2016ASSOCIATION

EMAIL MARKETING

BENCHMARK REPORT

02 Introduction 1 4 Results by Number of Links

03 Email Marketing Metrics, Defined 1 5 Results by

Number of Recipients

05 Trending Now 1 7 Results by Day of Week

04 Executive Summary 1 6 Results by Time of Day

07 Benchmark Data and Key Findings 18 Results by

Subject Line Length

1 1 Results by Frequency 2 1 Email Client Preference

1 2 Results by Country of Sender 22 Results by

Email Client (Detailed)

09 Results by Subscription Size 20 Mobile and Desktop Open

Duration Comparison

1 3 Results by Email Client Type 23 About Informz

Table of Contents

Overall Email Metrics08 Open Duration Results1 9

1 |2016 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report | © Informz, Inc. 2016

Introduction

We’ve performed a study on our association client base to provide email marketers from associations benchmarking information for their email marketing programs. This report includes a summary of email marketing metrics from nearly 2 billion emails sent in 2015 by associations located in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom.

This report is designed for email marketers from associations. The data shared will help you understand what metrics to analyze, what goals to set, and how your email marketing program is performing in comparison to your peers. Always keep in mind that these are averages from your peers.

This is the sixth consecutive year we’ve reported on association email marketing benchmark data and the seventh association email marketing benchmark report we’ve produced.

2 |2016 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report | © Informz, Inc. 2016

Email Marketing Metrics, Defined

Four key metrics are used in this report: delivery, open, click and unsubscribe rates.

Delivery rate is the percentage of emails that were not reported back to Informz as bounced or blocked.

Open rate is the percentage of delivered emails that were reported back to Informz as having been opened. If the text version of an email is read, it is not counted. Likewise, if an HTML email is read with the images turned off, it is not counted. However, if an email is opened with images off, but a link is clicked, the email is counted as being opened. Open rate only includes unique subscribers. Multiple opens by one subscriber only count once.

Click rate is the percentage of opened emails clicked by the recipient. Clicking a link in a text email is not counted as a click. Click rate only includes unique subscribers. Multiple clicks by one subscriber only count once.

Unsubscribe rate is the percentage of recipients who unsubscribed from a particular mailing.

3 |2016 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report | © Informz, Inc. 2016

Executive Summary

The key performance indicators that defined the success of Informz client email programs over the past year.

• Email volume rose by 11.87% compared to the number of emails sent in 2014.

• Delivery rates remained favorable at 98%.

• Open rates were slightly higher in 2015 at 36% compared to 35.49% in 2014.

• Click rates continue to remain positive at 16.14%.

• Unsubscribe rates remained favorable at .06% for 2015.

4 |2016 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report | © Informz, Inc. 2016

Trending Now:Marketing Automation

Marketing Automation technology is transforming the way organizations do business. In 2015, marketing automation penetrated the association market and gained momentum as early adopters reported positive initial results.

Associations are making a purposeful shift to integrate and maximize their digital marketing reach utilizing all their data assets. Websites, email marketing programs, account management databases, and online communities are no longer perceived as separate functional entities. Taking a holistic approach means moving away from a single communication strategy to a tailored, one-to-one communication approach.

Associations using marketing automation technology are leveraging cross-channel business intelligence to deliver tailored customized communications to their audience.

Initial results of replacing one-off emails with automated email campaigns are promising:

New member welcome email was replaced with a three-part automated welcome campaign and open rates jumped from 18% to 63%.

Promotional sales email was replaced with a multi-part automated campaign and incremental sales increased by 313%.

Audience reach was increased by 58% after leveraging business intelligence from integrated online community and email marketing platform.

Early marketing automation campaign results are positive with improvements in open rates, conversions, and cash flow. The adoption of marketing automation technology is on an upward trajectory and is a trend that will be closely monitored for benchmarking purposes.

5 |2016 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report | © Informz, Inc. 2016

Trending Now: Intelligent Targeting and Message Relevance

Email cadence is always top of mind for marketers, and for the second consecutive year we have seen email volume sent to individual subscribers on a monthly basis decline. The data analyzed for this report reveals that 88% of all subscribers were sent 10 or fewer emails per month, while 94% were sent 15 or fewer emails per month. This is a shift from what we saw in the 2014 data and marks a clear trend that marketers are paying more attention to how often they are contacting their members.

The data analysis shows that message relevancy impacts subscriber engagement more than message frequency. The slight decrease in individual monthly volume had no significant impact on year-over-year metrics. The open rates across frequency groups remain positive and stable. This is likely an indication that marketers are moving away from large volume email blasts and moving towards customized communication to precise target groups.

One of the core benefits of marketing automation is the ability to intelligently segment your audience enabling you to respond more appropriately to subscribers and send a more relevant message. Utilizing the data collected on your audience allows you to create custom journeys for each subscriber, resulting in a more relevant, personalized experience and longer lasting memberships.

6 |2016 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report | © Informz, Inc. 2016

BENCHMARK DATA AND KEY

FINDINGS

Overall Email Metrics

The average email metrics for associations include a 98.28% delivery rate, 36% open rate and 16.14% click rate.

KEY FINDINGS

1. Overall Email Metrics

0

20

40

60

80

100%

Click RateOpen RateDelivery Rate

16.14%

36.00%

98.28%

8 |2016 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report | © Informz, Inc. 2016

Results by Subscription List Size

56% of the emails sent in 2015 represent associations with subscription lists of 100,000 subscribers or more. Nearly 35% of the volume came from associations whose subscription list size was between 100,000 and 400,000 subscribers. Associations with less than 10,000 subscribers represent 7% of the email volume.

KEY FINDINGS

> 400K subscribers21.14%

100K – 400K subscribers34.55%

< 10,000 subscribers 7.14%

40K – 100K subscribers 21.30%

10k -40K subscribers 15.87%

2. Results by Subscription List Size

9 |2016 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report | © Informz, Inc. 2016

Open Rates by Subscription Size

The highest open rate by subscription size of 36.9% came from associations with less than 10,000 subscribers. In contrast, the second highest open rate of 36.4% was generated from associations with subscription lists of 100,000 to 400,000 subscribers.

KEY FINDINGS3. Open Rates by Subscription Size

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40%35.33%35.55%36.91% 36.41%

34.23%

>400K subscribers

Ope

n Ra

te

100K – 400K subscribers

40K – 100K subscribers

10k -40K subscribers

< 10,000 subscribers

10 |2016 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report | © Informz, Inc. 2016

Results by Frequency

72% of email subscribers were sent 1-5 emails per month. Almost 16% of email subscribers were sent 6-10 emails per month and 6% of email subscribers were sent 11-15 emails per month. Interestingly, open rates remain stable across all three frequency thresholds reinforcing that relevancy more than frequency drives engagement.

KEY FINDINGS

4a. Results by Frequency

1–5 Emails Sent 71.77%

21–25 Emails Sent 1.56%

26–50 Emails Sent 2.10%

6–10 Emails Sent 15.82%

11–15 Emails Sent 6.22%

16–20 Emails Sent 2.34%

51-75 Emails Sent 0.12% 76-200 Emails Sent

0.07%

0

5

10

15

20

25%

Click Rate

Open Rate

76 - 20051-7526-5021-2516-2011-156-101-5

Number of Emails

Ope

n an

d Cl

ick

Rate

4b. Results by Frequency

23.84%

10.38% 10.35%

23.61%

10.61%

23.02%

10.53%

21.61%

12.91%

20.28%

10.87%

20.92%

7.96%

21.51%

7.10%

20.20%

11 |2016 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report | © Informz, Inc. 2016

Results by Country of Sender

85% of the email volume came from senders in the USA. Australia is the second largest sender and had a year-over-year growth in email volume of 21.5%. Canadian email open rates were 47.26%, which represents a 15.63% increase over 2014 metrics. Email volume and response metrics remain consistent in the United Kingdom. New Zealand year-over-year metrics were favorable with a 10% increase in email volume, open rates remained flat while click rates increased by 20%.

KEY FINDINGS

0

10

20

30

40

50%

Click Rate

Open Rate

New ZealandUKAustraliaCanadaUS

5b. Results by Country of Sender

34.48%

15.16%

24.46%

47.26%

38.22%

16.07%

21.91%

43.36%

29.01%

21.62%

Country of Sender

Ope

n an

d Cl

ick

Rate

12 |2016 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report | © Informz, Inc. 2016

Results by Email Client Type

Mobile usage of 41.17% surpassed desktop and web usage making mobile the most popular email client type.

KEY FINDINGS

6. Results by Email Client Type

Unknown 0.35%

Web Browser 23.06%

Desktop 35.42%

Mobile 41.17%

13 |2016 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report | © Informz, Inc. 2016

Results by Number of Links

Emails containing between 5-7 links and emails with 31 or more links had click rates greater than the 2015 benchmark average. Emails containing 8 or more links represent 77% of the email sent volume.

KEY FINDINGS

Number of Links

12.04% 12.41%

16.13% 16.55% 16.12% 16.04%

18.59%

19.95% 19.50%

Clic

k Ra

te

7. Results by Number of Links

0

5

10

15

20%

Over 7051-7031-5016-30 8-15 5-7 3-421

14 |2016 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report | © Informz, Inc. 2016

Results by Number of Recipients

Audiences between 5,000-50,000 accounted for 63% of all emails sent, however the smaller the audience, the higher the open and click rates were. This supports the trend of smaller, more targeted audiences resulting in stronger engagement.

KEY FINDINGS

8a. Results by Number of Recipients

5k-50k Recipients 62.79%

1k-5k Recipients 13.25%

500-1k Recipients 1.69%

250-500 Recipients 0.74%

100-250 Recipients 0.40%

50-100 Recipients 0.11%

<50 Recipients 0.09%

100k-250k Recipients 4.88%

>250k Recipients 0.55%

50k-100k Recipients 15.50%

0

10

20

30

40

50%Click Rate

Open Rate

>250K100K–250K50K–100K5K–50K1K–5K500–1K250–500100–25050–100<50

Number of Recipients

45.82%

41.56%

36.81%

32.16%

28.36%

23.32%

20.30%21.55%

18.46%

10.29%9.28%10.09%

12.00%

14.25%

17.76%

20.58%

23.29%

20.95%

5.38%

8b. Results by Number of Recipients

48.87%

Ope

n an

d Cl

ick

Rate

15 |2016 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report | © Informz, Inc. 2016

Results by Time of Day

For the second consecutive year, emails sent during midday hours accounted for the largest percentage of emails sent as well as the highest click rates. The highest open rate of 37.38% was from emails sent at night.

KEY FINDINGS

Time of Day

32.61%34.87%

36.39% 37.38%

13.34%15.74%16.56%

14.47%

9. Results by Time of Day

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40%

Click Rate

Open Rate

NightLate AfternoonMid-DayMorning

Ope

n an

d Cl

ick

Rate

16 |2016 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report | © Informz, Inc. 2016

Results by Day of Week

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday had the highest email volume with an average open rate of 35.4%. Friday had the highest weekday open rate at 37.43%. Emails sent over the weekend showed strong open rates, however click rates decline significantly.

KEY FINDINGS

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40%

Click Rate

Open Rate

SaturdayFridayThursdayWednesdayTuesdayMondaySunday

Day of Week

36.97%36.03% 35.37% 35.64% 35.27%

37.43%39.60%

12.21%

16.66%16.48%16.41%16.09%16.19%

13.13%

10. Results by Day of Week

Ope

n an

d Cl

ick

Rate

17 |2016 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report | © Informz, Inc. 2016

Results by Subject Line Length

Subject lines with less than 40 characters have open rates that exceeded the 2015 benchmark of 36%. Emails with subject line lengths between 30-39 accounted for over 24% of emails sent, the highest distribution for 2015 emails.

KEY FINDINGS

0

10

20

30

40

50%

70 and up60-6950-5940-4930-3920-2910–199 and less

Ope

n Ra

te

Number of Characters

47.39%

38.77% 37.68% 36.29% 35.51% 34.43% 33.76% 33.80%

11. Results by Subject Line Length

18 |2016 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report | © Informz, Inc. 2016

Open Duration Results

65.7% of opened email had engagement for more than 10 seconds, which is an increase over last year’s metric of 61.9%.

KEY FINDINGS

Open 21.52%(<3 seconds)

Skim 12.77%(3–10 seconds)

Read 65.71%(>10 seconds)

12. Open Duration Results

19 |2016 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report | © Informz, Inc. 2016

Mobile and Desktop Open Duration Comparison

Mobile readers engage with emails longer than desktop readers with 67.19% of mobile readers spending longer than 10 seconds.

KEY FINDINGS

13. Mobile and Desktop Open Duration Comparison

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80%

Mobile SkimMobile ReadMobile OpenDesktop SkimDesktop ReadDesktop Open

21.63%

62.45%

15.92%17.96%

14.85%

67.19%

Skim (3–10 seconds)

Open (<3 seconds)

Read (>10 seconds)

20 |2016 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report | © Informz, Inc. 2016

Email Client Preference

76.67% of email opens occur just once, with mobile only having the highest percentage at 35.8%.

KEY FINDINGS

14. Results by Email Client Preference

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40%

All 3Desktop and Other

Mobile and Other

Desktop and Mobile

Just OtherJust MobileJust Desktop

Email Client Preference

14.24%

35.82%

26.62%

8.84%10.29%

2.08% 2.12%

Ope

n Ra

te

21 |2016 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report | © Informz, Inc. 2016

Email Client Preference (Detailed)

Over 57% of emails are read on iPhones or in Outlook. iPhones are easily the most popular device, nearly doubling the next closest email client.

KEY FINDINGS15a. Open Results by Email Client, Detailed

0

5

10

15

20

25

30%

GmailOutlook 2013Outlook 2010iPhone

Highest Usage

26.09%

14.01%

9.49%

6.94%

15c. Open Results by Email Client, Detailed

0

3

6

9

12

15%

Apple Mail 3

Outlook 2007

Apple Mail

Outlook 2000/2003/Express

Outlook 2013

Outlook 2010

14.01%

9.49%

5.07%4.35%

2.89%2.15%

Highest Usage: Desktop

15d. Open Results by Email Client, Detailed

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8%

AOLHotmail Yahoo Gmail

6.94%

1.52% 1.37%

0.75%

Highest Usage: Web

15b. Open Results by Email Client, Detailed

0

5

10

15

20

25

30%

Android TabletAndroid PhoneiPadiPhone

26.09%

6.23%4.34%

0.24%

Highest Usage: Mobile

22 |2016 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report | © Informz, Inc. 2016

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