Email Marketing benchmark report - DMO

www.informz.com
2014 Destination
Marketing Organization
Email Marketing
Benchmark Report

3
At Informz, we are numbers people. We eat, breathe, and sleep all things email marketing,
and reporting is a huge, huge part of that. Open rates, click rates, conversion rates, open
duration and email client reports—the list of reports available goes on and on. How many
other communications methods allow you to track and analyze results as in-depth as email
marketing does? Very few.
Data analysis helps you to accurately evaluate performance and plan for the future. It is the
basis for strategic email marketing – something we’re pretty serious about. Results-driven
email marketing provides you with the best possible ROI, and data analysis will get
you there.
Our annual Association Email Marketing Benchmark Reports have become a hit with our
association friends, and we wanted to share the love with our Destination Marketing
Organization (DMO) clients. This is the inaugural Destination Marketing Organization Email
Marketing Benchmark Report.
Data’s Role in Results-Driven
Email Marketing
From one data guru to another – WELCOME! You’re in the right place.

4
We’ve performed a study on our DMO client base to provide email marketers from DMOs
benchmarking information for their email marketing programs. This report includes a
summary of email marketing metrics from over 8 million emails sent in 2013 by DMOs
located in the United States and Canada.
Email marketing is one of the primary ways for DMOs to communicate with visitors and
partners for their cities. Whether promoting an event or creating awareness for their city,
DMOs have found value in the effectiveness of email marketing and the ability to report on
its performance.
The Details about the Data
The Data
This report is designed for email marketers from DMOs. The data shared will help you
understand what metrics to analyze, what goals to set, and how your email marketing
program is performing in comparison to your peers. Keep in mind—these are averages from
your peers. If your metrics are on the low end, read on for tips to improve metrics.
How to Use This Report

5
Four key metrics are used in this report: delivery, open, click and unsubscribe rates.
Delivery Rate is the percentage of emails that were not reported back to Informz as bounced
or blocked.
Open Rate is the percentage of delivered emails that were reported back to Informz as
having been opened. If the text version of an email is read, it is not counted. Likewise, if an
HTML email is read with the images turned off, it is not counted. However, if an email is
opened with images off, but a link is clicked, the email is counted as being opened. Open
rate only includes unique subscribers. Multiple opens by one subscriber only count once.
Click Rate is the percentage of opened emails that were clicked by the recipient. Clicking on
a link in a text email is not counted as a click. Click Rate only includes unique subscribers.
Multiple clicks by one subscriber only count once.
Unsubscribe Rate is the percentage of recipients who unsubscribed from a particular
mailing.
Key Email Marketing Metrics
Key Email Marketing Metrics

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Key Themes
Literally. Recipients are not spending a lot of time reading emails. More than 30% of emails
opened were opened for less than three seconds. Three seconds! If an email isn’t rendering
properly, if there’s too much text, or if headlines aren’t attention grabbing, the chances of
your email getting read are pretty slim. Shorter emails have a better chance, so keep them
concise. Speaking of short things – shorter subject lines outperform lengthier subject lines.
We suspect it’s due to mobile device usage and subject line truncation on email clients.
Subject lines with fewer than 10 characters had 66.20% open rates.
In a sea of data, there were three key themes
that were jumping off the pages at us.
You want their attention? You have a few seconds.
Mobile email readership has been on the rise over the past few years, but surprising to us,
mobile readership has not surpassed desktop readership for DMOs. Nearly half of all email
opens (49.16%) were desktop opens. With 33.49% of email opens being mobile, mobile
optimization is no longer just an idealistic goal – it needs to be a priority. Larger font size
and links, one column layouts, and even responsive design are creating better experiences
for mobile readers. “Off hours,” or hours at the beginning and end of the day, tend to be
prime mobile hours, so if your DMO typically sends during this time, mobile optimization
is critical.
Mobile readers behave differently than desktop readers.
Timing really is everything.
While open rates didn’t vary much based on the time of the day an email is sent, click rates
did. During evening hours, when people are winding down (and most likely on a mobile
device, based on our Results by Hour report) click rates dipped. Results by day of the week
were most noteworthy. Throughout the traditional work week, Monday through Friday, open
and click rates didn’t fluctuate a great deal, but they dropped by over 10% on weekends.
Based on results, we recommend sending during the week, specifically on Mondays during
the late afternoon.

7
2014 Destination
Marketing Organization
The Data

8
Overall Email Metrics
Key Findings >> The average email metrics for DMOs include a
95.20% delivery rate, 32.69% open rate, 17.38%
click rate, and .25% unsubscribe rate.
Overall Metrics
Delivery Rate
95.20%
Open Rate
32.69%
Click Rate
17.38%
0
20
40
60
80
100%

9
Results by Email Client Type
Results by Email Client Type
33.49%
Mobile
49.16%
Desktop
8.01%
Web Client
9.34%
Unknown
Key Findings >> Mobile readership has not surpassed desktop
readership for DMOs. Nearly half of all email
opens (49.16%) were desktop opens.

10
Results by Number of Links
Key Findings >> Emails containing more links boasted higher
click-thru rates, especially emails containing
31–50 links.
0 5 10 15 20 25%
Click Rate (%)
NumberofLinks
1 14.99%
2 15.67%
3–4 19.84%
5–7 19.21%
8–15 16.57%
16–30 17.06%
31–50 20.13%
51–70 17.08%
>70 18.72%
Results by Number of Links

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Results by Number of Recipients
Key Findings >> Open and click rates were highest on emails
sent to the smallest number of recipients,
which tend to be more targeted and relevant
to recipients.
MailingSize
<50
50–100
100–250
250–500
500–1K
1K–5K
Open Rate
Click Rate
5K–50K
50K–100K
100K–250K
>250K
0 10 20 30 40 50 60%
58.89%
26.10%
40.00%
23.12%
35.44%
20.91%
28.43%
18.49%
26.35%
13.49%
21.89%
11.77%
19.34%
13.11%
15.05%
14.49%
13.91%
13.40%
8.44%
7.90%
Results by Number of Recipients

12
Results by Time of Day
Key Findings >> Messages sent in the late afternoon had
the highest open and click rates.
Late
Afternoon
Mid-DayMorning Night
Results by Time of Day
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35%
Open Rate
Click Rate
34.29%
18.23%
17.08%17.46%
13.28%
33.22%
30.24%
31.80%

13
Results by Day of Week
Key Findings >> While there was a slight spike in open and click rates
on Monday, there was little variation between open and
click rates overall during the traditional work week.
Saturday and Sunday had lower open and click rates.*
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday*
Sunday*
Results by Day of Week
Open Rate
Click Rate
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
34.37%
18.02%
32.25%
17.66%
32.63%
17.13%
32.89%
17.73%
32.11%
16.73%
22.61%
13.53%
22.72%
10.23%
*Volume was much lower on weekends, but was included for informational purposes.

14
Results by Subject Line Length
Key Findings >> Shorter subject lines outperform lengthier subject
lines. Subject lines with fewer than 10 characters
had 66.20% open rates.
NumberofCharacters
Open Rate
9 and less
10–19
20–29
30–39
40–49
50–59
60–69
70 and up
Results by Subject Line Length
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
66.20%
32.70%
31.24%
33.47%
32.68%
35.12%
32.89%
27.07%

15
Open Duration Results
Key Findings >> Recipients are not spending a lot of time reading
emails. Over 30% of emails opened were opened
for less than three seconds, so focusing on
engagement is key.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80%
Read Open Rate
(Greater than
10 seconds)
57.7%
Skim Open Rate
(3–10 seconds)
12.2%
Open Open Rate
(Less than
3 seconds)
30.1%
Open Duration Results

16
Results by Hour
Desktop opens are higher during regular business hours.
Mobile opens tend to be higher early in the morning
and late in the evening.
Key Findings >>
Results by Hour
0
5
10
15
20%
10 PM8 PM6 PM4 PM2 PM12 PM10 AM8 AM6 AM4 AM2 AM12 AM
Desktop
Mobile
0.000.04 0.02 0.15
0.35
0.00 0.10
2.03
1.08
2.68
3.48
8.74
12.12
4.33
7.64
16.34
10.39 10.55
9.82
4.68
2.24
2.57
0.20
0.43
0.010.030.03 0.07 0.21
0.01 0.05
0.84
1.44
2.79
4.57
10.61
13.04
6.85
8.72
13.64
11.41
10.38
7.86
3.62
1.73 1.69
0.08
0.33

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Email Marketing Strategy Forecast
Always keep in mind that the results from this study should only provide a general baseline
to compare your current email marketing metrics. Use this data in combination with your
DMO’s email marketing campaign results for the most comprehensive analysis.
If you’re looking to improve results, here are our recommendations for where to start.
Engage readers from the get-go
You’re not just competing with other DMOs for attention in the inbox – you are also
competing with your recipient’s favorite clothing store, personal emails from family and
friends, and discounts from their preferred online retailer. You need to stand out!
Write short, descriptive subject lines and try using a preheader to further entice them
to open. Shorten articles and create landing pages for full stories, so they have enough
time to scroll through your email and see all of your great content. One of our DMO
clients did this and saw click rates rise by 514%.
Make mobile a priority
Responsive design is no longer the future of email design – it’s the present. Emails
designed with responsive design will instantly shrink, expand, or reformat to fit the device
it’s being viewed on, creating a seamless experience for the reader. If responsive design
isn’t for you (yet), making minor tweaks to emails – like adding more white space, using
larger links and font sizes, and changing your layout to one column – will set you up for
mobile success.
Be smart about your send time
You know when most audiences are likely to open and engage with emails, but what
about your specific readers? Check your email reports to see when recipients are most likely
to open your emails. If your reports don’t display one conclusive time, utilize send time
optimization, a feature that predicts when a recipient is most likely to open based on past
behavior. Whatever you do – don’t just hit send and hope it works out. Be smart about it.

18
Informz is a leading provider of digital marketing
solutions that helps destination marketing
organizations to easily and efficiently engage their
audience. Over 1,100 organizations worldwide
have chosen Informz and consistently rank us
#1 in client satisfaction.
Request a demo today to discover the
power of Informz.
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Email Marketing benchmark report - DMO

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Email Marketing benchmark report - DMO