• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, October 14, 2013

According to the Epsilon and Email Institute Q2 2013 North America Email Trends and Benchmarksreport, 51% of an average email file was active during the 12-month study period. Meanwhile, 49% remained inactive, highlighting the need for marketers to segment and test email messaging and abandon batch and blast approaches. In Q2 2013, triggered messages accounted for 3.5% of total email volume, an increase over this same time last year at 2.6%.

Judy Loschen, Vice President of Digital Analytics at Epsilon, says “… acquiring a new email subscriber is just half the battle… keeping the consumer engaged with the brand… just as important… engagement is… a continual loop that requires… work, but yields loyal customers with higher lifetime values…”

Email Trends Highlights:

• Non-Bounce rate remained strong at 96.1%
• Open rates decreased quarter over quarter (-8.3%), but increased over last year (+11.5%), resulting in an overall open rate of 28.5%
• Click rates were 4.3%, a decrease both quarter over quarter and year over year

Triggered Highlights From More Than 216 Million Triggered Emails:

• Triggered messages accounted for 3.5% of total volume, an increase of 30.6% over last year (2.6%)
• Triggered open rates were 70.2% higher in Q2 2013 compared to business as usual  (BAU) messages
• Triggered messages continued to perform well, reporting 152.3% higher click rates than BAU messages

Metrics compiled from more than 710 million non-bounced and opted-in email addresses that were contacted from July through June 30, 2013 across multiple industries, including behavioral segments, yielded the overall performance of the average email file:

• Half of an average email file had at least one open or click during the 12-month study period
• On an average list, 65% of new subscribers, defined as addresses that have been on a marketer’s file for less than three months, had no opens or clicks
• Approximately 20% of subscribers in an average email file had opened or clicked in the most recent three months

Loschen said “ … leveraging consumer data to understand why an individual subscribed to your email program, their channel preferences, purchase behaviors and interests is vital… “

For more information from Epsilon, please visit here.