18% |
5.56% |
8.91% |
11.35% |
0.02% |
0.14% |
| Restaurant |
33.49% |
8.03% |
2.53% |
8.17% |
0.16% |
0.45% |
| Retail |
31.95% |
24.62% |
2.94% |
8.30% |
0.08% |
0.26% |
| Software |
23.93% |
14.52% |
10.36% |
11.52% |
0.01% |
0.11% |
| Technology |
23.75% |
23.27% |
11.24% |
8.85% |
0.01% |
0.07% |
| Telecommunications |
34.03% |
7.42% |
6.07% |
6.79% |
0.00% |
0.59% |
| Travel |
33.01% |
14.65% |
7.38% |
9.67% |
0.06% |
0.45% |
| Video Production |
36.72% |
14.13% |
4.24% |
2.85% |
0.05% |
0.31% |
| Web Design* |
30.89% |
9.92% |
4.15% |
8.22% |
0.10% |
0.36% |
| WEIGHTED AVERAGES1 |
17.76% |
14.56% |
3.16% |
4.25% |
0.04% |
0.12% |
* A lot of creative agencies use BEZA.NET eMS to send email campaigns on behalf of their clients. So open rates for these company types is probably more of a reflection of all their clients open rates.
1 The "Weighted Average" figures come from a very large proportion of
campaigns from customers who classified themselves as "Other" |
Tips for improving your stats
Here are some useful tips for improving your email campaign performance
- Boring works best. When you write your subject line, don't sell what's inside---tell what's inside.
- If you want people to open your emails, you need to get past
their spam filters first. Avoid using spammy keywords and phrases, and
avoid using ALL CAPS or too many exclamation points.
- Too many hard bounces is a sign of an old, stale list. People
change email addresses every few months. Make sure you keep in touch
with your list regularly (at least once a quarter) so they can stay
subscribed to your list.
- Soft bounces usually mean the recipient is "temporarily
unavailable." Maybe they're on vacation or their mailbox is full. You
can keep those emails and re-try them later (BEZA.NET eMS auto-cleans soft
bounces after 5 failed campaigns).
- Hard bounces mean an email address failed. Maybe it no
longer exists, or maybe someone typed their email wrong when they
subscribed to a list. But hard bounces might also be spam filter
rejections. If you see an abnormally high number of bounces after a
campaign.
- Abuse complaints happen when recipients click the "This is
spam" button in their email programs. Make sure your "From:" and "Subject" contain your company
name (so they'll instantly recognize you). Here are some more tips:
- Use the double opt-in method. This is standard in BEZA.NET eMS list management feature. If you use double opt-in, you have proof that each and every recipient gave you permission to send them emails.
- Even if they're your customers, don't send promotions without permission first. Setup a separate "marketing list" for customers to join. Tell them you're about to start up a great email newsletter, or promotions program, and give them reasons (or free prizes) for signing up. Don't just send them promotions "out of the blue."
- Don't use purchased lists. They're a waste of money, and they're just plain wrong. Even if you acquired them legally, they're against our terms of use.
- Make sure your email looks reputable. If you're not a designer, hire one. Your email needs to look like it came from your company, not some scammer who is phishing for information. If your email looks unprofessional, who would trust your unsubscribe link?
- Set expectations when people opt-in to your list. If people sign-up for monthly newsletters, but you also send them weekly promotions, they're going to report you for spamming. Set expectations. Tell them what you'll be sending, and how often. Setup different lists (one for newsletters, one for special offers and promotions). Understand that there's a difference between soft-sell newsletters and hard-sell promotions. Don't mix them up.
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