At Netcore, our clients consistently ask us if their campaigns perform at par with industry standards. They also ask us if their campaigns leverage the best email marketing practices, to which we always respond with a resounding ‘yes!’
We realize that these are pivotal questions for every industry and every brand seeking to capitalize on the massive, proven potential of email marketing.
We send over 20 billion emails a month and have a wealth of performance statistics at our command. All we had to do, to answer our clients, was to put in the research and extract globally relevant data points on email effectiveness for customer engagement. The outcome was the Netcore Email Benchmark Report 2023. It covers all the data points that are used as the benchmarks against which marketing campaigns for major industries can be measured, evaluated, and optimized.
While you can read the full Netcore Email Benchmark Report 2023 here, we lay out the key takeaways in this blog, in case you’re in a hurry and need a quick 101.
Note: The report covers the following industries:
Let’s go by specific engagement metrics and outline the industry benchmarks you should consider when evaluating a campaign status.
Email opens, clicks and CTOR
To view the data splits, move the mouse over each bar
- The retail industry had the highest open rate – 51%. The gaming industry had the lowest open rate at 12%. The average open rate across industries was 24%.
- The dating industry showed the highest click rate at 3.5%. The gaming, loyalty, and medtech/ e-pharmacy industries had the lowest click rate – 0.1%. The average click rate across industries was 1%.
- The dating industry had the highest CTOR – 11%. The retail industry had the lowest CTOR at 0.5%. The average CTOR across industries was 3%.
You can find information about the best and worst days to send emails (by industry) as well as best practices to increase open rates and clicks in the detailed report.
Inbox placement
- The IT and service industry showed the highest inbox placement rate – 98%.
- The media/publishing industry had the lowest inbox placement rate at 73%.
- The average inbox placement rate witnessed across industries was 92%.
Explore placement numbers for each industry and best practices to improve placement rates in our full report.
Bounce rate
- The banking/mutual funds/securities industry suffered the highest bounce rate - 2.7%.
- The gaming industry witnessed the lowest bounce rate at 0.2%.
- The average bounce rate across industries was 1%.
Note: A high bounce rate (anything above 5%) is extremely damaging for an email marketing campaign and will negatively impact email deliverability. For brands with high bounce rates, the mailbox service providers can decide to entirely block emails from reaching the user inboxes.
For expert-driven tips on how to sustainably reduce bounce rate, check the full report.
Email subscribers churn
- The dating industry showed the highest churn rate - 0.37%. The edtech/educational and deals industries carried the lowest churn rate - 0.01%.
- The average churn rate across industries was 0.06%.
Note: Zero-party data can help create personalized emails that resonate well with the audience, which helps reduce churn rates.
Geography-based metrics
All the metrics described above actually differ in degree depending on which part of the world an email campaign is running in. Here’s a quick overview of these differences, as concluded by our study of a 100 billion emails:
- Generally, corporate mailboxes face greater issues with inboxing, since every mailbox provider uses unique anti-spam algorithms to prevent junk messaging.
- Globally, however, email deliverability has risen as email marketing continues to see success even in such uncertain economic conditions.
- Apple MPP has made it impossible to rely on open data, which means marketers have to turn to other best practices to measure engagement.
Predictions for 2023
The email ecosystem, as with everything, goes through unique challenges and leverages new opportunities and innovations to get through. For 2023, here are a few critical shifts that we predict will happen in the marketing landscape.
AMP email
95% of users do not click on the website redirect links in static emails. Customers want to get things done instantly with minimal effort – exactly where AMP emails come in. AMP components can create a website/app-like experience within emails, and let brands tell stories and connect with audiences without leaving the user’s inbox.
AMP emails are also mobile-first – another added advantage. With such benefits, we believe AMP emails are set to lead marketing communication in 2023.
BIMI adoption
Having been victimized by far too many spoofing and phishing attacks, users have become infinitely more concerned about email security. BIMI—Brand Indicators for Message Identification – ensures security and assures users that emails come from verified sources.
BIMI displays certified logos of brands, offering direct information about the sender. This improves sender reputation and helps brands stand out in inboxes.
Don’t forget that Apple has joined the growing list of mailbox providers supporting BIMI, which should reflect a rise in BIMI adoption in 2023.
Zero-party data
As users get bombarded with messaging from brands, marketers must offer highly relevant and personalized experiences to stand out in the crowd. Curating such experiences is impossible without the usage of zero-party data, i.e., data that customers intentionally and proactively share.
To quote Forrester Research, “When a customer trusts a brand enough to provide this really meaningful data, it means that the brand doesn’t have to go off and infer what the customer wants or what their intentions are. Ultimately, zero-party data can reduce marketing waste for a brand and improve the lives of its customers – a win-win situation for everyone involved.”
The future of email
AMP email, Atomic Rewards, and AI – that’s what will comprise email marketing success in 2023.
We’ve already spoken about AMP emails above, so let’s look at Atomic Rewards and AI in email.
Atomic Rewards
Human attention span has plummeted to about 8 seconds. Getting your customers to read a message is among the biggest challenges you’ll face as a marketer. But here’s the gamechanger: Atomic Rewards.
Atomic Rewards are innovative micro-incentives that nudge and direct customer behavior upstream. Reward customer attention and you’ll retain it for much longer. You’ll also convert it to revenue much faster.
AI in email
AI has arrived, hasn’t it? It’s at the tip of every conversation these days, especially ones surrounding marketing content creation. While we can’t tell you if AI can replace you at your workplace (it can’t), we can tell you that it can make email marketers’ lives infinitely easier.
AI can drive exceptional results in email marketing. It can extract accurate predictions on engagement, subject lines, send times, churn predictions, and more. Based on AI-generated data analysis and insights, marketers can take decisions that eliminate friction and deliver highly personalized email experiences to users.
For a deeper dive into AI’s infinite potential to re-orient and transform marketers’ day-to-day tasks and bring about massive ROI hikes, have a look at this - Boost your ROI with the power of AI-driven email personalization.
Click into success in 2023 with Netcore
At Netcore, we believe that all customers deserve an “Intelligent Customer Experience” across all the digital touchpoints—experiences that are contextual, personalized, and delightful. At the core of all our operations, this is what we strive to provide.
Our customers have used Netcore to deliver AI-powered customer experiences across email, mobile, web, and beyond.
G2 Reports have recognized Netcore as a Leader 10 consecutive times. For two years in a row Netcore also received the highest rating as a ‘Customers’ Choice for Email Marketing’ in Gartner’s Peer Insights ‘Voice of the Customer’ Report.
50+ globally recognized brands, such as MakeMyTrip, MoneyTap, YourStory, Axis Securities, CaratLane, and 99 Group partner with Netcore’s AI-powered email platform to roll out AMP emails and boost their ROI. We have sent more than a billion AMP emails across 200+ highly successful campaigns.
Netcore serves over 6,500+ clients across 40+ countries, delivers over 20 billion emails a month, and tracks upwards of 120 trillion marketing events every year.
Here’s the link to the full report.
Hope you find useful the actionable insights and specific steps that you can take immediately, should your email campaigns need powering up. Want to experience a live demonstration of how we can make email the most valuable player in your marketing game?
Connect with us to understand how you can benefit from our expertise and experience.
