Having all the available tools for analytics nowadays, it is now possible to track virtually the behavior of your visitors. With this simple way to obtaining detailed information, it is now easy for marketers to track customer's attitude in other facets of marketing. For instance, the information they can get from email marketing campaigns, can be particularly helpful.

But it is important to take note that there is actually no benchmark for the email click-through rate (CTR). This is because CTR depends on a variety of factors including the industry you're in, frequency of sending, the opt-in process, and the relevance of your message to the audience. Additional factors include how effective your system is in getting around "spam filters". These software programs can send your message into the garbage folder even if the subscribers signed-up to receive your offer.

Apart from that, companies also calculate email click-through rates differently. Companies can calculate CTR differently (ie. unique clicks vs. total clicks). Subscribers will typically click on one or more links which means that CTR that is based on the total would be twice higher than those based on unique clicks. It may even be significantly higher. With that being said, there are certain industry averages you should take note of depending on the industry (based on unique clicks):

B2B Email Marketing - email click-through rate can range from 5 to 15%. The audience is highly targeted and trust is usually already established between the company and clients in a B2B business. So if your CTR falls below this level, then something about your campaign needs to be improved. The problem may lie on the email's content or your message may simply not be getting through.

B2C Email Marketing - in this type of business, the click-through is usually between 2 to 12%. Most businesses would be somewhere in between. 12% would be on the higher end and it is the result of trust between the business and customers. If your email click-though rate falls below 2%, something needs to be done. Either you have to improve your mailing list by targeting more relevant customers or the title/content of your emails should be changed.

Highly Segmented Market - if the industry you're in is more personalised, expect a higher CTR. It should be in the 10-20% range. Meanwhile, trend-type newsletters usually receive 10-15% even if the list is "unsegmented" because of the general interest in the content.

Aside from the email click-through rate, the actual sales conversion should also be considered. After all, at the end of the day, improving sales is still the main reason why email marketing campaigns are conducted.