According to new data out today from the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and Epsilon, B2B email marketing open rates are showing a 7.1% increase over the previous quarter, and a 7.8% increase over Q3 2010.

The report, entitled “Q3 2011 North America Email Trends and Benchmarks,” also showed that click-through rates remained stable at 5.5%, with the average volume per client increasing from the previous year by 14.9%.  The data for the report came from analyzing 5.7 billion emails sent by Epsilon in July, August, and September of 2011, across multiple industries and approximately 140 participating clients.

Here’s some other quick highlights from the report:

1. Non-bounce rates remained strong quarter over quarter and year over year, at 96.5 percent.
2. Open rates (23.8 percent) saw a slight increase quarter over quarter (7.1 percent), as well as an increase over last year (7.8 percent).
3. Click rates (5.5 percent) increased 0.3 percentage points from Q2 2011.  They are also in line with Q3 2010 results (5.4 percent) and have remained steady over the last two years.
4. Average volume per client increased over Q3 2010 (14.9 percent), but decreased by 30.4 percent over last quarter.