Average open, click, bounce and abuse complaint rates by industry

Our customers often ask us, “What kind of open rates should companies like mine be expecting?” and “How many bounces are too many?” or, “What’s an acceptable abuse complaint rate?”

So we scanned over 273 million emails delivered by our system (where campaign tracking was activated, and where users actually reported their industry) and calculated average open rates, average click rates, average soft bounces, average hard bounces, and average abuse complaint rate by industry.

Best of all, these stats aren’t pulled from a survey of big giant corporations with million-dollar marketing budgets and dedicated email marketing teams. 70% of our customers are 1-10 employees, and they’re design-it-yourselfers. If you run a small organization, and you do your own email marketing, now you have an “apples to apples” comparison with others in your industry.

View this illustrative chart:

Average Email Campaign Stats of Customers by Industry
Type of Company Open Rate Click Rate Soft Bounces Hard Bounces Abuse Complaints Unsubscribes
Accounting 27.36% 4.13% 3.91% 10.67% 0.04% 0.35%
Advertising 23.79% 4.20% 2.77% 6.67% 0.08% 0.36%
Architecture 32.05% 1.52% 6.16% 8.04% 0.00% 0.25%
Art 26.12% 6.86% 2.04% 4.49% 0.09% 0.41%
Arts_Music 16.22% 2.09% 0.97% 1.86% 0.08% 0.26%
Beauty/Health 29.88% 6.94% 2.63% 8.54% 0.15% 0.85%
Church 32.95% 4.48% 1.18% 2.89% 0.05% 0.26%
Construction 23.86% 4.44% 2.95% 5.33% 0.19% 0.85%
Consulting 22.34% 3.30% 4.29% 6.57% 0.03% 0.29%
Creative Agency 20.97% 3.12% 2.69% 5.16% 0.06% 0.38%
Creative Other 29.94% 0.86% 1.11% 0.60% 0.03% 0.10%
E-commerce 19.80% 4.78% 1.48% 3.21% 0.10% 0.37%
Education 25.86% 4.72% 2.11% 4.39% 0.05% 0.26%
Entertainment 15.42% 3.27% 1.10% 5.59% 0.12% 0.25%
Entertainment/Events 21.96% 0.42% 3.27% 7.58% 0.09% 0.14%
Financial Services 20.87% 2.47% 2.76% 3.98% 0.06% 0.33%
Food 36.62% 7.90% 0.84% 2.02% 0.09% 0.63%
Freelancer 32.95% 6.33% 3.16% 7.15% 0.07% 0.50%
Government 26.64% 4.30% 1.33% 1.95% 0.03% 0.22%
Graphic Design 25.35% 4.34% 2.49% 11.71% 0.12% 0.41%
Hardware 28.05% 3.57% 1.29% 2.01% 0.02% 0.18%
Healthcare 19.91% 3.99% 1.47% 3.81% 0.12% 0.50%
Healthcare/Medical 24.66% 6.96% 10.47% 9.00% 0.23% 0.41%
Hotel 27.50% 7.17% 2.90% 5.31% 0.08% 0.49%
Insurance 24.43% 2.92% 2.85% 5.71% 0.04% 0.37%
Internet/Web Svc. 20.34% 5.65% 1.46% 3.18% 0.06% 0.27%
Janitorial 27.82% 0.10% 10.18% 16.26% 0.05% 0.00%
Legal Services 25.48% 3.97% 4.14% 4.60% 0.04% 0.35%
Manufacturing 26.70% 4.92% 3.15% 5.61% 0.09% 0.46%
Marketing 20.52% 2.97% 3.32% 8.29% 0.16% 0.40%
Multimedia 19.46% 3.54% 1.24% 1.60% 0.06% 0.25%
Music 27.94% 5.17% 2.05% 7.73% 0.12% 0.39%
Non-profit 27.66% 4.06% 2.24% 4.31% 0.06% 0.24%
Other 15.29% 2.36% 1.74% 3.19% 0.07% 0.29%
Other Groups 27.66% 6.83% 1.72% 13.16% 0.08% 0.34%
Other Marketing 18.49% 3.66% 2.39% 3.15% 0.04% 0.21%
Photography 34.17% 6.82% 1.73% 3.59% 0.07% 0.36%
Public Relations 20.99% 3.13% 4.00% 8.21% 0.11% 0.30%
Publishing 21.05% 1.60% 1.11% 3.22% 0.03% 0.18%
Real Estate 22.84% 4.24% 2.02% 4.31% 0.08% 0.30%
Recruitment/Staffing 27.59% 4.61% 2.82% 6.49% 0.07% 0.74%
Restaurant 26.17% 3.40% 1.33% 3.44% 0.08% 0.41%
Retail 27.61% 5.76% 1.48% 2.80% 0.08% 0.42%
Self-Explanatory 34.80% 6.02% 6.14% 17.33% 0.04% 0.20%
Software 18.22% 3.26% 3.00% 6.01% 0.08% 0.43%
Technology 21.05% 2.75% 4.01% 6.60% 0.07% 0.40%
Telecommunications 29.77% 5.46% 2.98% 9.35% 0.10% 0.53%
Travel 24.97% 4.96% 2.17% 3.74% 0.10% 0.39%
Video Production 33.09% 6.81% 2.48% 2.63% 0.09% 0.43%
Web Design 27.42% 6.90% 2.45% 5.05% 0.09% 0.37%

ALSO, here are some useful tips for improving your email campaign performance:

* Boring works best. When you write your subject line, don’t sell what’s inside—tell what’s inside. Read our study on writing effective subject lines.
* If you want people to open your emails, you need to get past their spam filters first. Avoid using spammy keywords and phrases, and avoid using ALL CAPS or too many exclamation points. The best way to avoid spam filters is to learn how they work.
* Too many hard bounces is a sign of an old, stale list. People change email addresses every few months. Make sure you keep in touch with your list regularly (at least once a quarter) so they can stay subscribed to your list.
* Soft bounces usually mean the recipient is “temporarily unavailable.” Maybe they’re on vacation or their mailbox is full. You can keep those emails and re-try them later (MailChimp auto-cleans soft bounces after 5 failed campaigns).
* Hard bounces mean an email address failed. Maybe it no longer exists, or maybe someone typed their email wrong when they subscribed to a list. But hard bounces might also be spam filter rejections. If you see an abnormally high number of bounces after a campaign, you should read your bounce back records for any messages or “clues” from spam filters.
* Abuse complaints happen when recipients click the “This is spam” button in their email programs. That usually means they don’t remember you. Make sure your “From:” and “Subject” contain your company name (so they’ll instantly recognize you).

From Mailchimp