DoubleClick's recent quarterly e-mail marketing report has signalled a very clear message. Over the last few years the 'open rate' in email marketing has continued to fall. This is a trend which had been predicted by many marketing professionals in the past and now seems irreversible. The current 'open rate' is down to the all-time low of 27.5%. Open rate in the period between Q2 2002 and Q2 2005  The report shows a regular fall which has some rather complex implications. DoubleClick also pointed out that one reason for such a dramatic drop is the increase in the use of software that blocks the display of images in emails, thus making the data somewhat distorted as some emails appear as un-opened (or unread) while this is effectively inaccurate. On the other hand, if these softwares distort the accuracy of some reporting, thus making the situation look worse than it is, it has to be said that the majority of advertising emails are created with graphics, therefore the increase in usage of softwares that block images in emails constitutes a obstacle to the effectiveness of email marketing. Everyone knew that email marketing was losing effectiveness especially because of the problem we all know as SPAM, and just as we were all ready to congratulate ourselves for having made such prediction "a long time ago", there's more .. Email Marketing, Success! DoubleClick's report shows a drop in the open rate, but an incredible rise in click-to-purchase, thus determining, for many marketers, the success of email marketing. Click-to-purchase has risen by 27.8% between Q2 2004 and Q2005 (growing from 3.6% to 4.6%) Conclusion Statistics and reports aside, it is accepted that the abuse of email as a marketing tool has affected the internet industry. It seems, though, that the market and consumers have learned to filter these emails using technology or simply learned to recognise "bogus messages". This means that genuine emails are still read and do not get deleted by mistake or in rage as many marketers feared. Equally professional marketers have learnt about the importance of providing quality content to an opted-in audience, thus increasing the click-to-purchase by contacting exclusively targeted and interested recipients. Related links 
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