Report: Personalized Subject Lines Drove Higher Open Rates for Q2 B2B Marketing Emails

New research suggests that content personalization may be critical in improving email marketing performance.

The “Q2 2016 Email Benchmark Report” from Experian has discovered that personalized subject lines increased unique open rates for B2B marketing emails by 29.4 percent in the second quarter.

In general, personalized subject lines resulted in a 27 percent higher unique click rate, as well as an 11 percent higher click-to-open rate in Q2. The authors of the report claim that utilizing past product choices, social media selections and browsing behavior can make for more personalized subject lines.

Compared to the same quarter last year, the year-over-year unique open rate and click-to-open rate were relatively similar at 18 percent and 10 percent, respectively. The total click rate for B2B email marketers rose slightly in Q2 2016, compared to Q2 2015.

Timing Marketing Emails for High Open Rates

Timing may play a role in whether marketing emails are opened and clicked, according to previous research by Informz. The “2016 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report” found that emails sent during the middle of the day have the highest click rate (16.5 percent). However, the highest open rate was during the evening hours (37.3 percent).

More than three-quarters of email opens occur just once, according to the report. Furthermore, mobile has the highest email open rate at 35.8 percent.

Overall, open rates tend to remain steady throughout the week (between 35 and 39 percent), with the highest percentage of opens coming on Saturdays (39 percent).