Q2 e-mail conversion rates increase despite a sharp drop in open rates

Click-to-purchase conversion rates for e-mail increased 27.8% to 4.6% in the second quarter, up from 3.6% in the year-ago quarter, despite a sharp drop in open rates, according to DoubleClick E-mail Solutions Q2 2005 Email Trend Report. It was the fourth consecutive quarter the rate exceeded 4%, DoubleClick said.

The average open rate dropped 23.6% to 27.5% from 36% in 2004’s second quarter. It is the fifth consecutive quarter of decline, DoubleClick said. The average click-through rate also declined in the quarter, falling 6.5% to 7.2% from 7.7% a year earlier.

Revenue per e-mail remained flat at 20 cents while the average order size dropped 14% to $80 from $93 a year earlier.

Other metrics of e-mail performance improved during the quarter. The average non-bounce rate grew to an all-time high of 92.1%, a 2.9% increase from 89.5% in the year-earlier quarter and an increase from the previous all-time high of 91.7% at year-end 2004.

In addition, the average orders-per-e-mail-delivered rate increased 18.2% to 0.26% from 0.22% in 2004’s second quarter.

The report is based on data compiled from more than 2.5 billion e-mail messages sent using DoubleClick’s DARTmail e-mail technology.