There are no doubts about the fact that email is one of the most effective marketing channels. However, as email marketers, you need to know whether you are moving in the right direction and making the most out of your email marketing efforts or not. In order to measure the results of your efforts, there are a few best practices and metrics that you must monitor.
Each email campaign can be different with a different set of goals and different target markets, but here are the basic metrics that are common for every campaign and need to be taken into account for running successful email marketing campaigns.
1. Deliverability rate
The deliverability rate is the number of emails accepted by your recipients’ server. Calculated by dividing the number of emails delivered by the number of emails sent, the percentage tells you how many emails make it to the inbox. It is important to create emails that pass the spam test for various email servers. Emails that use trigger words in the subject line such as ‘Free trial’, ‘Increase sales’, ‘Earn money’, Best price’, ‘Guaranteed’, etc. get caught by the spam filter and end up in the recipients’ spam folder. Such emails that fail the spam test have a low deliverability rate.
2. Open rate
The open rate determines how likely your users are to read your emails. This is one of the most important metrics that every email marketer needs to track, as your email campaigns will not work unless they are being opened and read. The key driver of open rates is the email subject line and the sender name. The more alluring the subject line is, the more likely are people to open the email to read it further. Using emoticons in the subject lines and keeping them short and crisp can play a huge role in improving open rates. When the message resonates with the target audience, the open rate goes up.
3. Click-through rate
The click-through rate helps to determine how many people clicked on links in your email to visit your website or find out more about your offering. It tells you how well your campaigns are performing. The main factors that impact click-through rates are good design, relevant content, exciting offers, and enticing CTA. Sending out personalized emails to segmented email lists can help brands to target better and get more users to engage with the email. Get free HTML email templates to conduct A/B tests using various combinations of subject lines, design elements, email copy, CTA placement, colors, fonts, etc. to pinpoint what is working and what is not. This will help in sending the right email that gets maximum click-throughs.
4. Conversion rate
The next thing to measure is whether the reader is performing the desired action such as making a purchase, filling up a lead form, taking a survey, or completing a download. The conversion rate measures the number of people who clicked through the email, completed a specific action, and moved forward in the sales funnel. This is the most important metric that determines the success of your email campaign. It is calculated by dividing the number of times the desired action was completed by the number of emails sent. Mailchimp email experts can help you measure your conversion rate and give insights into the overall performance of your campaigns.
5. Bounce rate
The bounce rate is the percentage of your emails that do not get delivered to the recipients’ inbox. There are two types of bounces that marketers must pay attention to- soft bounce and hard bounce. Soft bounces occur when there are temporary problems such as inadequate space in the recipient’s inbox or a server error, while hard bounces are a result of permanent problems like incorrect or non-existent email addresses. It is of utmost importance to maintain a clean email list to avoid bounces. High bounce rates create a bad sender’s reputation for internet service providers (ISPs).
6. Unsubscribe rate
Email recipients who do not connect with your emails or are no longer interested in hearing from your brand often choose to unsubscribe. It is important to have an unsubscribe option in your emails and monitor the number of unsubscribes to have a healthy email list. Make sure you remove the unsubscribers from your email list, and if the unsubscribe rate keeps on increasing with each email, you might want to analyze and reconsider certain parameters to create better emails.
7. Forwarding/Social sharing rate
It is a good practice to include social sharing icons and a share option in the emails to increase email shareability. When the users find your emails useful or helpful, or when your brand is able to build a connection with the users, there are high chances of it getting shared more. The number of times your recipients forward the email or share it on social media plays a major role in determining the success of the email.
8. Campaign ROI
The overall return on investment is basically the total revenue divided by the total spend for the campaign. The ROI will give you a clear picture of whether the efforts, time, and money you are putting in your email campaigns are paying off.
Final Thoughts
While measuring these metrics is crucial to understand your subscribers and the performance of your emails better, there are various email automation platforms available that can make your job easy. Investing in Marketo certified experts, Mailchimp experts and HubSpot marketing automation platform is a good way to keep track of your email campaign metrics. If you do not wish to spend on creating emails from scratch, you can also download free HTML email templates that follow the best practices and give good results.
Author Bio:
Kevin George is the head of marketing at Email Uplers, that specializes in crafting Professional Email Templates, PSD to Email conversion, and Mailchimp Templates. Kevin loves gadgets, bikes & jazz, and he breathes email marketing. He enjoys sharing his insights and thoughts on email marketing best practices on email marketing blog.