Cart Abandonment And Personalization Drive High Email Benchmarks: Study

Personalization is no longer optional for retailers, but a must-have as brands approach the holiday season, according to the 2020 Retail Email Benchmark Report, a study released on Thursday by Bluecore.

Brands that personalize their one-time sends see an 81% increase in click rates, a 133% rise in conversion rates and a 142% boost in revenue per email, compared to those that send static emails, the study shows. 

Email engagement and cart size are tied, with high spenders more likely to interact and convert. 

For instance, high-level apparel shoppers produce a .77% conversion rate, compared with average spenders with .61% and low spenders with .52%. 

Moreover, the high rollers have a lower unsubscribe rate -- at .25%, versus 24% for low spenders.

The study is based on analysis of 10 billion emails sent by more than 400 retail brands within in a 12-month period. 

However, the review was conducted from December 2019 to February 2020, prior to the full impact of COVID-19 on consumers and businesses: it may not reflect current reality on the ground.

That said, email marketers can compare their metrics with the benchmarks in the study. 

For one, Bluecore found that shoppers who have purchased from a brand six times have a 53% likelihood of buying again. One-time buyers show only an 18% probability of doing so.

Here are the open rates for different types of triggered mails, personalized or not: 

Cart abandonment — 31.42% 

Product abandonment — 33.15%

Search abandonment — 30.11% 

Post purchase — 29.50%

Wishlist — 19.95%

Welcome — 18.84%

Price decrease — 27.35%

New arrivals — 20.88%

Best sellers — 18.16%

Back in stock — 29.95% 

Low inventory — 24.74%

One-time sends — 15.75%

The click rates per email are as follows:

Cart abandonment — 11.66%

Product abandonment — 10.40% 

Search abandonment — 7.2%

Post purchase — 5.64%

Wishlist — 9.55%

Welcome — 5.30%

Price decrease — 10.57%

New arrivals — 5.52%

Best sellers — 3.77%

Back in stock — 9.22% 

Low inventory — 7.41% 

One-time send — 3.12% 

Conversion Rate 

The highest revenue per email is produced by cart abandonment sends: $2.05. The next highest is welcome emails, which generate $1.27. 

Among verticals, luxury brands pull the highest open rates with their cart abandonment emails — 44.49%. They also draw 42.90% with their product abandonment messages, 25.43% for price decreases and 21.74% for one-time sends.  

In contrast, jewelry marketers enjoy 34.88% for cart abandonment,  

However, jewelry sellers produce the highest revenue per cart abandonment emails -- $6.52, and $4.22 for price decrease. 

Apparel brands are at the bottom, with $1.89 for cart abandonment messages, $0.68 for product abandonment, $0.86 for price decreases and $.21 for one-time sends. 

Sherene Hilal, senior vice president of marketing and operations at Bluecore, concludes that email is “an especially important channel right now as it is the strongest addressable identifier in the digital world and the most preferred channel by consumers.”

 

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