Vision6 to dec11

July – December 2011
Email Marketing Metrics Report
Australia

Copyright 2012 Vision6

Table of Contents

About the Author 3 Unique Open Rates 6

Overview 4 Unique Open Rates by Send Volumes 7

Key Findings Summary 5 Unique Open Rates by Industry 8

Unique Click Through Rates 9

Unique Click Through Rates by Send Volumes 10

Unique Click Through Rates by Industry 11

Internet resources are Click Through Rate Relative to Open Rate 12
available where ever
you see this icon and Bounce Rates 13
some underlined text.
Bounce Rates by Send Volumes 14

Bounce Rates by Industry 15

Send Volumes, Open & CTR
for the Top 15 Domains 16

Open, CTR & Emails Sent by Day 17

Time Taken to Open Emails 18

Email Clients 19

Glossary & Acronyms 20


About the Author
Contact Vision6 for a free 30 day trial
Vision6 is an Australian owned and operated company, founded in a ground floor 47 warner street fortitude valley qld 4006 australia
2001 by friends and colleagues Evan Fortune and Mathew Myers.
e contact_us@vision6.com.au p +61 7 3257 3906 f +61 7 3257 3907
Together they identified that marketing professionals needed an w www.vision6.com.au/free-trial
easier way to create, send and track email messages; and to integrate
e-messaging into the marketing mix. As a result the duo formed
Vision6.
Today we have grown to become a team of more than 30 developers
and professionals and are passionate about all things e-messaging.
We empower thousands of businesses to achieve great marketing
results with our e-messaging platform. It brings together a mix of
database, email, mobile and social media messaging tools in an easy-
to-use system.
We actively contribute to the marketing community by writing
whitepapers, providing free training and producing the Email
Marketing Metrics Report.
We’re also the organisers of Australia’s only email marketing summit
(EMSA) and are always on the lookout for new ways to make our
clients happy.

July – December 2011 Email Marketing Metrics Report Australia www.vision6.com.au 3

Overview
What is included in this report?
This report is the eleventh in a series of reports produced by Vision6 every six To make this data as useful as possible to professionals implementing
months on the Australian email marketing landscape. email marketing, we have focused on a number of key metrics that are
both informative and useful, including:
This report aims to:
Open Rate General, Industry, Send Volume Categories
1. Help marketers gauge and improve their email marketing results by providing
comparative benchmarks. Click Through Rate General, Industry, Send Volume Categories,
Relative to Open
2. Uncover trends, provide observations and identify factors that could have the
biggest impact on the success of your email campaigns. Industry Open, CTRs, Send Volume Categories
Domain Open, CTRs, Industry
Data Source By Day Open, CTRs
This report includes data from over 259 million messages which were distributed By Hour Open
via 112,000 sends by predominantly Australian based companies during the last six
months of 2011. Bounce & Deliverability General, Industry
We have excluded campaigns with less than five email addresses to minimise Email Clients Used to open
data distortion. We also excluded all emails sent by our stand alone resellers and
corporate networks.

What would you like to see in future rep orts?
We are always looking at ways to improve the Email Marketing Metrics Report. Although we cannot promise to include everything, we will do our best to include
So, if you have any new statistics you’d like to see in this report contact us at your suggestions where possible.
research@vision6.com.au.

July - December 2011 Email Marketing Metrics Report Australia www.vision6.com.au 4

Key Findings Summary New data segments started in 2011

Measurement Jul - Dec 2008 Jan - Jun 2009 Jul - Dec 2009 Jan - Jun 2010 Jul - Dec 2010 Jan - Jun 2011 Jul - Dec 2011
Overall Open Rate 22.52% 23.73% 25.16% 23.48% 22.34% 22.47 21.83

Open Rate By Send Volume 5-499: 34.36% 5-499: 34.62% 5-499: 34.96% 5-499: 34.24% 5-499: 34.27% 5-499: 34.34% 5-499: 33.17%
500-999: 31.04% 500-999: 31.68% 500-999: 31.49% 500-999: 30.30% 500-999: 30.56% 500-999: 30.24% 500-999: 29.99%
1,000+: 21.95% 1,000+: 23.22% 1,000+: 24.74% 1,000+: 22.98% 1,000+: 21.73% 1,000-4,999: 23.62% 1,000-4,999: 24.07%
5,000-9,999: 23.10% 5,000-9,999: 24.44%
10,000+: 20.96% 10,000+: 19.76%
Top 3 Industries with Highest Govt./Defence Govt./Defence Govt./Defence Mining/Oil/Gas Mining/Oil/Gas Legal Legal
Open Rates Accounting Primary Industry Mining/Oil/Gas Legal Govt./Defence Govt./Defence Govt./Defence
Call Centre/Cust Serv Accounting Primary Industry Govt./Defence Transport/ Logistics Mining/Oil/Gas Mining/Oil/Gas
Overall Click Through Rate 4.81% 4.59% 5.46% 4.77% 4.67% 4.57% 4.22%
Click Through Rate By Send 5-499: 8.82% 5-499: 8.87% 5-499: 8.86% 5-499: 8.54% 5-499: 8.26% 5-499: 8.12% 5-499: 7.31%
Volume 500-999: 7.34% 500-999: 7.86% 500-999: 7.74% 500-999: 7.70% 500-999: 6.60% 500-999: 6.71% 500-999: 6.36%
1,000+: 4.63% 1,000+: 4.39% 1,000+: 5.32% 1,000+: 4.59% 1,000+: 4.51% 1,000-4,999: 4.10% 1,000-4,999: 4.00%
5,000-9,999: 4.28% 5,000-9,999: 4.12%
10,000+: 4.50% 10,000+: 4.07%
Top 3 Industries with Highest Call Centre/Cust Serv Call Centre/Cust Serv Mining/Oil/Gas Call Centre/Cust Serv Transport/ Logistics Mining/Oil/Gas Mining/Oil/Gas
Click Through Rates Govt./Defence Mining/Oil/Gas Call Centre/Cust Serv Mining/Oil/Gas Call Centre/Cust Serv Education Education
Primary Industry Primary Industry Accounting Govt./Defence Govt./Defence Govt./Defence Govt./Defence
CTR Relative to Open Rates 21.37% 19.34% 21.72% 20.34% 20.92% 20.33% 19.35%
Overall Bounce Rates 8.90% 7.22% 6.29% 5.75% 5.77% 5.51% 5.45%
Bounce Rates by Send Volume 5-499: 7.25% 5-499: 6.82% 5-499: 6.52% 5-499: 6.10% 5-499: 5.89% 5-499: 5.91% 5-499: 5.28%
500-999: 7.68% 500-999: 6.94% 500-999: 6.77% 500-999: 6.19% 500-999: 6.19% 500-999: 5.89% 500-999: 5.90%
1,000+: 8.98% 1,000+: 7.24% 1,000+: 6.27% 1,000+: 5.73% 1,000+: 5.75% 1,000-4,999: 5.60% 1,000-4,999: 5.70%
5,000-9,999: 6.29% 5,000-9,999: 6.04%
10,000+: 5.28% 10,000+: 5.26%
Top 3 Industries with Lowest Legal Legal Legal Accounting Administration Call Centre/Cust Serv Trades and Services
Bounce Rates Call Centre/Cust Serv Call Centre/Cust Serv Accounting Call Centre/Cust Serv Call Centre/Cust Serv Legal Engineering
Mining/Oil/Gas Mining/Oil/Gas Call Centre/Cust Serv Legal Transport/ Logistics Retail Administration
Most Popular Day for Sends Friday Wednesday Wednesday Thursday Thursday Thursday Thursday


Unique Open Rates

This chart displays the total number of unique emails opened for the
first time (as opposed to being opened multiple times by the same
recipient) as a percentage of the total number of emails sent.
A contact is deemed to have opened an email when either: images
within the email are viewed or downloaded (even within the preview
pane of the email client, eg Outlook); or when a link within the email
is clicked on.

Findings
Unique Open Rates for Jul - Dec 2011 were only slightly lower than
the first half of 2011. This seems to be a continuing trend since 2009.

Tips
Use a “from name” that your recipients will know and trust. This
is typically a company name or in the case of smaller companies a
Director or staff members name.
Write a compelling subject line that entices recipients to open
your email. Your subject line should be intriguing – you could ask a
question or state a benefit. GET YOUR EMAIL OPENED
If your email open rates are on the decline, then it’s a sign you are losing the attention of your
subscribers. Here are some practical tips to help improve open rates for your next campaign:
3 surefire ways to improve email open rates
Writing good email subject lines
The shocking truth about email subject lines


Unique Open Rates by Send Volumes

To remove any bias associated with large sends we have broken the
Send Volumes into three categories based on the number of contacts:
5 - 499 5,000 - 9,999
500 - 999 10,000+
1,000 - 4,999

Findings
Unique open rates have remained very much the same since the last
metrics report, with only slight variations. Email sends to smaller
recipient lists continue to out perform those sent to larger lists.

Tips
If you have a large list try sending targeted emails to smaller segments Jan - Jun 2011 Jul - Dec 2011
so that readers receive highly relevant email content. 5 - 499: 34.34% 5 - 499: 33.17%
500 - 999: 30.24% 500 - 999: 29.99%
1,000-4,999: 23.62% 1,000-4,999: 24.07%
5,000-9,999: 23.10% 5,000-9,999: 24.44%
10,000+: 20.96% 10,000+: 19.76%


Unique Open Rates by Industry Industry Open Rate
Jan - Jun 2011
Open Rate
Jul - Dec 2011
% Change Jan - Jun
2011 to Jul - Dec
(%) 2011
Government/Defence 30.69 31.66 +0.97
This table displays Unique Open Rates for emails sent by key industry Mining/Oil/Gas 28.47 30.94 +2.47
sectors and the percentage change between Jan - Jun 2011 and Jul- Primary Industry 23.47 26.81 +3.34
Dec 2011. Accounting 25.54 26.19 +0.65
Call Centre/Customer Service 25.51 25.92 +0.41
Banking and Financial Services 25.66 25.80 +0.14
Findings Insurance and Superannuation 27.67 27.10 -0.57

In this report 15 industries have experienced increasing open rates Administration 23.76 24.27 +0.51
while only 12 industries have experienced decreasing open rates. Manufacturing/Operations 25.78 26.38 +0.62
Trades and Services 23.30 21.45 -1.85
The industries with the highest Unique Open Rates for Jul-Dec 2011 Transport and Logistics 21.88 22.89 +1.01
were Legal (32.82%) followed by Government/Defence (31.66%) Advertising/Media/Entertainment 20.72 20.37 -0.35
and Mining/Oil/Gas (30.94%). Real Estate and Property 24.40 23.08 -1.32
Education and Training 25.68 24.66 -1.02
The industries that have most improved since the last report are
Engineering 25.73 22.90 -2.83
Primary Industry (+3.34%), Science and Technology (+2.90) and
Mining/Oil/Gas (+2.47%). Legal 32.97 32.82 -0.15
Retail and Consumer Products 24.70 23.65 -1.05
The industry with the biggest decrease in Unique Open Rates was IT Consulting and Corporate Strategy 18.56 18.23 -0.33
and Telecommunications (-5.04%). Other 24.47 25.85 +1.38
Hospitality and Tourism 19.70 19.82 +0.12
Open Rates Increase: Community and Sport 22.79 23.63 +0.84
Human Resources and Recruitment 18.49 20.72 +2.23
Open Rates Decrease:
Health care and medical 23.86 23.88 +0.02
IT and Telecommunications 22.74 17.70 -5.04
Construction 22.12 20.99 -1.13
Science and Technology 18.14 21.04 +2.90
Sales and Marketing 15.59 14.79 -0.80


Unique Click Through Rates

This chart displays the total number of ‘unique link’ clicks as a
percentage of the total number of emails sent.

Findings
Unique CTRs across all industries, domains and send volumes were
lower than the first half of 2011 by 0.35%. (It only takes into account
the first time an individual clicks on a link.)

Tips
The best way to increase your CTR is to make sure that your content
is highly relevant and interesting.
Include a strong call to action within the top 300 pixels of your email. Jan - Jun 2011: 4.57%
Be clear on what action you want people to take from your email. A
simple call to action with a link or relevant image can increase CTR’s. Jul - Dec 2011: 4.22%
Consider changing the format of your email as this can have a
dramatic effect on your CTR. Use headlines, colour, text formatting
and images to enable quick scanning of your email so readers can
easily recognise what you’re asking them to do.

DESIGNING YOUR EMAIL
For further information about how email design can help you to Here are some practical tips to improve your CTR:
improve your click through rates check out our free “The A-Z of Email Anatomy of a great email newsletter 6 things you can do to make your email look awesome
Design” whitepaper.
Cool email ideas that don’t require Photoshop 5 simple tips for improving email response rates


Unique Click Through Rates by Send Volumes

This chart displays unique link clicks as a percentage of the total
number of emails sent, whereby send volumes are broken into five
categories based on the number of contacts:
5 - 499 5,000 - 9,999
500 - 999 10,000+
1,000 - 4,999

Findings
Unique CTR’s across all database sizes are slightly down for the
second half of 2011.

Tips
The first step to improving click rates is to provide valuable content Jan - Jun 2011 Jul - Dec 2011
which readers want to learn more about. 5 - 499: 8.12% 5 - 499: 7.31%
You can create links to pages on your website, webfroms, social 500 - 999: 6.71% 500 - 999: 6.36%
media pages, shopping carts or videos. Using links to landing pages is 1,000-4,999: 4.10% 1,000-4,999: 4.00%
also an effective way to shorten your email as it moves a lot of content
out of the body of your message. 5,000-9,999: 4.28% 5,000-9,999: 4.12%
10,000+: 4.50% 10,000+: 4.07%
To ensure that your content, information and offers are relevant to
your audience use conditional content to control what subscribers
see based on their profile. For example, only show a drink special to
people over 18.


Unique Click Through Rates by Industry Industry Unique CTR
Jan-Jun
Unique CTR
Jul-Dec
% Change
Jan - Jun to
2011 (%) 2011 (%) Jul-Dec 2011
Government/Defence 7.87 8.48 +0.61
This table displays the Unique Click Through Rates experienced by Mining/Oil/Gas 8.80 6.72 -2.08
each industry sector and the percentage change between Jan - Jun Primary Industry 4.87 4.42 -0.45
2011 and Jul - Dec 2011. Accounting 3.83 4.28 +0.45
Call Centre/Customer Service 6.88 7.03 +0.15
Banking and Financial Services 4.56 3.78 -0.78
Findings Insurance and Superannuation 7.32 7.37 +0.05
Administration 3.90 3.78 -0.12
Reflecting the general downward trend of Open Rates and CTR’s Manufacturing/Operations 4.71 4.55 +0.38
over the last two years more industries are seeing a decrease in CTR Trades and Services 3.06 2.44 -0.62
(17) than those seeing a rise (10). Transport and Logistics 3.09 2.49 -0.60
Advertising/Media/Entertainment 3.52 3.61 +0.09
The industries with the highest Unique CTR Rates are Government/ Real Estate and Property 3.92 3.04 -0.88
Defence (8.48%), Education and Training (7.66%) and Call Centre Education and Training 8.46 7.66 -0.80
and Insurance and Superannuation (7.37%). Engineering 5.37 3.75 -1.62
Legal 7.46 6.15 -1.31
The industry showing the greatest improvement was Science and Retail and Consumer Products 5.55 4.94 -0.61
Technology (+0.99%). Consulting and Corporate Strategy 3.40 3.52 +0.12
Other 4.79 4.99 +0.20
The industry with the biggest decrease in CTR was in Mining/Oil/Gas Hospitality and Tourism 3.85 3.32 -0.53
(-2.08%). Community and Sport 4.07 3.93 -0.14
Human Resources and Recruitment 3.58 3.70 +0.12
CTR Increase: Health care and medical 4.95 4.68 -0.27
CTR Decrease: IT and Telecommunications 3.36 2.25 -1.11


Click Through Rate Relative to Open Rate

This chart displays average unique CTR as a percentage of the total
number of unique opened emails.
This indicates how responsive the recipients who have opened an
email are, giving a direct measure of the effectiveness of the email’s
links and calls to action.

Findings
CTR Relative to Open Rate has shown a decrease of 0.98% from the
first half to the second half of 2011.

Tips
Use your click through rates to gauge what your audience is most Jan - Jun 2011: 20.33%
interested in. This information can be used to improve subject lines
and consequently your open rates. Jul - Dec 2011: 19.35%
For example if the majority of your recipients click on competitions
and not articles maybe your subject line should change from “10 ways
to grow a beard” to “WIN great prizes and learn to grow a beard.”


Bounce Rates

This chart displays the total number of bounced emails as a
percentage of the total number of emails sent. Bounce rates are often
used as a key measure of deliverability and include permanent and
temporary bounces.
Permanent Bounces (AKA hard bounce) this usually means the
email address is incorrect or is no longer in operation.
Temporary Bounces (AKA soft bounce) the email address is
temporarily unavailable, often because ‘server time expired’ or
‘mailbox full.’

Findings
There has been a consistent trend of bounce rates gradually
decreasing since the beginning of these reports in 2006 when the
average bounce rate was 12.29%. In this half the bounce rates have Jan - Jun 2011: 5.51%
continued to decrease and currently sit at 5.45%.
Jul - Dec 2011: 5.45%

Tips
Permanent bounces should be updated with a new email address or IMPROVE DELI VERABILITY
removed from your list.
Learn how to improve your email deliverability. Download the Vision6 whitepaper
If your bounce rate is regularly 6% or higher it’s time for a data “Understanding & Improving Email Deliverability” for free.
cleanse. You may be able to contact them using another method
(such as phone or point of sale) to update contact details. Here are some great resources to help you grow and maintain a clean list:
Bulk up your database the right way
The secret to growing your database with web forms
Managing bounced emails – a quick guide


Bounce Rates by Send Volumes

This chart displays the total number of bounced messages as a
percentage of the total amount of emails sent. Send volumes are
broken into five categories based on the number of contacts:
5 - 499 5,000 - 9,999
500 - 999 10,000+
1,000 - 4,999

Findings
Bounce rates for Jul - Dec 2011 are generally unchanged with some
slight increases and decreases across the board.

Jan - Jun 2011 Jul - Dec 2011
5 - 499: 5.91% 5 - 499: 5.28%
500 - 999: 5.99% 500 - 999: 5.90%
1,000-4,999: 5.60% 1,000-4,999: 5.70%
5,000-9,999: 6.29% 5,000-9,999: 6.04%
10,000+: 5.28% 10,000+: 5.26%


Bounce Rates by Industry Industry Bounce Rate Jan -
Jun 2011 (%)
Bounce Rate Jul -
Dec 2011 (%)
% Change Jan - Jun
2011 to Jul-Dec

Government/ Defence 4.94 4.43 -0.51
This table displays Bounce Rates by industry. To understand this Mining/Oil/Gas 5.49 6.22 +0.73
table you need to be aware that: Primary Industry 5.80 5.15 -0.65
Accounting 5.87 7.33 +1.46
Increasing Bounce Rates are adverse. This is why an increasing Call Centre/ Customer Service 2.86 3.29 +0.43
percentage change is coloured red. Banking and Financial Services 8.66 9.82 +1.16
Decreasing Bounce Rates are ideal. This is why a decreasing Insurance and Superannuation 6.84 7.01 +0.17
percentage change is coloured green. Administration 6.07 4.18 -1.89
Manufacturing/ Operations 7.20 10.47 +3.27
Trades and Services 11.39 2.90 -8.42
Transport and Logistics 5.59 5.37 -0.22
Findings Advertising/ Media/ Entertainment 5.72 4.84 -0.88
Trades and Services achieved the lowest bounce rate (2.90%) and Real Estate and Property 5.19 5.81 +0.62
showed the greatest improvement reducing their bounce rate by Education and Training 5.92 6.42 +0.50
Engineering 5.38 6.68 +1.30
8.42%.
Legal 3.04 3.05 -0.01
The worst performing industries were: Science and Technology Retail and Consumer Products 3.51 4.55 +1.04
(15.27%), Manufacturing and Operations (10.47%), Construction Consulting and Corporate Strategy 9.26 9.18 -0.08
(10.02%). Other 6.68 5.87 -0.81
Hospitality and Tourism 5.65 4.66 -0.99
Community and Sport 7.18 5.83 -1.35
Bounce Rate Increase: Human Resources and Recruitment 9.28 9.80 +0.52
Bounce Rate Decrease: Healthcare and medical 6.90 7.74 +0.84
IT and Telecommunications 8.10 8.57 +0.47


Send Volumes, Open & CTR for the Top 15 Domains

These charts display the top 15 domains by send volume and their
associated Open Rates and CTRs.

Findings
The top 15 domains are all web and ISP based accounts. No business
or government domain was listed in the top 15.
hotmail.com once again received almost five times as many emails as
any other domain (20.49%).
gmail.com (7.94%) has over taken bigpond.net.au (7.89%) at the top
end of the spectrum.
tpg.com.au and iinet.net.au were joined by xtra.co.nz achieving the
highest open rates of any domain with rates of over 30%.

% Volume Jan - Jun 2011
% Volume Jul - Dec 2011
% Opened
% Clicked


Open, CTR & Emails Sent by Day

These charts display the average Open Rates and CTRs by day, and
the total amount of emails sent on each day for the first half of 2011
and second half of 2011.

Findings
All days of the week are seeing quite even open and click-through
rates.
Thursday was the day on which the most emails were sent, despite
having fairly average open and click through rates (21.57%).

% Volume Jan - Jun 2011
% Volume Jul - Dec 2011
% Opened
% Clicked

Tips
Know your audience and their habits and routines. Then test, test
and test some more. A simple way to do this is to send the same email
to different parts of your database on different days.


Time Taken to Open Emails

This chart displays the amount of time it takes
for recipients to open the email after it has been
received.

Findings
The number of emails opened within the first
hour of delivery has risen from 28.60% in Jan-Jun
2011 to 29.46% in Jul - Dec 2011.
90.72% of all emails are opened within the first
72 hours of being received. This number has
been increasing since these reports began in
2006

Tips
As smart phones become more and more prominent
the time it takes to open emails is decreasing. With
this in mind it is always good to test your email across
mobile platforms. Try to design your emails with
mobile screen sizes in mind.


Which email clients are people using?

This chart shows the popularity of the different email clients people
use to first open their emails.
Email clients can be categorised as the following:
Desktop application: Outlook 2003, Outlook 2007, Apple Mail,
Outlook 2010 and Thunderbird.
Web-based interface: Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail and Gmail.
Mobile device: iPhone Mail or iPad Mail.

Findings
The most popular email clients used in July - Dec 2011 were Outlook
2003 (22.24%), Hotmail (16.21%), iPhone Mail (15.14%) and Other
(20.11%).
Over 18% of opened email was read on mobile devices (iPhone
15.14% and iPad 3.74%) this is up from 10% in the last report. With
the increasing popularity of smart phones, it is reasonable to expect
this figure to rise in the future.

Further information
Visit the Vision6 Blog for some practical design tips for designing emails for mobile devices:
Mobile email design tips

Like to see how your email looks in the above email clients?
Email Testing


Glossary & Acronyms

EDM Open Rate
Electronic Direct Marketing. Measures the number of times an email is opened by a recipient as a percentage of the total
number of emails sent.

ISP
Internet Service Provider, e.g. BigPond. Unique Open Rate
Measures the first time an email is opened by a recipient as a percentage of the total number of
emails sent.
CTRs
Click Through Rates.
Permanent Bounce
Usually means the email address is incorrect or is no longer in operation – sometimes referred to
Unique CTR as a Hard Bounce.
Measures the first time a link is clicked by a recipient as a percentage
of the total number of emails sent.
Temporary Bounce
Usually means the email address is temporarily unavailable. The most common Temporary
CTR Relative to Open Bounce reasons are ‘Server Time Expired’ (for receiving ISP), ‘Delivery Time Expired’ (for
Measures the CTR as a percentage of the total number of unique sending ISP) and ‘Mailbox Full’ – sometimes referred to as a Soft Bounce.
opened emails.

more in fromation
Find out more about specific email marketing metrics, what they mean and how they can help you.


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