According to the Epsilon Q3 2014 Email Trends And Benchmarks report, mobile represents a great area of opportunity to engage with consumers, and the report found that the increase in mobile device usage helped to increase email open rates 6.5% compared to Q3 2013.
North American Email Open & Click-through Rates | ||
Date | Click-Through Rate | Open Rate |
2010 | ||
Q1 | 6.0% | 22.4% |
Q4 | 5.1 | 22.1 |
2011 | ||
Q1 | 5.9 | 23.3 |
Q4 | 5.2 | 24.8 |
2012 | ||
Q1 | 4.7 | 26.2 |
Q4 | 4.5 | 27.4 |
2013 | ||
Q1 | 5.1 | 31.1 |
Q4 | 4.4 | 31.0 |
2014 | ||
Q1 | 4.3 | 32.9 |
Q3 | 4.0 | 31.5 |
Source: Epsilon, January 2015 |
As consumers rely more heavily on mobile devices and engage frequently with email in this format, mobile devices make it easy for consumers to read their messages on-the-go, yet they’re less likely to click and purchase on mobile. Triggered email messages can help, says the report.
Triggered email messages are sent as the result of consumer action such as welcome, thank you, abandon shopping cart or confirmation. From July 2014 to September 2014 Epsilon sent approximately 340 million triggered emails across multiple industries.
Triggered open rates were 76.7% higher than business as usual (BAU) messages in Q3. Triggered click rates continued to perform well, reporting 151.9% higher than BAU messages. Because triggered emails are deployed based on a consumer action they tend to have higher open and click rates, says the report.
Strong Performance Of Triggered Emails Over Time | |||
| Open Rates | ||
Date | Non-bounce | Open Rate TRG | Click rate TRG |
Q3 2012 | 94.7% | 47.7 | 9.7 |
Q3 2013 | 94.5 | 49.0 | 10.0 |
Q3 2014 | 93.3 | 55.6 | 10.2 |
Source: Epsilon, January 2015 |
The summary concludes by noting that many consumers open emails on their mobile devices but don’t follow through on purchases because of factors such as the mobile shopping experience or the fact that they’re on-the-go. An actionable tactic that marketers can implement based on these findings includes using triggers and retargeting when they know consumers are most likely to be at their desktop.
For additional information from Epsilon, please visit here.