12 Essential Email Benchmarks for Bank Marketers

An invaluable collection of key performance metrics for banks and credit unions. Open and click-through rates. Monthly campaigns sent. List segmentation. Unsubscribe rates. And much more!

1. Email Penetration Rates for Banks & Credit Unions

Financial institutions collectively plateaued at 37% email penetration after Q2 2013. While credit unions collect a larger percentage of account holder email addresses than their bank counterparts, Harland Clarke Digital says there is still a lot of opportunity though for both banks and credit unions, and recommends that financial marketers actively look to collect email addresses at common points of interaction. Broadening awareness of email programs and clearly stating benefits are key components of a permission-based list-building strategy, the company adds.

email_contact_list_database_penetration

Source: Harland Clarke Digital 2014 Financial Email Marketing Benchmark Report

2. Average Number of Monthly Email Campaigns Sent by Banks & Credit Unions

banking_email_marketing_campaigns

Source: Harland Clarke Digital 2014 Financial Email Marketing Benchmark Report

( Read More: 5 Major Email Marketing Trends in Banking )

3. Open Rates

Unique Open Rates by Industry Mean Median Top
Quartile
Bottom
Quartile
Nonprofits 25.3% 23.1% 44.9% 9.1%
Computer Hardware, Telecom & Electronics 23.1% 19.7% 41.7% 10.1%
Computer Software 22.1% 19.4% 40.7% 8.4%
Consumer Products 21.4% 17.7% 42.2% 7.2%
Consumer Services 25.5% 20.9% 49.8% 9.1%
Education 25.7% 22.7% 50.4% 6.2%
Financial Services/Banks/Insurance 22.4% 19.5% 42.8% 7.0%
Healthcare 26.2% 23.4% 46.8% 10.5%
Travel & Leisure 15.0% 11.1% 33.7% 3.3%
Media & Publishing 16.6% 14.0% 31.3% 6.2%
Real Estate & Construction 23.1% 21.4% 37.3% 12.1%
Retail 20.9% 17.9% 37.6% 9.6%
Corporate Services 20.7% 17.9% 41.2% 4.9%
Industrial Manufacturing & Services 22.2% 19.7% 38.1% 11.0%

Source: 2014 Silverpop Email Marketing Metrics Benchmark Study

4. Open Rates for Emails From Banks & Credit Unions By Device

email_marketing_open_rates_mobile_devices

Source: Harland Clarke Digital 2014 Financial Email Marketing Benchmark Report

5. Click-Through Rates

Unique Click-Through Rate
by Industry
Mean Median Top
Quartile
Bottom
Quartile
Nonprofits 4.2% 2.3% 11.5% 0.4%
Computer Hardware, Telecom & Electronics 3.6% 1.6% 10.6% 0.2%
Computer Software 2.9% 1.1% 8.8% 0.2%
Consumer Products 2.7% 0.9% 8.6% 0.2%
Consumer Services 4.7% 2.3% 13.2% 0.4%
Education 4.5% 1.9% 13.2% 0.3%
Financial Services 3.3% 1.3% 10.0% 0.1%
Healthcare 4.8% 2.6% 13.0% 0.5%
Travel & Leisure 2.2% 0.8% 6.8% 0.1%
Media & Publishing 2.6% 1.1% 7.8% 0.2%
Real Estate & Construction 3.9% 2.8% 8.8% 0.9%
Retail 3.4% 2.1% 9.1% 0.3%
Corporate Services 3.4% 1.4% 10.3% 0.1%
Industrial Manufacturing & Services 3.2% 1.8% 8.7% 0.3%

Source: 2014 Silverpop Email Marketing Metrics Benchmark Study

6. Email Marketing Metrics in Banking Based on Message Type

Email Marketing Metrics in
Banking Based on Message Type
Open
Rate
Click
Through
Rate
Click
to Open
Rate
% of
Total Emails
Delivered
Acquisition 11.0% 0.7% 6.0% 0.8%
Marketing 46.8% 4.6% 9.8% 40.1%
Research 50.0% 7.1% 14.1% 0.0%
Service 63.4% 8.2% 12.9% 27.7%
Other 55.8% 5.4% 9.6% 31.5%

Source: Epsilon Q4 2013 Email Trends & Benchmarks

7. List Segmentation

An email database is not one homogenous group. The team at Epsilon encourages financial institutions to segment their email contact lists. At the most basic level, Epsilon recommends dividing your list into two groups: mature subscribers and new subscribers. New addresses are those that have been on your list for less than three months. Mature addresses are those that have been in your database for over three months.

The Mature segment is broken into three categories:

  • Superstars – Subscribers who have opened and/or clicked within the most recent three months
  • Nappers – Subscribers who have opened and/or clicked emails more than three months ago
  • Dormants – Subscribers who have been inactive for the past 12 months

The New segment is broken into two categories:

  • Rising Stars – Subscribers who have both opened and/or clicked on an email
  • Question Marks – Subscribers who have been inactive for the previous three months
Level of Email Engagement
by Industry
Mature
Superstar
Mature
Napper
Mature
Dormant
New
Rising Star
New
Question
Retail Apparel 25% 26% 27% 15% 6%
Retail General 23% 47% 16% 7% 8%
Banks & Credit Card Companies 21% 29% 22% 14% 14%
Travel/Hospitality 20% 43% 27% 5% 4%
Business Publishing/Media 20% 20% 57% 1% 2%
Retail Specialty 20% 28% 43% 3% 6%
Financial Services 19% 33% 40% 3% 5%
Consumer Publishing/Media 16% 18% 59% 2% 5%
Telecom 15% 23% 59% 1% 3%
Consumer Services 14% 23% 53% 5% 5%
Consumer Products 12% 46% 34% 3% 5%
Business Products/Services 11% 35% 45% 3% 6%
Pharmaceutical 8% 21% 54% 4% 13%

Rising Stars, Superstars and Nappers are considered active segments. Question Marks and Dormants are considered inactive segments.

Source: Epsilon Q4 2013 Email Trends & Benchmarks

8. Unsubscribe Rates

Unsubscribe Rates Mean Median Bottom
Quartile
Nonprofits 0.1579% 0.0600% 0.4968%
Computer Hardware, Telecom & Electronics 0.1264% 0.0000% 0.4776%
Computer Software 0.1901% 0.0389% 0.6381%
Consumer Products 0.1627% 0.0521% 0.5358%
Consumer Services 0.1260% 0.0119% 0.4481%
Education 0.1966% 0.0733% 0.6019%
Financial Services 0.1574% 0.0131% 0.5529%
Healthcare 0.1015% 0.0000% 0.3765%
Travel & Leisure 0.1680% 0.0521% 0.5498%
Media & Publishing 0.0839% 0.0113% 0.3028%
Real Estate & Construction 0.2040% 0.0122% 0.7452%
Retail 0.1411% 0.0842% 0.3866%
Corporate Services 0.2052% 0.0554% 0.6672%
Industrial Manufacturing & Services 0.1751% 0.0000% 0.6273%

Source: 2014 Silverpop Email Marketing Metrics Benchmark Study

9. Type of Emails Consumers Prefer

email_format_consumer_preferences

Source: HubSpot / Litmus

10. Effect of Number of Images on Email Click-Through Rates

images_email_click_through_rates

Source: HubSpot / Litmus

11. How Much of Their Email Consumers Actually Read

emails_consumers_read

Source: HubSpot / Litmus

12. How Often Consumers Buy Products & Services From Email Marketing Messages They Receive

email_offers

Source: HubSpot / Litmus

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