Via the Center for Media Research, Harte-Hanks Postfuture Index of comparative email metrics reports January-June 2006 saw restaurants enjoying the highest email open rate at 167.7% and the highest click-through rate of 57.5%. The lowest open rate was retail at 35.3% and the automotive sector had the lowest click-through rate of 5.7%

The 13 industries featured in the study and their click-through rates:

Restaurants (57.5%)
Publishing (55.6%)
Pharmaceutical (23.8%)
Travel and hospitality (23.4%)
Conference events (14.2%)
Financial services (11.0%)
Technology (10.9%)
Government (9.5%)
Insurance (9.5%)
Consumer packaged goods (8.6%)
Entertainment (8.1%)
Retail (6.0%)
Automotive (5.7%)

One large retailer saw an impressive 74.2% open rate, 24.1% click-through rate and 0.1% opt-out rate. According to Harte-Hanks this was achieved by behavorial targeting messaging. One easy way to accomplish this and increase the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign is by using Sequential Autoresponders.