Chart: Benchmarking Ourselves

Posted: 22 Jan 2012 06:35 AM PST

by Egan Cheung |

Eloqua has a very data oriented culture. Whenever possible, we make decisions only after asking “What does the data tell us?”.

With that in mind, I thought it would be interesting to look at two standard email metrics over the course of the inaugural 2011 year of our Chart of the Week campaign, benchmarking against ourselves (over time) and the wider Eloqua population. Here are some interesting things we found:

Our open rate and click through rate are both well above the 75th percentile values (19.5% and 3.3%, respectively, according to the Eloqua Benchmark Index values available in Eloqua Insight). It’s also above the 75th percentile for Newsletters that we discovered in a past Chart on open rates by type.

Nonetheless, as our list grows our open rates are declining. Since our click rate is not declining, I am not overly concerned, but I do think this warrants examining our list for groups of subscribers who look like emotional unsubscibers, or potentially have an overly restrictive email filter on.

Our most forwarded email was when we stuck your names in the subject line!

Our two most popular (by click rate) editions were the SaaS Benchmark Report, and the map of where the Eloqua expertise is around the world! Not very surprising given that you would have to click to get to the full experience.

I am pleased to report that over the entire year, we have only had 3 unsubscribes!

Thanks for (continuing) reading, and please feel free to tell your friends about the Chart of the Week!

Chart: Benchmarking Ourselves is from Eloqua's It's All About Revenue, a Blog Covering Business To Business Marketing