A recent survey by email solution provider Return Path suggests that building customer relationships can have positive impact on whether emails are delivered in the first place. The “Inbox Placement Benchmark Report 2014” notes: “The industries most dependent on consumer relationships, whether for direct sales (e.g., retailers) or transactional updates (e.g., banks) outperformed others globally.”
First, the worldwide benchmarks for deliverability based on Return Path analysis of 492 million permission-based commercial emails are:
- Email that reaches the addressed inbox: 83%
- Email that goes missing (“probably blocked by the mailbox provider,” says the report): 11%
- Email rejected as spam: 6%
The top categories against those benchmarks are:
- Health and beauty: 96%
- Insurance: 92%
- Apparel; automotive; and food & beverage: each at 91%
- Not-for-profit; and retail: each at 90%
- Hospitality; and business services: each at 87%
Anchoring the bottom:
- Software & internet, 43%
- Technology, 70%
- Movies & entertainment, 74%
- Consumer services, 77%
- Biotechnology, 79%
The report’s conclusion: “Relationship Specialists Perform Best”