WALTHAM, MASS: Sending more personalised email campaigns can result in open rates being lifted by nearly 150% a new study has claimed.
This was one of the conclusions reached by Constant Contact, an online marketing specialist, from an analysis of the more than 100bn customer emails it has sent over the past two years.
Campaigns sent to 35 subscribers or fewer, suggesting more personalised content, saw the best open rates of 55%, a figure that dwarfed the average open rate of 22%.
Campaigns sent to more than 7,500 subscribers, on the other hand, suggest low personalisation levels and these averaged an open rate of 14%.
Jesse Harriott, chief analytics officer at Constant Contact, claimed this was "conclusive proof that personalising the emails you send, so that you're speaking directly to specific interests and wants of a subscriber, not only strengthens the relationship with subscribers, it results in better campaign performance".
"Small businesses tend to be great at developing authentic customer relationships," he added, "and this data underscores the marketing value of those relationships."
Another finding was that the subscriber domain was also a factor influencing open rates. Campaigns sent to Comcast Cable, Verizon Wireless, and Cox Communications email addresses had the highest open rates out of any domain name, with AOL, Hotmail, and Yahoo! bringing up the rear.
The study further confirmed that mobile devices now make up a majority of email opens.
Just over half (51%) of all emails are now opened on either a smartphone or tablet, according to the study – 39% on a smartphone and 12% on a tablet.
Harriott added that three quarters of subscribers would delete emails if unable to read them on their mobile device.
"Small businesses must have a mobile-first mindset when it comes to their email marketing," he declared.
This was one of the conclusions reached by Constant Contact, an online marketing specialist, from an analysis of the more than 100bn customer emails it has sent over the past two years.
Campaigns sent to 35 subscribers or fewer, suggesting more personalised content, saw the best open rates of 55%, a figure that dwarfed the average open rate of 22%.
Campaigns sent to more than 7,500 subscribers, on the other hand, suggest low personalisation levels and these averaged an open rate of 14%.
Jesse Harriott, chief analytics officer at Constant Contact, claimed this was "conclusive proof that personalising the emails you send, so that you're speaking directly to specific interests and wants of a subscriber, not only strengthens the relationship with subscribers, it results in better campaign performance".
"Small businesses tend to be great at developing authentic customer relationships," he added, "and this data underscores the marketing value of those relationships."
Another finding was that the subscriber domain was also a factor influencing open rates. Campaigns sent to Comcast Cable, Verizon Wireless, and Cox Communications email addresses had the highest open rates out of any domain name, with AOL, Hotmail, and Yahoo! bringing up the rear.
The study further confirmed that mobile devices now make up a majority of email opens.
Just over half (51%) of all emails are now opened on either a smartphone or tablet, according to the study – 39% on a smartphone and 12% on a tablet.
Harriott added that three quarters of subscribers would delete emails if unable to read them on their mobile device.
"Small businesses must have a mobile-first mindset when it comes to their email marketing," he declared.
Data sourced from Business Wire; additional content by Warc staff
