I’ve been asked by a few folks for an update to my 2012 blog post “2012 B2B Email Response Rates and Best Practices.” Below are some statistics from a few key sources indicating that a 1%-3% CTR is typical in business, computer and software industries, likely from promotional emails. Based on this data, email response rates are consistent with what I reported in 2012.
MailChimp reports that the average CTR across all industries (B2B and B2C) is 2.5%.
- Business and Finance: Open rate: 20.68%; CTR: 3.14%
- Computers & Electronics: Open rate: 24.65%; CTR: 2.83%
- Software and Web App: Open rate: 21.86%; CTR: 3.26%
The Email Institute Q3 2013 report shows overall open rates of 30.9% and CTR of 4.4%.
- Business products and services: Open rate: 32.4%; CTR: 3.3%
Silverpop’s Email Marketing Metrics Benchmark Study published in 2013 shows:
- Corporate services: Unique Open rate: 15.7%; CTR: 2.3%
- Computer Hardware, Telecom & Electronics: Unique Open rate: 12%; CTR: 1.0%
- Computer Software: Unique Open rate: 20.4%; CTR: 1.4%
Silverpop recommends using Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR), which shows unique clicks divided by unique opens (vs. messages delivered).
- Corporate services: CTOR: 14.7%
- Computer Hardware, Telecom & Electronics: CTOR: 7.9%
- Computer Software: CTOR: 6.9%
Smart Insights is another good resource with international statistics.
Per Litmus, 51% of all email is read on a mobile device. Be sure to optimize for mobile viewing to increase your open and click through rates. Keep copy short and sweet with a clear call to action. Personalize content to be relevant to your buyer personas as much as possible.