Here are some e-mail newsletter baselines to use when setting goals, as reported by eMarketer. No surprises here: E-mails set to smaller (and probably more targeted) numbers of people are opened and used more than those sent to higher numbers.
Media/Publishing Industry E-mail Rates
Number of e-mails sent
| Percent of… | 25 to 499 | 500 to 999 | over 1,000 |
| E-mails opened | 4.3% | 2.7% | 2.7% |
| Links in e-mails clicked through to a website | 28.9% | 24.8% | 14.2% |
Source: “E-mail Marketing Click Rates Worldwide, by Industry and List Size, Second half 2008,” eMarketer from a MailerMailer LLC June 2009 report, July 6, 2009
News Numbers 