Computer Hardware, Telecom Among Leaders In Silverpop's 2013 Email Marketing Benchmarks Study

Computer hardware, telecom and retail were among the highest performing verticals in Silverpop’s recently released 2013 Email Marketing Benchmarks Study. In addition to the standard email marketing benchmarks, the report provides a breakdown of data by top-quartile, median and bottom-quartile performers and analysis by industry and geography.

"In today's very multichannel world, email still plays a critical role in marketing departments across all industries," said Loren McDonald, VP of Industry Relations for Silverpop. "Email remains the most effective channel for delivering personalized, dynamic messages at the right time. For marketers seeking to set their messages apart from the rest of the pack, this benchmark report serves as a baseline for them to not only see where they stand against their peers, but also the direction — and how far — they need to go to be considered a top performer."

Silverpop studied the email messages of 2,787 brands distributed throughout 2012. It includes metrics and analysis on the following measurements:

  • Open rates (including unique, gross, opens per opener);
  • Click-through rates (including click-to-open and clicks per clicker);
  • Message size; and
  • List churn (including hard bounce, unsubscribes and spam complaints)

According to company officials, some of the most findings come from the best performing industries and top-quartile performers, which include the top 25% of the best results in each category. Those findings include:

  • Top-quartile performers achieved click-through rates nearly four times higher than the median, 8.8% vs. 2.3%;  
  • Bottom-quartile performers had a hard bounce rate of 6.9%, while top quartile companies experienced a rate of only 0.1%;
  • Top quartile performers achieved a rate of 2.37 opens per openers, 45% higher than the median and 67% higher than the bottom quartile; and
  • Top-quartile performers had click-through rates nearly four times higher than the median (8.8% vs. 2.3%)

 

"The top performers in the study are doing an excellent job of ensuring their contacts are as engaged as possible and are also probably quite strict with their data cleansing processes," McDonald added. "For the particular verticals that performed especially well, it's logical to reason that they have very personalized and oftentimes time-sensitive information to share with their recipients.”