• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, June 24, 2022

Industries vary widely in their email practices, adoption of technology and just about everything else, judging by Netcore Cloud’s Email Benchmark Report 2022.  

The differences start with deliverability. 

The retail sector has the highest inboxing rate, at 98.6%, while tech/food delivery is second at 98%. Entertainment/media has the lowest rate, at 77% — probably due to a high frequency of emails and sending regional content. Insurance comes in only slightly higher. 

Among regions, Africa has the highest inbox rate with 98%, with Southeast Asia second at 97%. Europe has the lowest rate at 88.7%, while North America has an average of 91%. 

But the study states, “The presence of corporate mailboxes continues to prevent flawless inboxing, as every mailbox provider has its own set of anti-spam algorithms to navigate.” 

Contrary to popular belief, “Gmail is not the dominant player, other mailbox providers like Apple Mail, Yahoo and Outlook have a major share of email accounts,” the study asserts.

The online dating business has the highest spam complaint rate — 0.03%. But it also has the highest click-to-open ratio: 39%. IT/Services is a distant second at 9.8%. The average click-to-open rate is 5%. 

Media (OTT) has the second-highest spam complaint rate.

As for success metrics, open rate reporting has been distorted by Apple Mail Privacy Protection, which has inflated opens.  

False opens skyrocketed to 60.6% on any single day in January of this year, compared with 21.7% last October. Partial-month data showed 56.8% for February.

The study is based on analysis of over 100 billion emails and across 22 industries, and is limited to Netcore clients.  

On the technology front, 49% have adopted artificial intelligence/machine learning and 51% have not.

Remember AMP (Associated Mobile Pages) for email, the technology that allows consumers to order, answer surveys and perform other tasks within the email without navigating to outside pages? 

The banking and ecommerce fields have the highest level of AMP adoption: 33.3% apiece. They are followed by Media (Publishing), Travel and Gaming, at 11.1% apiece.  

Then there is BIMI (Brand Indicators for message identification) — 5% of companies have adopted it, but that rate should go up, the study predicts.  

The average of DMARC adoption is around 50%. 

The insurance industry has the lowest level, followed by loyalty programs, foodtech and mobile telecommunication industries. 

Other findings include: 

• The optimal subject line length is 36; mobile display cuts it off at the 37th character. Ecommerce brands are most likely to use subject line optimization, followed by Edtech/Educational institutes. Travel has the lowest.  
• The best day to send emails is Friday,  the worst is Sunday, although this varies by industry. Sunday works well for MedTech companies, and Monday is tops for ecommerce because people like to start the week by buying something.