Email marketing is still one of the most popular and effective ways to reach out to the audience. The benefits of such practices are many: companies love email marketing campaigns because they are cheap, easy to set up, and enable them to reach out to millions of people very seamlessly. Having said that, crafting and flashing out an effective campaign can be time-consuming. This is the reason why many people love to use various email marketing tools and software applications. Such tools include mass editors, mass mailers and other innovative programs that enable marketers to modify their campaigns on the fly, and send them out to various groups of people, consisting of thousands of users, in the blink of an eye. The time it would take to manually edit out an email is quite significant, particularly if you need to do the same process for any receiver. On the other hand, dedicated email marketing programs can help you make major individually tailored edits without wasting time and efforts. Will email-marketing software improve your campaign? Yes, without the shadow of a doubt! Therefore, it is important to use marketing software and one of its most valuable tools – metrics.
Taking the time to review email marketing metrics before your next campaign can help ensure that your message and brand is truly resonating with your chosen audience.
Email marketing metrics that matter, period
Bounce Rate
Your bounce rate, or the recipients who did not get your messages at all, is caused by anything from a full mailbox, invalid email or an email with a typo. A high bounce rate is an indication that your email list could use some cleaning up. If you have recently run a contest, you may see an increase in your bounce rate – some people use throwaway emails for contests and other submissions. While bounce rates vary, if yours is more than 1% or so, your list needs attention. A sudden increase in your bounce rate could be an indication of a problem with your database or intake methods, too.
Unsubscribes
The note that most of us dread; this metric reveals the number of users who have chosen to opt out of receiving your content at all. Your unsubscribe rate reveals how relevant your content is and how effective your signup opt-in is – a higher rate means your emails may not be as relevant or interesting as your prospects would like.
Unsubscribe rate metrics give you a reason to examine your approach. Are your subject lines really intriguing, and does your content deliver as promised? Even the frequency of your mailings could trigger prospects to unsubscribe. Send too many emails, too frequently or send out the same message again and again and people will begin to opt out of receiving your emails at all.
List Growth
How fast is your email list growing?
Simple math can help you find out; subtracting the number of bounces and unsubscribes from the total amount of new subscribers, then dividing this result by your previous number of subscribers reveals your growth rate. A steady rate of growth ensures your list stays healthy can that your email program is targeted and effective. A focus on quality over simple quantity ensures that your campaigns will continue to be relevant to your subscribers.
Click Through Rate
How many times were the links in the email you sent clicked?
If you’ve come up with a relevant and useful piece for your prospects, they’ll reward you with a better than average click through rate. Using this metric in conjunction with your open rate can also give you an idea of how well your content is performing. If a lot of readers are opening your emails, but not clicking the links, you know you are good at generating interest, but need a little more work on creating compelling content.
Delivery Rate/Spam Complaints
Deliverability is one of the most critical email marketing metrics. Delivery rate will tell you the percentage of emails that were properly delivered to your contacts. Ideally, 100 percent delivery rate is what you want. Anything over 95 percent is usually good enough to not worry too much about. The lower your delivery rate the more likely your ESP will reach out and investigate your lists. A low delivery rate can also show signs or spamming and receiving spam complaints. The more spam strikes you receive you run the risk of being black listed and shut down from sending.
Social Engagement
Which users loved your content so much they shared it with someone else?
This is a key metric to explore because it measures organic growth. Serving up more of the content that was shared willingly with others can help you grow your list without spending any extra cash.
Shared content is also like a personal recommendation; someone who shares your email is basically recommending your business to a friend. Your forward and share rate reveals the effectiveness of your content and message and should be examined as you work on your content calendar and planning. Knowing what resonated with users so well that they shared it is a powerful piece of information that can help you create compelling content in the future.
Conversion Rate
The bottom line and the most important result; how many of the users you emailed opened, read, clicked and actually completed a purchase or sign up?
Your conversion rate is your main way to measure overall success and can help you identify how well your overall email marketing strategy is performing for you. Define what you consider a successful conversion – is it an actual sale, a new subscriber or some other result. Once you know what you consider a conversion, you’ll be able to use this metric to get an idea of how successful you are.
Overall Email Marketing Campaign ROI
You’ve calculated the revenue generated by your campaign, but this metric looks at the overall effectiveness. You had to spend money to generate that revenue and looking at your overall campaign ROI ensures you are spending your budget in the right place. To determine your campaign ROI, you’ll need to break out the calculator and plug in the following numbers:
(Revenues generated by campaign) – (dollars invested in campaign) divided by (dollars invested in campaign) X 100 = ROI
Calculating the ROI for each of your email campaign efforts gives you the data you need to pinpoint the approaches that resonate best with your followers. With this information in hand, you can ensure that you are taking the correct approach and getting the most from your investment.
Some of the biggest marketers actually could not even function without using software. The sheer size and scope of their emailing lists is simply too big to even consider doing things manually. If results and ROI are important to you, email marketing software is the way to go! Products like Delivra, Campaign Monitor, and EMMA can significantly improve your workflow, and really redefine the effectiveness of your campaigns!
