I'm a fan of using email marketing as part of a broader marketing plan as long as it is not abused and functions as a platform to share information the recipient will find valuable as opposed to shameless product pitches. 

There are lots of different options here including self-service ones like VerticalResponse (which I currently use), Constant Contact, and MailChimp as well as ones like Portland-based eROI and Nashville, TN-based Emma which integrate agency services along with the email capability.  The full list of options is very long (including Atlanta-based Silverpop & Seattle neighbor WhatCounts) and I know I am not doing it justice here.

The purpose of this post is to dig into what are good results from an email marketing campaign.  How many opens, clicks, bounces, unsubscribes, etc. are actually good when compared to what is best in class?

I know what I have seen in my efforts and am happy to discuss one-on-one if you are interested.  Here is what I found after a few quick searches:

• Great chart from the folks at MailChimp with a breakdown by industry (small businesses).  The average of the averages (sorry mathematicians) pegs this around a 25% open rate with just over a 4% click rate looking across some 273M sent emails. Unsubscribes are pretty low at .36% while hard bounces (not a valid email) seem high to me at almost 6%.  People change jobs and email addresses go stale but I have not seen a result this high or it could be due an extended interval between sends.

• Good stats posted on eMarketer although pegging the high end of list size at 1000+ seems curious to me (my lists are always much larger than this and I hope yours are too).  Their citation of a report by MailerMailer puts the "worldwide" open rate at 12.5% at the end of 2008.

I'm not sure I am leaving you with what is best in class but at least this can function as a frame of reference.  I am not an email marketing expert by any means but believe in it and its responsible use for any organization.