E-Mail Conversion Rates Up; Bounces Fall
E-mail click-to-conversion rates rose in the first quarter of 2005 compared with last year, according to a report released by DoubleClick yesterday.The New York-based e-mail and online marketing firm found that click-to-conversion rates for its retail and catalog customers that track purchase activity through DARTmail rose 24.2 percent to 4.1 percent compared with last year. Also, orders per e-mail delivered rose 18 percent.
In other news, e-mail bounce rates were at an all-time low of 8.3 percent.
"Bounce rates declined in every industry category that DoubleClick tracks," DoubleClick said in a statement. "This overall strength in e-mail productivity reflects improved list management and data collection practices, as evidenced by the reduced bounce rates as well as improved relevancy in content."
However, e-mail marketers experienced a decline in open rates, which fell 8 percent to 30.2 percent, and a dip in click rates from 8.4 percent to 7.9 percent. Average e-mail order size remained at $91 for the first quarter.
"The challenges in maintaining open rates include the adoption of image blocking filtering mechanisms among many major ISPs and e-mail programs [such as Outlook]," DoubleClick said.
