Campaign Monitor released a (shall I say) “startling” – report titled: “Email Benchmarks (2020): By Day and Industry”.
And it’s absolutely … umm … riveting? I mean, you should be on the edge of your seat right now reading this.
In it they declare:
Australian open rates remain strong at 18.7%
Click-through rates rise to an average of 2.8%.
Click-to-open rates also rise, climbing to an average of 14.9%.
Unsubscribe rates remain steady at an average of 0.2%.
Australia leads open rates with an average of 18.7%; slightly higher than the global average of 17.8%, the UK at 17.5% and the US at 17%.
Sounds like a politician rattling off the latest unemployment figures.
Aren’t you glad you know these statistics?
Don’t they just rock your world?
Aren’t you glad you’re reading this important announcement?
Let me ask you this:
Who cares?
I mean, what are you going to do with this information? What is ANYBODY going to do with this information?
I can just imagine a bunch of suits sitting around the boardroom table discussing this report and asking “What are our open rates? How do we compare?”
To which the poor sod from the marketing department responds by pulling up a spreadsheet on his tablet computer thingy to reveal this fascinating sound bite:
“Let’s see now… we’re a little below average on open rates … but our unsubscribe rates are about where they should be!”
“Quick, send a tweet” replies the CEO.
Come on.
The problem with this type of report … and the problem with marketing consultants who constantly blabber on about email open rates is …
Open rates might be good for the ego … but you’ll get the shock of your life if you ever try to deposit an open rate down at your bank.
That’s why the only email marketing statistic that matters is …
Sales.
Now, I hear you saying: “But the more emails people open the more sales I can make, right?”
Not necessarily.
I mean, it sounds good in theory.
But that’s where it stops.
You see, the only thing an email open rate can tell you is how many people clicked on your email.
Open rate stats don’t tell you whether the person who clicked on your email did so to open and delete it … open and read it … or if they accidentally clicked on it while trying to click an email above or below yours from their dear ol’ mother.
But sales … now that’s a statistic that tells us everything we need to know.
That’s a statistic we can get excited about.
Nobody accidentally buys your product.
There’s more to this, of course. And I’m deliberately only presenting one side of the story here.
But that’s all I’ve got time for today …
However, I will leave you with one final “insight” from the Campaign Monitor report.
This statement sums up their findings:
Australia is leading the way with open rates, which could be an indicator of an especially interested audience. Additionally, emails sent in this region may generally follow email subject line best practices, which encourage opens.
Let THAT sink in.
And then, when you realise you’ve learned absolutely nothing … subscribe to my twice-weekly email newsletter for ideas you can actually use to increase your sales from email marketing.
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