Retailers Send More Back-To-School Emails, But Pull Lower Open Rates: Report

Amazon and Best Buy had strong open rates in back-to-school email campaigns this summer — but not as good as last year, according to a study by eDataSource, as reported by its Internet Retailer.  And it may be because the inbox Is more cluttered with such emails.

Amazon sent 95 campaigns, and 49% of them pulled better than a 20% open rate. But 65% of last year’s school-themed campaigns achieved that in the same time frame, from early June to early August.  

Best Buy sent 21 back-to-school emails, and 52% of them pulled 20% or more, compared with 58% in 2017.

On average, the 13 retailers studied sent 613 emails this year, up from 323 last year. But only 15% of this year’s campaigns pulled 20% or more, compared with 40% in 2017, the report states.

Only Target avoided open-rate deterioration, the study continues.  

On the high end, Staples sent 119 emails (compared with 37 in 2017) and Walmart sent 104 (up from 16).

Amazon also had the single most-opened campaign of all those studied — a message with the subject line “Dorm Décor: Off to college checklist,” the report states. Sent on July 22, it went to 120,000 shoppers and pulled a 45.6% open rate. 

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