Consumers are opening and engaging with emails more than they ever have before, a new study from Yesmail finds.

Have you seen your open rates and email engagement increase in recent months? Let us know in the comments.

A spokesperson for Yesmail tells WebProNews the study has “debunked the idea that email marketing is a dying tactic,” adding that the “never active” subscriber segment fell below 69% for the first time. For retail, it fell below 60%. In other words, the amount of people who are never active with email is decreasing.

The study also found that half of all emails deployed in Q2 were responsive, which is up from just 28% for the same period the prior year. That’s some pretty impressive growth in an increasingly important marketing channel.

“Marketers have been claiming the death of email is near for years,” said Fisher. “That myth couldn’t be further from the truth. Consumers are engaging with email more than ever, in large part due to improved email marketing strategies with lifecycle triggers, relevant content and data-driven contact strategies.”

Q2 2015 saw the highest number of emails sent per opener (roughly 4 messages per week), which is an 11 percent increase year-over-year, according to Yesmail’s study. At the same time, open rates across industries were above 9 percent and as high as 30.1 percent for financial services. For retail they were nearly 15 percent.

Meanwhile, opens increased by 10 percent year-over-year and by 17 percent over the last two years.

“We’re halfway through 2015, and it’s safe to say that this is the year for email marketing,” said Michael Iaccarino, CEO and Chairman, Yesmail parent company Infogroup. “But not all email marketing is created equal. For brands to be able to capitalize on the opportunities the email channel has to offer, it’s essential for them to invest in analytics that uncover the consumer preferences, data-driven communication strategies that cater to these preferences, and innovative technology that enables flawless program execution.”

Not only are more people opening and engaging with emails more than ever, they seem to be largely enjoying the experience. In case you missed our article earlier this week, a study from Digital River’s Bluehoret, which surveyed close to 2,000 consumers about how they interact with and perceive marketing emails, found that they acknowledge the impact these emails have on their purchasing behavior.

That study found that most people prefer to hear from companies with marketing emails on a weekly basis. That’s the preference of 43.8% compared to 18.8% for monthly, 14% several times per week, and 13.9% for every couple of months.

“With the proliferation of mobile devices they are more connected than ever – with more than a third now checking email continuously throughout the day,” said the report. “And our target audiences are savvier than ever… they know what they want, and their expectations are personal. According to our data, consumers now expect us to understand who they are, and what they do and don’t want. They expect us to give them control of how frequently we email them. They expect a seamless experience across, and informed by, all channels.”

“Our consumers acknowledge that they are impacted by what they receive every single day,” it later said. “They get daily emails from flash sale sites. They are connected 24/7 and receive personalized content from their favorite brands on most of those days. They are asked not only to convert, but to engage, interact, and share. Simply put, all this digital exposure means our audience is smarter than ever when it comes to digital communications. They’ve reduced the number of email addresses they use (who has time for all those accounts?), and use multiple devices to stay connected throughout the day. Today’s consumers expect personalized content and when they get it, appear to be happy with higher frequency.”

As discussed in our previous coverage of that particular study, the holiday season is creeping up, and businesses need to be getting their email marketings strategies planned. Last year, email was huge for the holidays, and it will likely play an even bigger role this year, especially considering that consumers are engaging with emails more than ever.

Are you finding email to be an increasingly effective marketing channel? What kinds of things are you doing to tweak your strategy? Discuss.