DoubleClick today announced the results of its third quarter 2002 Email Marketing Trend Report, which shows that after a significant dip in second quarter performance metrics including open rates and
click rates, in addition to high bounce back rates, third quarter metrics have returned to 2001 levels. The Q3 data revealed that open rates remained consistent quarter-over-quarter at 37.3% (from
37.6% in Q2), while click-though rates increased to 8.5% in Q3 from 7.5% in Q2. DoubleClick says the results suggest "a greater sophistication of email practices among marketers, and indicate that
email marketing will continue to be a successful sales channel during the holiday season."
Bounce back rates declined from their historic high of 13.6% in Q2 to 13.3% in Q3. The high bounce back
rates, calculated when a sender receives a message indicating that a message has not been delivered, probably reflect full in-boxes, new size limits for inboxes as well as address changes.
