BY BETTINA SPECHT 2016 was a great year for online retail in Australia. For the first time ever, online sales exceeded $20 billion ,...
BY BETTINA SPECHT
MOST POPULAR DESKTOP AND WEBMAIL CLIENTS
2016 was a great year for online retail in Australia. For the first time ever, online sales exceeded $20 billion, growing five times faster than traditional retail spending.
As online sales in Australia continue to grow, both domestic and international retailers are improving their marketing strategies to better fit their local audiences—and email marketing plays a significant role.
Do your email campaigns target subscribers in Australia?
Together with our friends at Vision6, we analyzed more than two years worth of email data to help you benchmark your campaigns when sending to subscribers “Down Under”.
Infographic Transcript
Facts and figures to help you understand the Australian email landscape and benchmark your email program when sending to subscribers Down Under.
3 DIFFERENCES DOWN UNDER
- Australia has a strict anti-spam lawWhen sending to Australian subscribers, you must comply with the Australian Spam Act (2003) and its tight consent requirements.
- Slow internet speeds can be a challenge
Only 8.2% of Aussies get internet speeds above 15 Mbps, compared to the global average of 19%. Consider load times of videos or image-heavy emails, especially when sending to subscribers in rural areas. - Australia spans 3 time zones
As the world’s sixth largest country, Australia is divided into three separate time zones. Consider your subscribers’ local time, especially when sending time-sensitive campaigns.
HOW AUSTRALIANS CHECK THEIR EMAIL
MOBILE IS KING
As is the case around the world, mobile devices are the dominant platform for reading emails in Australia.
- Emails opened on mobile: 50%
- Emails opened in a browser: 28%
- Emails opened on desktop: 22%
EMAIL OPENS OVER TIME
Mobile has steadily ranked first as the most popular reading environment over the past few years. Meanwhile, Australians who read on desktop computers are slowly shifting from desktop email clients toward reading their emails in webmail clients.
Tip: Design for mobile first and use responsive or hybrid design techniques to ensure your emails look great on all devices.
MOST POPULAR DESKTOP AND WEBMAIL CLIENTS
- Gmail — 40%
- Outlook (Desktop) — 27%
- Apple Mail — 16%
- Outlook.com/ Hotmail — 9%
- Yahoo Mail — 2%
- Telstra BigPond — 1%
What’s Telstra Webmail?
Telstra is Australia’s largest telecommunications company. However, the company’s once-popular email client has lost market share in recent years, so it is becoming less of a consideration for email marketers.
Tip: Each email client renders emails in different ways. Test your emails across all clients to identify and fix rendering quirks before you send.
AUSTRALIAN EMAIL MARKETING BENCHMARKS
OPEN AND CLICK-THROUGH RATES — NATIONAL AVERAGES
- Open Rate = 32.4%
- Click-Through Rate = 4.4%
OPEN AND CLICK-THROUGH RATES —BREAKDOWN BY INDUSTRY
Open Rates:
- Healthcare — 37.3%
- Education & Training — 33.6%
- Banking & Finance — 34.7%
- Government & Defence — 41.0%
- Mining & Gas — 42.9%
- Sales & Marketing — 30.7%
- Retail & Consumer Products — 29.9%
- Hospitality & Tourism — 30.7%
Click-Through Rates:
- Health Care — 5.3%
- Education & Training — 4.4%
- Banking & Finance — 4.6%
- Government & Defense — 8.9%
- Mining & Gas — 12.1%
- Sales & Marketing — 3.8%
- Retail & Consumer Products — 3.9%
- Hospitality & Tourism — 3.2%
Tip: In addition to industry benchmarks, use your historic data to compare campaign performance over time and to optimize your emails according to what works best for your audience.
EMAIL VOLUME AND PERFORMANCE BY WEEKDAY
Despite having a lower email volume than other weekdays, Mondays and Fridays see the highest open and click-through rates.
- Open rates are highest on Mondays (34%) and Fridays (33%). The weakest days are Saturday (25%) and Sunday (27%).
- Click through rates remain relatively constant during work days (around 5%) but drop slightly on weekends.
- Weekends see the lowest email volume (Saturday: 5%, Sunday: 3%). Most emails are sent on Thursdays (21%), while brands send fewer emails on Mondays and Fridays (15% and 17% respectively)
Tip: Experiment with different send days and times, compare campaign performance, and use this data to identify the optimal sending schedule for your email program.
The data for this infographic is derived from over 1.8 billion sends in the Australian market analyzed by Vision6 between 2014 and 2016. It highlights Australian trends across all industries and verticals. Some email clients may be over- or under-represented due to image blocking.
LITMUS
Litmus is a web-based email creation, testing, and analytics platform that helps more than 250,000 marketers, designers, and agencies make email better.
VISION 6
Vision6 is a leading integrated email marketing automation solution built for marketers and agencies. Vision6 integrates enterprise grade email automation, SMS, forms and social media in an easy to use interface.
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