Someone wrote:
Can someone tell me what are respectable numbers for e-mail open rates and click through rates? I mainly write and design e-mails, so this is a new area for me.
You have probably asked one of the more difficult questions that face e-mail marketers. Not to be rhetorical, but “what do you want it to be?”
If you dispose yourself of the 30 percent of the list that has failed to open an e-mail in the last 12 communications, you’ll likely see a great jump. And you can argue that you saved money by not wasting the bits and bytes on those folks 
Ideally the question is: How can I segment my list to better understand, make relevant and dialog with the specific behavior groups to influence an ultimate result of [fill in the blank]? Where “fill in the blank” can be increased lead volume, sales, reduced support calls, etc.
Take a classroom analogy to your list, and you’re the teacher.
Segment that list in to As thru Fs. You most certainly don’t want to lose any As – so do something that 9/10 teachers fail to do: Ask them why they like you! Armed with that information, pick some Bs and Cs and turn them into As.
Now the hard part of being a teacher is knowing when to give up. “Never give up!” some fellow teachers will yell and scream. But if you allocate too much of your time and attention to the failing students (who never even show up), you may lose a few of those As and Bs.
Know when to give up. And know what your “graduation rates” are. That I got straight As in shop didn’t always mean I was well armed to graduate and be a future marketer!
Design and copy can play a great role in influencing segments to improve their group performance. However, there’s likely a dozen other influencers to contend with that may be beyond the control of Photoshop and some snappy copy. Break that list up and start experimenting.
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