I have started using Mailchimp a lot, mainly for lists gained from wedding fayres, but also in other marketing (not just weddings and not just to brides)

However I have found the % of people opening the email to be disappointing (normally around 50-60%) and was wondering if

a. this is about right for people opening any email
b. do mail chimp emails go into 'other' folders on recipients emails
c. is there a better alternative

Emailing and bcc seems to produce better results, but again can be a little dodgy as to whether people actually receive the email and hard to track if people are opening/reading the email

Cheers