email open rates fall from 38.2% to 30.2%

emarketer reports on the news that email open rates are falling from 38.2% to 30.2% over a year on year period, according to DoubleClick. There is a caveat to these numbers in that tracking methods to report the data are being blocked by some ISPs. That said, click-through rates fell to 7.9% in the latest quarter from 8.4% a year earlier. So the trend is clear.

The report doesn't use the word 'dramatic', but if these numbers are accurate, then this drop dramatic as it gets.

Does RSS adoption have anything to do with it? Who knows...Speaking for myself, the chances of me subscribing to an email newsletter are comparable to those of me going to the gym tomorrow. It ain't gonna happen. Subscribe to an RSS feed? Now we're talking.