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Library Email Marketing Benchmarks Annual Report 2025
Library Email Marketing Benchmarks Annual Report 2025
Libraries sent over 377,000 emails to more than 166 million subscribers from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, via LibraryAware. We analyzed the data, and we’re excited to share our second annual email benchmarking report to help libraries set better goals.
- Average open rate:* 49.67% - Percentage of total subscribers that opened the email.
- Average click to open rate: 2.24% - The percentage of people who opened the email and clicked at least one link.
- Average growth rate of email lists: 11.03% - Percentage of new subscribers who opt into an email list.
- Average bounce rate: 0.46% - Percentage of emails that cannot reach the intended subscriber and are not delivered.
- Average unsubscribe rate: 0.98% - Percentage of total subscribers who click the unsubscribe link.
Tips for improving open rates
- Focus on writing fabulous subject lines that either communicate urgency or generate curiosity.
- Email your subscribers consistently with the same “From” name. It helps when they can expect to hear from the same person/team/library with regularity.
- Make your emails a joy to read. That's how you earn the open!
Tips for increasing number of subscribers
- Provide many locations for people to subscribe to your newsletters.
- Keep asking, keep asking, keep asking. Sometimes you just have to ask again.
- Match your emails with your community’s interests. What information are your readers interested in receiving?
Tips for keeping unsubscribe rates low
- Make sure you’re sending relevant, valuable information to your subscribers. If they don’t want it, they’ll unsubscribe.
- Pay attention to how your community responds to the frequency of emails being opened and engaged with. Would a shorter, weekly email perform better than a longer, monthly one?
- Once a year, ask your subscribers to update their preferences. Giving them control helps reinforce trust in your library.
Want to learn more about how to promote your collection?
Take the course “How to Circulate More Books with Smart Merchandising” available with a subscription to Learn with NoveList Plus. Learn more at https://m.ebsco.is/ui5fW
LibraryAware
*Since 2021, Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection automatically marks emails sent to Apple Mail clients as opened, even if the subscriber doesn’t actually open the email. This means actual open rates are lower than the metrics reported by email providers. This also means your click-to-open rates will be higher than what is reported.
