We tracked key healthcare email marketing benchmarks for Q3 2023 based on an analysis of 10,130,344 emails sent by 130 unique senders across Q2 and Q3.
The report reveals notable trends in email engagement, including viewed rates and click-through rates (CTR), as well as insights into the effectiveness of drip vs. marketing emails. Seasonal trends and day-of-the-week performance are also explored.
The data set includes a total of 10,130,344 emails sent across Q2 and Q3 of 2023. These emails were sent by 130 unique healthcare industry senders, with 59 senders contributing to Q2's data and 71 to Q3's.
We compared key performance indicators - specifically, viewed rates and CTR - between Q2 and Q3.
The data reveals a decrease in both key metrics from Q2 to Q3. The viewed rate dropped from approximately 38.34% in Q2 to 27.03% in Q3, marking a 29.50% decrease.
Similarly, the CTR declined from 3.06% in Q2 to 2.81% in Q3, resulting in an 8.20% decrease.
These shifts indicate a decline in engagement and suggest that healthcare marketers may need to revisit their email marketing strategies to arrest this downward trend by using more personalization in their healthcare email marketing.
Various factors, including seasonality, can significantly impact engagement metrics. Our month-to-month analysis within Q3 offers some insights into these variations.
These fluctuations suggest that while the viewed rate rebounded in September, the CTR consistently declined. This could be indicative of seasonality or perhaps other factors, such as changes in email content or strategy that require further exploration.
| Month-Year | Viewed Rate (%) | CTR (%) | Change in Viewed Rate (%) | Change in CTR (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2023 | 20.56 | 5.70 | N/A | N/A |
| August 2023 | 20.92 | 3.21 | 1.75 | -43.58 |
| September 2023 | 35.06 | 2.08 | 67.62 | -35.23 |
The data highlights the days of the week that were most and least successful in terms of views and CTR during Q3 2023.
While Sunday might be an excellent day for views, it may not be the best day to drive action, as indicated by its low CTR.
| Day of the Week | Viewed Rate (%) | CTR (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday | 58.15 | 2.34 |
| Friday | 40.36 | 2.33 |
| Saturday | 36.02 | 4.13 |
| Tuesday | 30.34 | 2.08 |
| Wednesday | 26.34 | 4.90 |
| Thursday | 26.03 | 2.87 |
| Monday | 15.23 | 4.15 |
Our analysis included both drip and marketing emails, and the findings present a compelling case for the former.
Drip campaigns outperformed marketing emails significantly when it comes to CTR. Specifically, drip emails had a CTR of approximately 5.00%, nearly double the 2.74% CTR for marketing emails.
This stark difference suggests that drip campaigns are more effective at encouraging recipients to take action. Healthcare marketers aiming to boost engagement might consider focusing more on personalized drip campaigns, given their demonstrated effectiveness in this analysis.
The third quarter of 2023 has shown significant fluctuations in healthcare email marketing metrics. Key takeaways include the marked effectiveness of drip campaigns over traditional marketing emails and the importance of considering both seasonality and timing when planning email campaigns.