How should marketers view the benchmark data published by either email service providers (ESPs) or industry publications? While it is important to have numbers with which to compare and gauge success or failure of an email campaign, it also should be carefully analyzed for objectiveness.

According to Jeanne Jennings, with email benchmarks, she start by considering the following:

• The source of the metric. ESPs have access to the myriad of data and metrics from all of their clients. They also use the same methods of measuring numbers. Industry publications rely on their readers to submit metrics.
• The population. The more you have in common with a group of target audiences they study, the more likely the metrics are relevant to your business.
• Time period. Factoring data from a longer time period is better than loking at just one day of sends.
• Type of email. Different call-to-action should yield different results too.

Benchmarks are to be taken with a grain of salt but should not be dismissed. The key to using them is knowing how to take the numbers into your applications effectively.

Update: Added a second link that points to a follow-up article about how to use benchmark effectively.

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