Epsilon Q2 2009 Email Trends and Benchmarks

Marketing As Usual. Not A Chance.
RESEARCH OCTOBER 2009
Epsilon Q2 2009
Email Trends and Benchmarks
epsilon.com

Marketing As As Usual. Not Not A A Chance.
Executive Summary
The Epsilon Q2 2009 Email Trends and Benchmark study shows an increase in open rates and steady click-throughs year
over year. These findings reveal that email continues to be a valuable component of the multichannel marketing mix and
additional research shows that Epsilon clients’ deliverability is significantly higher than the industry average.
In addition, a study from Return Path, a leader in email reputation services, showed that only 79.3% of permission-based
emails sent in the US and Canada during the first half of 2009 reached inboxes. Return Path also showed that Epsilon clients
had significantly higher inbox delivery with 90% in Q1 and 87% in Q2 of 2009. Return Path conducted the study by monitoring
data for more than 500,000 campaigns that used the Mailbox Monitor seed list system from January to June 2009.
The study tracked the delivery, blocking and filtering rates and reviewed data from 45 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the
US and Canada.
The Epsilon Q2 2009 Email Trends and Benchmarks study compiled from 6.5 billion emails sent by Epsilon in Q2 (April – June)
2009, across multiple industries and approximately 200 clients. This benchmark data is used only as a guideline – specifics for
each company drive results.
Q1 2009 Overall Performance
• Open rates increased for the fourth quarter in a
row, with 14 of 16 industries measured seeing an
increase over Q2 2008.
• Open rates increased 18.2% from the same time last
year.
• Average volume per client is up 10% from last
quarter and 20% from this same time last year.
• Epsilon’s client base had 87% deliverability, 10%
higher than Return Path’s reported deliverability of
79% in a recent study done across a sample of US and
Canada commercial emails.
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Q2 2009
Non-Bounce, Deliverability, Open and Click Rates
95.1% 94.3%
•
93.1% 93.4% 93.2% 93.6%
•
• • • •
6.2% 6.5% 6.1% 6.4%
5.9% 5.9%
Q207 Q307 Q407 Q108 Q208 Q308
5.8%
Q408
Q109
• Non-Bounce Deliverability • Open rate
Click-through
Return Path’s Delivery Rate for first half of 2009
Starting Q407, data represents all DREAM and DREAMmail clients
94.4% 94.1% 94.1%
• • •
90.1% 87.2%
79.3%
20.7% 20.7% 19.8% 19.9% 18.8% 19.8% 20.9% 22.1%
• • •
• •
•
•
•
6.1%
22.2%
•
5.9%
Q209
epsilon.com

Marketing As Usual. Not A Chance.
Industry Performance
Business Publishing/Media General, Consumer
Products General, Pharmaceutical, Telecom,
General Retail, Specialty Retail and Travel/
Hospitality Travel Services all saw an increase
in all three major metrics – deliverability, opens
and clicks – compared to last year. None of the
industries measured saw a decline in each of those
same metrics.
Open Rate Comparison
(Q2 09 vs Q2 08)
Business Products and Services General
Business Publishing/Media General
Consumer Products CPG
Consumer Products General
Consumer Products Pharmaceutical
Consumer Publishing/Media General
Consumer Services General
Consumer Services Telecom
Financial Services CC/Banks
Financial Services General
Non-Profit/Education General
Retail Apparel
Retail Electronics
Retail General
Retail Specialty
Travel/Hospitality Travel Services
23.5%
21.3%
19.0%
14.6%
19.8%
18.2%
22.3%
19.6%
25.1%
18.8%
15.4%
16.8%
21.9%
20.6%
24.8%
24.2%
28.3%
27.9%
35.6%
28.4%
17.5%
22.1%
13.4%
13.1%
25.9%
19.7%
23.3%
17.6%
19.5%
12.7%
23.3%
19.6%
Q2 2009 Q2 2008
Conclusions
Click Rate Comparison
(Q2 09 vs Q2 08)
Business Products and Services General
Business Publishing/Media General
Consumer Products CPG
Consumer Products General
Consumer Products Pharmaceutical
Consumer Publishing/Media General
Consumer Services General
Consumer Services Telecom
Financial Services CC/Banks
Financial Services General
Non-Profit/Education General
Retail Apparel
Retail Electronics
Retail General
Retail Specialty
Travel/Hospitality Travel Services
4.7%
5.1%
5.5%
5.2%
9.2%
11.6%
7.8%
6.9%
8.3%
7.2%
6.8%
6.8%
4.9%
5.1%
5.4%
5.3%
4.5%
4.3%
9.2%
8.7%
1.7%
2.4%
3.8%
4.0%
6.3%
5.5%
6.7%
5.2%
3.6%
3.4%
5.0%
4.6%
Q2 2009 Q2 2008
Email marketers compete for inbox space and
consumer attention not only with their industry
peers but also with email marketers across all types
of industries and senders. In order to stand out above
the rest, today’s email marketers must incorporate
best practices to better target and better communicate
with their constituents. Email marketing strategies
need to take into account everything from subject
lines to the collection of consumer preferences to
testing and analytics.
Email should not be thought of as a standalone
channel and strategy. Rather, email marketing should
fit into a broader, multichannel marketing strategy
that complements each touchpoint including direct
mail, the web, email, point-of-sale and more. With
a targeted and consistent message across channels,
marketing goals can be achieved and can drive
consumer behavior both on- and off-line.
epsilon.com

For More Information
Epsilon Corporate Headquarters
4401 Regent Boulevard
Irving, TX 75063
1-800-309-0505
info@epsilon.com
Marketing As Usual. Not A Chance.