Dive Summary:

• Silverpop, a leading digital marketing provider that specializes in email marketing, released a report titled "2012 Email Marketing Metrics Benchmark Study," aimed at helping marketers to measure their performance against industry competitors, examining top and bottom performers through metrics such as open and click-through rates.
• The study shows that the Financial Services sector had one of the best open rates globally at 55.6%.
• Overall open rates, however, are just under 50%, with some of the lowest-performing sectors including Education with 25.6% and Retail with 30.7%.

From the article:

Digital marketing technology provider, Silverpop, has released its 2012 Email Marketing Metrics Benchmark Study. Based on data collected from Silverpop customers, the Benchmark Study aims to help marketers see where they stand against their peers, while setting goals designed to move them into a top-performing quartile.

Silverpop examined email messages sent in 2011 and the first quarter of 2012 by 1,124 participating brands. ...