Do Declining Open Rates Matter? Yes…and No.

Author:

Mark Brownlow

Source:

So I return from vacation to find the latest MailerMailer report citing average open rates for H2 2009 of 11.2%.
 
This number has declined every half-year since H1 2004, when it was 26.66%.
 
Then Litmus reveals that of 4 million opens recorded by their tools, an average 51.1%…”spend less than 2 seconds looking at your email.”
 
Less than two seconds!
 
Taken at face value, it seems half a decade of improved understanding, expertise, tools, services and experience, together with tens of thousands of articles and books put out by experts, has resulted in…
 
Not a lot.
Blimey.
So should you be worried? No…and yes. Here my thoughts…
 
Image blocking
 
Open rate drops are partly a consequence of how they are measured. They rely on tiny tracking images, so no open is recorded when images are disabled…even if the recipient reads every word in the message.
 
So as image blocking was activated by major webmail services and email software manufacturers, open rates declined automatically without implying any equivalent change in actual reader behavior.
 
But there’s no call for complacency...