Important Metrics for Email Marketing: What You Must Know for Maximum Success of Your Campaign

Ever since the very first email was sent by Ray Tomlinson about 42 years ago, the way emails have been used has changed in major ways. Email marketing is one of the latest strategies being used by several businesses across various industries all around the world. It is, in fact, a very cost-effective and efficient marketing strategy when compared to others.

Known as the ‘Father of Spam’, Gary Thuerk, the Marketing Manager of Digital Equipment Corp started the trend of email marketing or commercial emails in 1978 by sending the very first mass email. Over the years that email marketing has been practiced, the methods, techniques, and strategies have transformed drastically.

So here, in this article, we will talk about some really important and useful metrics for a successful email marketing campaign. These metrics will help you understand and measure the success and potentiality of a certain email campaign and can help marketers figure out the right ways of optimizing the campaign.

Mastering the Art of Email Marketing

Email marketing involves a set of strategies, techniques, and consideration of several factors. It cannot be mastered overnight, it takes time to identify the KPIs of a lucrative email marketing strategy and know the right techniques to implement a successful email marketing strategy that leads to maximum ROI.

While there are some important practices prevalent in email marketing, every campaign involves avoiding common rookie mistakes. It is also about making sure that the emails are optimized for maximum engagement of the target audience.

However, along with these strategies, techniques, and efforts, there are some really important metrics and KPIs essential for a successful email marketing campaign. Mastering the art of email marketing depends on these metrics.

Important Metrics for a Successful Email Marketing Campaign

Before you head into the journey of mastering email marketing, it is very important to determine the goals of your email marketing campaigns in an appropriate manner. This can be very helpful in optimizing the campaign and determining its success.

Every campaign on email marketing is different from another and has a different set of goals. While some intend to generate leads for a business, others aim at growing the subscriber base of a brand or enterprise.

Irrespective of what you have set your goals as there are some basic and really important metrics crucial for any email marketing campaign. Take a look at the most important email marketing metrics.

#1 The Open Rate of Emails

Based on studies, email marketing campaigns usually have an open rate of around 24%. Open rate is simple but extremely important in email marketing KPI. It is very useful in understanding how well your emails are being received by the subscribers. The email open rate is basically the number of subscribers who have clicked on the email sent by you and opened it.

The open rate can be an indication of the success of the subject line copy. Whether it is using the name in the subject line or the use of emoticons, the open rates can be increased through such strategies.

A simple example can be the study that proves that emails that have the subscribers’ first names are 26% more likely to be clicked or opened.

#2 The Click-through-rate (CTR)

The average CTR, or click-through rate, for most email campaigns, is just a little over 4%. CTR is a common metric that helps in determining the performance of a campaign. It basically gives the number of people who click on the links that you add to your emails. CTR measures the number of subscribers as a percentage.

There are many ways to increase the CTR of an email campaign. For example, you can include links and add an eye-catching call-to-action button in the email for them to redeem the offer.

#3 Bounce Rate

Tracking the bounce rate is crucial for any email marketing campaign. The metric basically indicates the number of subscriber email addresses that did not or could not get your email.

The bounce rate has two types of bounces,

• Soft bounces (this tracks temporary problems with the subscribers’ email address)
• Hard bounces (this tracks permanent problems with the subscribers’ email address)

Bounce rates help ascertain the quality of a specific list of subscribers for email marketing campaigns. A high hard bounce rate means that you may have a lot of fake, old, and wrong email addresses on your list.

#4 List Growth Rate

The List Growth Rate is a metric to track the rate at which a subscriber list of an email campaign grows. The List Growth Rate is calculated by subtracting the number of unsubscribes from the total number of new subscribers. The number is then divided by the total number of email addresses on the list, and the final figure is multiplied by 100.

#5 Forwarding Rate or Email-sharing Rate

Forwarding rate or email-sharing rate measures the percentage of recipients who have shared your post through any social media platform or personally forwarded the email to a friend.

This helps marketers to track the number of brand advocates and loyalists. Having brand advocates and loyalists through email marketing campaigns is very essential as studies suggest that almost 81% of consumers’ purchasing decisions are influenced by the posts of their friends on social media.

Along with these, here are some other metrics of email marketing that can be very helpful in assessing the performance and success of your campaign.

• Engagement over time
• Mobile open rate and mobile click rate
• Domain open rate and domain click rate
• Overall ROI
• Revenue per subscriber
• Spam complaints
• Unsubscription number
• Rate of conversion

Succeed with Your Email Marketing Campaign

Knowing these metrics and slowly getting in-depth knowledge about their influence on your brand’s email marketing campaign can help you understand the performance and success of the campaign. It also helps you adapt and optimize your efforts and strategies appropriately. And just like that, in no time, you can master the art of email marketing and succeed with your campaign leading to maximum growth and ROI for your brand or business.

So, good luck with your emailing ahead!

Author Bio

Akash Tripathi is a Content Marketing Manager at Top Mobile Tech. It is a blog where I cover all the tips&tricks related to Mobile and more related to tech. Stay connected to the rest of the world with Top Mobile Tech. We bring latest and critical news to your mobile and computer devices.