• by Jess Nelson , March 21, 2017

Businesses in the sports industry generate the highest email engagement, according to a recent study by Delivra, an email marketing automation platform.

Just under a third of total emails are opened, according to Delivra -- but more than half of emails sent by professional sports teams or leagues are engaged with.

The email marketing company analyzed a cross-section of approximately 3 billion emails sent through Delivra’s email software in 2016 to investigate email engagement by industry sector. The sports team/leagues sector analyzed by Delivra does not include any colleges or universities, but instead describes professional sports teams (pro or minor league affiliates) and professional sports leagues.

The average email open rate across more than 20 industries studied was 31.92%, but the sports industry generated a much higher email engagement rate with an average of 55.9% of emails opened.

The sports industry also generates the highest click-through rates, according to Delivra. Whereas the average click rate across all industries was 3.57%, sports teams and leagues earned an average click rate of 7.49%.

Professional sports teams and leagues also earned one of the lowest unsubscribe rates, with only .08% of subscribers choosing to no longer receive email communication. The average unsubscribe rate across all industries was .25%.

Just over a majority of emails are opened on smartphones, according to the study, with 50.48% of total email engagement deriving from a mobile device. Just over a quarter of emails were opened on an email client on a desktop computer, such as Microsoft Outlook, while 24.03% of emails were opened on a web browser-based email client, such as Gmail.