Email Conversions Up by 16 Percent from One Year Ago!

March 11, 2011

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New York, NY, March 10, 2011 - The Direct Marketing Association's Email Experience Council and Epsilon today released the Q4 2010 North America Email Trends and Benchmarks Results, which show an increase in conversion rates of 16.1 percent over Q4 2009.  The 2.9 percent conversion rate is the strongest over a two-year period.

The quarterly analysis is compiled from 7.4 billion emails sent by Epsilon in October, November, and December 2010, across multiple industries and approximately 150 participating clients.  The analysis combines data from both of Epsilon's proprietary platforms, DREAM and DREAMmail.

Report Highlights:

    * Open rates (22.1 percent) saw little change over the two-year period, increasing 5 percent from the same time two years ago.  Four of the thirteen reported industries saw an increase in open rates over Q4 2009.

    * The average click rate is 5.1 percent, a decrease from the same time last year (5.9 percent).

    * The average volume per client increased 34.3 percent from Q3 2010 with a big push during the holiday season.  Volume also increased 18.5 percent over the same quarter last year.

     * Conversion rates increased 11.3 percent over last quarter and 16.1 percent over last year.  The 2.9 percent conversion rate is the strongest over a two-year period.

    * Messages categorized as Service messages had the highest open rates (38.2 percent) and click rates (8.0 percent).

"Although volumes hit record highs for the season, response rates remained quite stable, again proving that email marketing is an effective tool to reach people while they are in the market for a particular product or service," according to Kevin Mabley, senior vice president of strategic & analytic consulting at Epsilon.  "Email marketing drives consumer behavior, builds brands and increases revenue.  We recommend that email marketers track behaviors and analyze campaigns in order to continue to improve performance and create deeper connections with consumers."

"Double digit increases in email volume, conversion rates, median order size and revenue per email confirm what the DMA has heard elsewhere.  Companies in the 2010 holiday season invested more in email marketing and saw better results after two difficult years," said Yoram Wurmser, director of marketing & media insights, Direct Marketing Association.

For more information and industry-specific benchmarks, the Q4 2010 Email Trends and Benchmark report is available at www.epsilon.com/pr/Q410emailbenchmarks. 

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