WHAT ARE OPEN RATES?

When marketers think about open rates, they typically think of email. They want to know the number of opens they got from a given campaign over the number they sent minus the emails that bounced. This is the open rate for email campaigns.

With direct mail, we see a much higher open rate than email. Since people tend to get far more emails per day than mailed letters, direct mail has a much higher open rate. It also leaves a more customized and personal impression than email.

HOW AND WHEN TO USE OPEN RATES?

Open rates can be a useful metric for many different types of marketing campaigns. Many marketers use open rate, click rate, and click to open rate to measure and keep track of how their email campaigns have done. Keeping track of these over time is also a great way to improve your email campaigns. Running AB tests is an excellent way to conclude what works for your audience. Doing an AB test on the subject line or the creative in the email is a great way to experiment. The open rate is a useful metric to track when the test is over.  

WHAT IS A GOOD OPEN RATE?

With email, a reasonable open rate can depend on many variables, such as industry. MailChimp took the average of open rates across different industries. Generally, an open rate of 15-25% on email campaigns is a reasonable open rate. Setting goals and benchmarks for your open rates can also help you improve over time. Looking back at the past year, quarter by quarter, can give you a good sense of the yearly cycle. This is even more important if you are a business that operates on a seasonal cycle. Once you have mapped out each quarter, establish what your averages are, then identify any outliers. Try to examine why those outliers exist. If the open rate was much higher or lower than average on any given email, try to figure out why; once you have this information, try to set goals for the future quarters.

WHAT IS A GREAT OPEN RATE?

With direct mail, we find that the open rate is much higher than email. Handwritten cards have the highest chance of being opened and read compared to other marketing methods. Direct mail, along with a higher open rate, also helps retain customers better than other marketing methods. Direct mail can help you target exactly who you want, whereas email lists can be massive and harder to segment. It also allows you to build loyalty with your current customers and potentially regain old accounts. The open rate of direct mail is usually around 99%.

Open rates are a crucial metric in any marketing campaign. Knowing how well your emails or direct mail perform is very important for growth.

‍