• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, April 23, 2019

The big takeaway from Omnisend’s 2019 Email Ecommerce study is that multichannel campaigns pull higher retention rates than single ones — 66.12% versus 34.8%.

Purchase rates are also higher (8.96% versus 2.56%), as are engagement rates (18.96% versus 5.4%). And customers spend $66.31 when engaged across multiple channels, and $58.70 for single channels.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s delve down into email tactics.

To begin with, the study shows that targeting works. Segmented campaigns pull an average 28.05% open rate, compared with 18.30% for non-segmented ones. And segmented efforts produce an average 6.09%, versus a rate of 5.5% for non-segmented efforts.

What’s more, segmentation leads to an 6.18% order rate, versus 4.54% for efforts that are not segmented.

Segmented campaigns pull an average 28.05% open rate, compared with 18.30% for non-segmented ones. And segmented efforts produce an average 6.09% rate, versus a rate of 5.5% for non-segmented.

In addition, segmentation leads to an 6.18% order rate, versus a rate of 4.54% for efforts that are not segmented. 

Dynamic landing pages are most effective email signup generators, pulling a 24.82% rate in 2018 -- up from 23% in 2017. Wheel Of Fortune tactics pulled a rate of 12.74% last year, versus 10% the year before.

However, pop-ups achieve only 4.22%, a slight jump from 3%, and signup boxes come in at 1.28% -- down from 1.3% in 2017.

Which workflows and strategies work better?

Order confirmation workflows generate the highest open rates at 58.8%, but at 16.27% are the second-highest in click-throughs. The top slot there belongs to custom automation which results in a 17.27% click rate and a 52.7% open rate.

In contrast, cart recovery automation pulls a 46.8% open rate and 10.46% click-through rate, while welcome automation pulls a 51.5% open rate and a 14.7% click-through rate.

Customer reactivation performs worst, pulling only an 42.4% open rate and a 8% click-through rate.

When it comes to order rates, however, cart recovery leads the field with 2.35%, followed by welcome automation (2.24%), customer reactivation automation (2.09%), custom automation (1.82%) and order confirmation (0.85%).

The best time to send emails? The 5th, 12th and 7th of the month, in that order, based on open rates. Click rates peak on the 19th , 12th and 7th.

The best time of day? The best open rates occur at 8 a.m. (people start checking their emails early), 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. 

All of these processes should be automated to achieve the best results.

Omnisend studied over 2 billion campaigns and automation workflows from almost 12,000 brands.