Marketing services firm Epsilon and the Direct Marketing Association's (DMA) Email Experience Council released the Q1 2012 North America Email Trends and Benchmarks report, which shows a 12.6% year-over-year open rate increase in both triggered emails and business as usual (BAU) emails and a 5.9% increase over Q4 2011. Overall open rate was at 26.2%.

The quarterly analysis is drawn from the 7.1 billion emails Epsilon sent out on behalf of its multiple industries between January and March 2012 in North America, with the participation of approximately 150 clients.

Most notably, open rates for triggered messages were 75% higher than “business as usual” (BAU) in Q1 2012.  This stat suggests that customers want and are more likely to respond to messages driven by their behavior and interests.