This report was

1. Q4 2012 Email Trends
and Benchmarks
March 2013

2. 2epsilon.com
Executive Summary 3
Business As Usual Email Trends 4
Triggered Email Trends 8
Email Activity Segment Evaluation 10
Conclusion 13
About Epsilon 14
About Email Institute 14
Contents

3. 3epsilon.com
Consumers today interact with brands
across a number of channels—often
simultaneously—browsing, making
purchases and receiving products and
services. Concurrently, marketers rely
heavily on the email channel as a means
to connect and enhance the consumer
experience. Email continues to play a vital
role in the marketing mix, driving strong ROI
in customer acquisition and engagement.
Epsilon has compiled and analyzed
aggregated data from billions of emails
since 2002 to produce quarterly email
benchmark reports. Marketers can gather
insight from these benchmarks to help
improve their email campaigns and develop
more intelligent engagement strategies.
Please note this benchmark data should
only be used as a guideline. Specifics for
each company will ultimately drive results.
Executive Summary

4. 4epsilon.com
• Click rates were unchanged quarter
over quarter, remaining at 4.5%.
They are lower than Q4 2011 (5.2%),
but remain established over the
previous two years.
• Removing triggered and real-time
messages, the average volume per
client increased by 17.7% over the
previous quarter, but decreased
24.2% over last year (Q411). This
suggests that marketers sent more
triggered and real-time messages
vs. Business as Usual (BAU) and
batch messages compared to
Q4 2011.
Business As Usual Email Trends
Epsilon open rate
remained strong
throughout 2012
The Q4 2012 Email Trends and Benchmarks
analyzed performance trends by industry
and message type to provide an under-
standing of how the average company in
each category performs. The study is
compiled from 7.3 billion emails sent in
Q4 (October, November and December)
2012, across multiple industries and
approximately 170 participating clients.
• Non-Bounce rates remained strong
at 96%.
• Open rates increased both quarter
over quarter (+0.6%) and year over
year (+10.6%), resulting in an overall
open rate of 27.4%.
26.2%
4.7%
95.7%
5.2%
22.2%
5.9%
23.3%
96.0%
5.1%
22.1%
95.0%
5.2% 4.5%
24.8% 27.4%
96.3% 96.0%96.5%
23.8%
5.5%
95.9%
25.6%
4.4%
96.5% 96.1%
27.2%
4.5%
Q410 Q111 Q212Q211 Q311 Q411 Q112 Q312
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Click-throughOpen rateNon-bounce
Q412
Q4 2012 Overall Performance

5. 5epsilon.com
Nine of the thirteen industries analyzed
had an open rate increase of 5% or higher
when compared to Q4 2011: Business
Products and Services General, Consumer
Products CPG, Consumer Products
Pharmaceutical, Consumer Publishing/
Media General, Consumer Services
General, Financial Services CC/Banks,
Retail Apparel, Retail General and
Retail Specialty.
Consumer Publishing/Media General,
Financial Services General, Retail Apparel
and Retail Specialty saw a click rate
increase of 5% or higher compared to the
previous year’s metrics.
The highest open rates were in Financial
Services/CC Banks (39.3%), Retail
General (36.7%) and Travel/Hospitality
Travel Services (31.2%).
The highest click to open rates were
in Consumer Products CPG (39.5%),
Consumer Publishing/Media General (33.1%)
and Financial Services General (22.6%).
Epsilon Q4 2012
North American Industry
Non-Bounce
Open
Rate
Click
Rate
Click to
Open Rate
Business Products and Services General 91.4% 29.7% 4.0% 13.4%
Business Publishing/Media General 94.3% 16.9% 2.3% 13.4%
Consumer Products CPG 97.5% 21.8% 8.6% 39.5%
Consumer Products Pharmaceutical 91.5% 30.6% 4.0% 13.1%
Consumer Publishing/Media General 99.3% 22.5% 7.4% 33.1%
Consumer Services General 98.0% 24.6% 4.0% 16.2%
Consumer Services Telecom 98.2% 18.4% 2.3% 12.7%
Financial Services CC/Banks 95.4% 39.3% 4.6% 11.6%
Financial Services General 94.6% 28.0% 6.3% 22.6%
Retail Apparel 99.1% 19.1% 4.0% 20.9%
Retail General 98.0% 36.7% 5.5% 15.0%
Retail Specialty 97.3% 24.3% 4.0% 16.5%
Travel/Hospitality Travel Services 97.5% 31.2% 3.8% 12.3%
*Red or blue text indicates an increase (blue) or decrease (red) over last year’s metrics that was over 5 %.
industries
analyzed
Industry Performance

6. 6epsilon.com
The Q4 2012 Email Trends and Benchmarks also analyzed the types of messages sent and their
performance metrics. Nearly 62% of emails deployed through Epsilon’s proprietary email
platform were characterized as marketing messages, down slightly from 64% the previous
quarter.
key metrics
analyzed by
message type
across the
industries
analyzed
Campaign Performance
Message
Type
Open
Rate
Click
Rate CTOR
%
Delivered
in Q412
Acquisition 15.2% 1.1% 7.2% 0.0%
Editorial 31.1% 3.6% 11.6% 0.4%
Legal 53.2% 14.9% 28.0% 0.0%
Marketing 22.5% 3.0% 13.5% 61.7%
Other 18.4% 3.7% 19.9% 30.3%
Research 13.0% 2.1% 16.1% 0.1%
Service 36.2% 4.5% 12.5% 7.4%
*Message types are based on emails deployed out of one of Epsilon’s two
proprietary email platforms and are defined by the person(s) creating the
campaigns, which may not reflect the same definitions as your company.
Research
0.1%
Service
7.4%
Acquisition
0.0%
Editorial
0.4%
Q4 2012: % delivered
Marketing
61.7%
Other
30.3%
Industry Industry
Category
Message
Type
Open
Rate
Click
Rate
Click to
Open
Rate
% of Total
Delivered
in Industry
Business Products
and Services
General Acquisition 5.4% 0.8% 15.5% 0.7%
Editorial 48.1% 8.2% 16.9% 0.1%
Marketing 24.3% 3.2% 13.2% 48.5%
Other 11.2% 1.2% 10.9% 46.5%
Research 1.2% 0.2% 15.0% 4.2%
Business Publishing/
Media
General Marketing 21.2% 1.6% 7.5% 98.4%
Other 48.3% 2.4% 5.0% 1.6%
Research 54.6% 16.4% 30.0% 0.0%
Service 23.4% 9.5% 40.4% 0.0%
Consumer Products CPG Marketing 19.7% 3.1% 15.8% 99.9%
Other 41.4% 7.7% 18.5% 0.1%
Pharmaceutical Marketing 19.0% 3.2% 17.0% 89.2%
Other 5.7% 1.2% 20.6% 10.8%
Service 35.2% 7.7% 21.9% 0.0%
Consumer Publishing/
Media
General Other 23.3% 5.3% 22.6% 100.0%
Consumer Services General Marketing 26.3% 3.4% 13.0% 98.9%
Other 81.1% 16.2% 20.0% 0.7%
Service 65.6% 23.3% 35.6% 0.4%
Telecom Marketing 29.7% 1.6% 5.3% 100.0%
Service 93.9% 4.7% 5.0% 0.0%

7. 7epsilon.com
*Message types are pulled from Epsilon’s proprietary email platform only and defined by the person(s) creating the campaigns
and may not reflect the same definitions as your company.
key metrics
analyzed
Industry Industry
Category
Message
Type
Open
Rate
Click
Rate
Click to
Open
Rate
% of Total
Delivered
in Industry
Financial Services CC/Banks Acquisition 20.0% 1.2% 6.1% 0.3%
Marketing 31.0% 2.3% 7.4% 59.1%
Other 83.7% 17.2% 20.5% 11.8%
Research 32.6% 10.3% 31.4% 0.0%
Service 49.7% 5.1% 10.3% 28.9%
General Legal 66.0% 1.4% 2.2% 0.0%
Marketing 28.5% 2.3% 7.9% 76.3%
Other 40.7% 5.1% 12.6% 7.6%
Service 51.9% 9.3% 17.9% 16.1%
Retail Apparel Marketing 18.0% 2.1% 11.5% 94.9%
Service 65.4% 5.8% 8.9% 5.1%
General Editorial 28.7% 3.1% 10.8% 0.0%
Legal 52.8% 15.3% 29.1% 0.0%
Marketing 19.9% 3.7% 18.7% 30.4%
Other 15.1% 3.1% 20.4% 61.9%
Research 23.1% 1.5% 6.5% 0.0%
Service 17.2% 3.3% 19.5% 7.6%
Specialty Editorial 33.5% 4.7% 14.1% 1.8%
Marketing 19.7% 2.3% 11.5% 91.0%
Other 19.2% 3.2% 16.6% 7.0%
Research 45.6% 10.1% 22.2% 0.2%
Travel/Hospitality Travel Services Marketing 23.1% 2.5% 10.6% 99.8%
Other 69.9% 5.3% 7.6% 0.1%
Service 74.6% 19.3% 25.9% 0.0%

8. 8epsilon.com
Triggered Email Trends
Epsilon’s triggered email metrics are
compiled from over 360 million triggered
emails sent in Q4, across multiple indus-
tries. These campaigns were deployed as
a result of an action, such as Welcome,
Thank You, Abandoned Shopping Cart
and Confirmation.
This study also highlights significant
differences between triggered email
performance and Business as Usual
(BAU) email performance.
• Triggered messages accounted for
5.0% of total email volume in Q4
2012, 73% higher than in Q4 2011
(2.9%).
• Non-Bounce rates continued to drive
strong results, only 0.4% lower than
BAU industry metrics.
• Triggered open rates were 70.5%
higher than BAU in Q412. This is a
decrease over Q411 when we saw a
lift of 93.8% over BAU messages.
• Triggered click rates continued to
perform well, reporting 101.8%
higher than BAU. Q411 triggered
click rates showed a 123.0% lift
over BAU.
overall triggered
message
performance
Overall Performance
Epsilon sees a 73% year over year growth in total triggered messages delivered
45.9%
10.4%
94.7%
9.8%
40.4%
12.9%
46.8%
94.6%
12.4%
42.2%
94.8%
11.5% 9.0%
48.0% 46.7%
94.7% 95.6%94.8%
46.8%
11.7%
95.2%
49.8%
9.8%
95.2% 94.7%
47.7%
9.7%
Q410 Q111 Q212Q211 Q311 Q411 Q112 Q312
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Q412
6.0%
5.0%
4.0%
3.0%
2.0%
1.0%
0.0%
Click-throughOpen rateNon-bounce% of Total delivered
-.04%
+70.5%
+101.8%
Q412 BAU
Difference

9. 9epsilon.com
The highest open rates for triggered
messages were in the Financial Services
CC/Banks (64.8%), Retail General (64.2%)
and Travel/Hospitality Travel Services
(60.5%) categories.
The highest triggered message click rates
were in Consumer Products CPG (18.5%),
Retail Apparel (14.7%) and Consumer
Products Pharmaceutical (14.0%).
Triggered emails typically have higher open
and click rates as they are deployed based
on an action taken by the consumer. The
categories with the most notable difference
in triggered open rates compared to BAU
open rates were in the Consumer Products
CPG (+167.0%), Retail Apparel (+145.0%)
and Consumer Services Telecom (96.2%)
categories.
The most significant click rate differences
between triggered and BAU messages
were reported in Retail Apparel (+266.6%),
Consumer Products Pharmaceutical
(+249.5%) and Consumer Services
Telecom (186.3%).
Triggered Email by Industry
Q4 2012
North American Industry
Non-
Bounce
BAU
Non-Bounce
Difference
Open
Rate
BAU Open
Rate
Difference
Click
Rate
BAU
Click Rate
Difference
Business Products and Services General 96.8% +5.9% 39.0% +31.2% 4.3% +6.9%
Business Publishing/Media General 97.6% +3.5% 20.2% +19.7% 2.5% +10.8%
Consumer Products CPG 96.2% -1.2% 58.1% +167.0% 18.5% +114.8%
Consumer Products
Pharmaceutical
94.0% +2.7% 59.4% +94.4% 14.0% +249.5%
Consumer Publishing/Media General 97.9% -1.5% 32.0% +42.4% 11.6% +56.5%
Consumer Services General 95.0% -3.1% 34.1% +38.8% 5.6% +41.0%
Consumer Services Telecom 92.9% -5.5% 36.1% +96.2% 6.7% +186.3%
Financial Services CC/Banks 93.3% -2.3% 64.8% +65.0% 5.7% +24.6%
Financial Services General 98.0% +3.5% 54.3% +93.9% 7.5% +17.8%
Retail Apparel 94.3% -4.8% 46.8% +145.0% 14.7% +266.6%
Retail General 94.6% -3.5% 64.2% +75.1% 10.6% +93.7%
Retail Specialty 96.5% -0.8% 44.6% +83.8% 8.1% +100.9%
Travel/Hospitality Travel Services 94.0% -3.6% 60.5% +93.8% 9.1% +137.9%
*Blue text indicates a 50% lift over BAU.

10. 10epsilon.com
Email Activity Segment
Evaluation Trends
Epsilon’s EASE analysis included
behavioral segments and examined the
overall performance of an average email
file across industry categories.
These metrics are compiled from
710 million non-bounced out and opted
in email addresses. These addresses were
contacted from January 1, 2012 through
December 31, 2012, across multiple
industries and from approximately
150 clients.
This analysis first breaks down the email file
into two categories: New and Mature. New
represents addresses that have been on a
marketer’s file for less than three months.
Mature are those addresses that have been
on a marketer’s file for over three months.
Each category is then further segmented
based on consumer email activity.
The New segment is broken into two
categories:
• Rising Stars: Subscribers who have
both opened and/or clicked on an
email; and
• Question Marks: Subscribers who
have been inactive for the previous
three months.
The Mature segment is broken into three
categories:
• Superstars: Subscribers who have
opened or clicked within the most
recent three months;
• Nappers: Subscribers who have
opened or clicked emails more
than three months ago; and
• Dormants: Subscribers who have
been inactive for the past 12 months.
Rising Stars, Superstars and Nappers are
considered active segments. Question
Marks and Dormants are considered
inactive segments.
• 49.9% of an average email file had at
least one open or click during the
12 month study period.
• Approximately 28.3% of subscribers in
an average email file opened or clicked
in the most recent three months.
• 63.4% of new subscribers in an
average list have no opens or clicks,
down from 66.3% in Q312.
• In 2012, 89.7% of a marketer’s email
list had been on file for over three
months.
Overall Performance

11. 11epsilon.com
As the chart above illustrates, 49.9% of the
average email list was active in Q4. This is
an increase over Q312 (49.4%) and Q212
(48.5%). Active segments are represented
by the Superstars (24.5%), Nappers
(21.5%) and Rising Stars (3.8%).
As was the case in Q3 2012, the EASE
analysis suggests 10.3% of an email list
will be comprised of new subscribers.
In the chart above, the new subscriber
population is comprised of Rising Stars
(3.8%) and Question Marks (6.6%).
36.6% of new subscribers are active
after initial opt-in to an email program
(New Clickers and New Openers). This
is an increase over last year (Q411) when
32.0% of new subscribers were active.
New Inactive subscribers decreased in
Q4 2012, with 63.4% of the average email
file showing a lack of engagement with
marketers’ email programs. This is down
from 66.3% in Q312, possibly indicating
that marketers are doing a better job of
maintaining subscriber engagement.
Understanding mature subscribers’ behavior
can help marketers develop models based
on consumer triggers or identifiers to create
better engagement strategies for new
subscribers.
In Q412, 51.4% of Mature subscribers were
active in the previous 12 months. Mature
subscribers are comprised of Mature Lapsed
Clickers (11.2%), Mature Lapsed Openers
(12.8%), Mature Recent Clickers (14.0%) and
Mature Recent Openers (13.3%).
27.3% of Mature subscribers had recently
engaged with an email program (Mature
Recent Clicker, 14.0%, and Mature Recent
Opener, 13.3%), up 4.5% from Q411.
Mirroring the Q3 2012 benchmarks, 48.6%
of Mature subscribers remained inactive. This
finding serves as a reminder that customer
engagement and loyalty is a continual process,
not a one-off campaign. Marketers now have
an opportunity to develop reengagement
strategies for their Mature Inactive segment.
New Inactive
63.4%
New Opener
25.6%
New Clicker
11.1%
New Subscriber Behavior*
Mature Subscriber Behavior*
Mature Inactive
48.6%
Mature
Lapsed Clickers
11.2%
Mature
Recent Openers
13.3%
Mature
Lapsed Openers
12.8%
Mature
Recent Clickers
14.0%
Question Mark
6.6%
Rising Star
3.8%
Dormant
43.6%
Super Star
24.5%
Napper
21.5%
Percentage of Segments in the Average Email*

12. 12epsilon.com
Retailer Apparel again had the highest amount of engaged subscribers, with 36.1%
of their file categorized as Super Stars (down slightly from 36.7% in Q312). Financial
Services CC/Banks outperformed the other industry categories in regards to on-
boarding new customers, as shown in the percentage of Rising Stars (9.3%).
Industry Performance
Industry Super Star Napper Dormant Rising Star
Question
Mark
Retail Apparel 36.1% 25.5% 26.2% 8.1% 4.2%
Travel / Hospitality 34.0% 25.3% 29.1% 5.3% 6.3%
Retail General 33.8% 25.0% 29.9% 6.2% 5.1%
Consumer Products 31.7% 18.6% 44.2% 2.4% 3.1%
Business Publishing / Media
General
31.2% 21.7% 39.0% 2.2% 5.9%
Financial Services CC/Banks 28.8% 22.4% 25.0% 9.3% 14.5%
Consumer Publishing / Media
General
26.4% 24.6% 42.8% 3.0% 3.2%
Retail Specialty 23.3% 21.5% 37.0% 5.1% 13.0%
Consumer Services Telecom 22.5% 21.8% 47.9% 2.2% 5.6%
Business Products and Services
General
21.6% 19.8% 49.1% 2.2% 7.2%
Financial Services General 20.0% 21.6% 44.5% 3.0% 10.8%
Consumer Services General 18.5% 16.5% 54.8% 3.5% 6.7%
Consumer Products Pharmaceutical 8.3% 16.8% 53.1% 5.1% 16.7%
Overall 23.8% 20.9% 42.3% 4.4% 8.6%
*Note: due to rounding calculations, these charts may not equal 100%

13. 13epsilon.com
Conclusion
Since introducing our Email Activity
Segmentation Evaluation in Q2 2012,
we have seen consistent findings. While
the percentage of active subscribers on
an average email list has increased from
49% in Q212 to 51% today, new inactive
subscribers have remained above 50% for
the previous three consecutive quarters.
Marketers have a tremendous opportunity
to capitalize on their current assets—their
subscriber lists. Studies have repeatedly
shown that it is more cost effective to
maintain current customers than to
acquire news ones. Furthermore, current
subscriber data can provide contextual
insights to enhance acquisition models and
future engagement strategies.
Leverage the customer and loyalty data
you have to communicate intelligently with
your subscribers. Obtaining initial opt-in is
only half the battle. Engagement and loyalty
require an insight-driven communication
strategy that focuses on the individual
consumer and their interactions with
your brand.

14. 14epsilon.com
Epsilon is the global leader in delivering direct-to-customer connections that
drive business performance. Epsilon’s integrated solutions leverage the power
of rich transactional and demographic marketing data, strategic insights, analytics,
award-winning creative and robust digital and database marketing technologies
to connect brands with consumers both online and offline, increasing engagement
to generate measurable marketing outcomes. Founded in 1969, Epsilon works
with over 2,000 global clients and employs over 4,800 associates in 60 offices
worldwide. Epsilon is an Alliance Data company. For more information, visit
www.epsilon.com, follow us on Twitter @EpsilonMktg or call 1.800.309.0505.
About Epsilon
Email Institute, powered by Epsilon, was founded with the purpose of
educating marketers on email marketing best practices and how it intersects
with other channels (Mobile, Social Media, Brick and-Mortar, Catalog, etc).
The best practices site features articles from around the industry that focus on
how to improve email marketing by pointing out how-to information on a specific
subject and showcasing other company’s email marketing efforts. Email Institute
also showcases premium Webinars, events, whitepapers and Epsilon primary
research and benchmarks to provide in-depth information strategically targeted
to increase your email marketing acumen.
About Email Institute

15. 15epsilon.com
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