The State of Response Rates Benchmark Report

Exclusive to survey participants and ANA members

Drawing on data from 324 survey participants, this report benchmarks key performance indicators across email, direct mail, paid search, digital display advertising, and social media, while offering directional insights into ROI, cost per acquisition (CPA), click-through rates (CTR), and AI adoption.

Key directional findings include:

• 75 % of marketers now use multichannel strategies, with social media advertising (90 %) and email (86 %) leading the mix.
• Email to prospect lists achieved the highest ROI at 68 %, followed by direct mail to prospect lists at 67 %.
• Cost per acquisition (CPA) ranged widely from $19.20 to $415.00, with digital display ads improving dramatically to $40.30.
• CTR spanned 18–31 % across media types, with mobile continuing to outperform desktop.
• 91 % of advertisers leveraging digital ads are now using Generative AI, primarily for content creation and campaign optimization.
• 69 % of participants plan to increase their use of AI in campaigns in 2025.
• Direct mail’s comeback continues: all users of direct mail to prospect lists employed dimensional formats, while 71 % plan to expand their direct mail and display investments in the year ahead.

The report also uncovers how the industry’s most data-driven marketers are evolving:

• Email and paid search continue to deliver the highest ROI and campaign efficiency.
• Social media advertising rose eight points in ROI year-over-year, now averaging 36 %.
• AI integration is maturing, with nearly two-thirds of respondents expressing high satisfaction with AI-enabled performance, especially in email and digital advertising.
• Mobile-first strategies have become the norm, with click-through and conversion rates surpassing desktop performance across most channels.

Beyond the benchmarks, this year’s Impact Pulse outlines the future of marketing measurement, bridging traditional response rate tracking with next-generation analytics. The ANA is now expanding this research into interactive dashboards, enhanced data visualization, and continuous pulse surveys to give members deeper, real-time insight into what drives growth.

Access to the full 2025 Response Rate Report is available exclusively to ANA members and survey participants.

If you’re interested in conducting original research to benchmark your own organization’s media performance—or to better understand your market, audience, and value proposition—visit INSIGHTS™ by Demand Metric to explore how we help marketers transform data into actionable growth strategies.

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