• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, June 27, 2005

E-mails from media companies had a delivery rate of 95 percent in the first quarter, with editorial newsletters managing a 97.6 percent delivery rate, according to a new report by e-mail marketing services company Bigfoot Interactive.

The report tracked delivery rates in four categories: cars, financial services, media, and retail. Overall, media scored highest at 95 percent, followed by retail (93.9 percent), financial services (90.3 percent), and automotive (83.8 percent).

Bigfoot Interactive also looked at opt-out rates, open rates, and click-through rates. Overall, retail-related e-mails had an opt-out rate of .2 percent, while e-mails in the car and financial services categories had opt-out rates of .1 percent and media e-mails had almost no opt-outs.

But recipients opened car e-mails most frequently--41.4 percent of automotive industry e-mails were opened, compared to 29 percent of financial services e-mails, 20.3 percent of media e-mails, and 13.4 percent of retail messages.

Car messages also were clicked-on most frequently, with a total click-through rate of 23.2 percent, followed by media (10.3 percent), financial services (9.2 percent), and retail (4.5 percent).