E-mail Marketing Industry Benchmarks: Highest Open Rate in Q1 2013 Since 2006

The Q2 2013 E-mail Trends and Benchmarks Report was released by Epsilon earlier this month and it showed some interesting trends.

The first quarter of this year saw the highest average open rate (31.3 percent) since at least 2006. It was also the largest quarter-over-quarter jump (14 percent) in opens that we've seen. In second quarter, the open rate dropped but it's still the second highest we've seen (28.5 percent), suggesting that the upward trend in open rates will continue.

The real surprise for me here was the click-through rate. After reaching 5.1 percent in the first quarter, a boost of 13 percent over the fourth quarter of last year, it's down to 4.3 percent. This is a 16 percent loss over first quarter and the lowest click-through rate we've seen since at least 2006. Prior to 2012, the industry average was consistently 5 percent or higher. I was hoping the click-through rate would stabilize, but the slide continues.

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Is Amazon's New Small Business Lending Service The Right Choice For Your Business?

Amazon seems to have branched out into every business imaginable. So last year’s news that the company would be offering loans to its online sellers wasn’t too surprising. After all, Amazon is often considered the Wal-Mart of the Internet, and Wal-Mart has broken into the lending business, as well.

For Amazon sellers, the loans are welcome in the face of repeated rejection from other lenders. Designed to show its support of the many sellers in its marketplace, the lending program was offered to merchants. Loans are provided through Amazon Capital Services, Inc. and are meant to serve as an alternative source of funding for those sellers who are unable to secure funding through traditional lenders.

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3 Counterintuitive Tips to Boost Your Email Marketing

Sometimes we get stuck in the same email marketing ways and don't necessarily take a step back to assess campaigns. We get focused on growing our lists as fast as possible and keep mailing large lists as much as we can. We never stop to second guess some of our practices and then we wonder why open rates are declining, inbox rates are poor, and revenue is dismal.

Below are three tips to boost your email marketing results. Some may seem counterintuitive, but give them some thought and you might be surprised by how your email marketing efforts start to shape up.

Unsubscribing is great

As email marketers, we should make it as easy as possible to allow our subscribers to unsubscribe. You're not going to win over anybody by making them take 10 steps to unsubscribe.

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