More Open Rate Fodder (and other metrics to include in your weekly report to your boss)

None of us the stats included in this MailerMailer study are new or earth shattering but they do help support the increasing need to test and focus more on subject lines - often the key to driving strong response rates.

Some highlights from the study as reported by Chief Marketer

-HTML, Subject Lines Affect E-Mail Open Rate

-Regarding subject lines, MailerMailer found that messages with shorter subject lines were substantially more likely to be opened.

-Those with subject lines in excess of 35 characters saw open rates of 16.93%, while those with shorter subject lines generated open rates of 24.02%.

-Click-throughs reflected these open rates: Messages with shorter subject lines generated 3.84% rates, while clicks for those with longer subject lines were barely over 3%.

-Personalization also had an impact on whether messages were opened. Those with personalized subject lines saw open rates of 24.31%, while those with personalized messages were opened 22.2% of the time (while not expressly stated, assumedly recipients would know that their messages were personalized through preview windows.)

-Those that had both personalized subject lines and messages generated open rates of just over 28%.

-The days of the week e-mail messages were most likely to be opened followed the same pattern in the first half of 2006 that they did during the last half of 2005: hest on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, lower Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, with an uptick on Saturday.

-If messages are going to be opened, a majority – more than 80% -- will be opened within 48 hours after delivery. Fewer than 10% are opened four days after delivery.