Email Marketing – Open Rates, Clickthroughs, etc

Exact Target has released its 2005 Response Rate Study, based on data from 4,000 organizations, 230,000 email sends and 2.7 billion email messages. The study includes interesting data on the overall open, click-through and unsubscribe rates, as well as day of week comparisons, list size and target audience.

Here are some of the findings of the study:

• Open rates are declining — no surprise there with the email blocking, spam filters, etc.
• Friday was the best day for email opens, and strong for clickthroughs — this one is a surprise having been conditioned that early part of the week was supposed to be the best day to send emails
• Sunday was the best day for clickthroughs — I suppose people are more relaxed and have more time to read emails
• Smaller lists generate higher response — maybe because smaller lists share more common characteristics

You can read full study here