Yes Lifecycle Marketing recently released a study about the gaps in email marketing. I took this research and have created a three part series on improving your email marketing by closing these different gaps. The first gap in email marketing is between subscriber RESPONSE and subscriber ENGAGEMENT.

Open rates have remained consistent over the past 3 years, but click rates and CTO rates are on a downward spiral. Unique click rate has gone down 15 percent year over year, and CTO rate has gone down 12 percent year over year. What do these numbers tell us? They say there’s a growing gap between response and engagement. Customers are opening emails as frequently as ever, but they’re not engaging and converting.

In the auto industry specifically, there is an 11.1% open rate, a 1.3% click rate, and a 8.7% click to open rate. The rates in the auto industry are better than in many other industries, but there still seems to be a major disconnect.

So how can you start improving? Brands often find success by using specific taglines many times in their marketing, so that when customers are ready for an oil change or for a new car, they’ll remember your consistent marketing.

Another easy way to work on your email marketing is by evaluating the day of the week that you send emails. Many studies show that Friday and Saturday are actually some of the best days for conversions, so that may be something to take into consideration.

I recommend always personalizing emails by name; consumers have come to expect this.

Studies also find that holiday and event emails give you a large advantage as they create a sense of urgency.

Trying these things and even being more aware of the disconnect between response and engagement can help you work on your email strategy, and drastically improve it.