Email marketing remains a strong avenue for businesses to reach their customers, build brand awareness, and drive revenue. However, email marketing campaigns do not rely on sending emails to an email list. It is crucial to keep up with and review important data to determine how successful your email campaigns are, and what can be done better. Here are the 5 best email marketing metrics, and how you can improve them:
1. Open Rate
Open rate refers to the number of people who open your email, based on how many emails were sent. It’s one of the most valuable metrics for early-stage engagement, as a tiny fraction of opens can tell you that your subject lines are not good enough to catch people’s attention when they read them.
How to Improve Open Rate
Use Specific and Direct Subject Lines: Create subject lines that make the reader feel rushed or interested. For example, notifications such as “Don’t Miss Out! or “Last Chance!” will force the recipients to click on your email to learn more.
Personalize Subject Lines: If you can include the recipient’s name or location, this creates intimacy and proximity that could encourage recipients to read your emails. Example: “John, This is Your Exclusive Deal!” making it personal at the mention.
Test Other Subject Line Lengths and Formats: Everything will be a test. A/B testing lengths and formats will teach you which format is most comfortable with your target audience.
Segment Your Email List: If you segment your email list according to the demographics, interests, or past behaviors of each segment, then you will have content that is helpful for the customer. This usually leads to a higher open rate than standard email lists.
Spammy Words: Certain words and phrases can also set off spam filters and stop emails from being delivered. To that end, you should not be too uncooperative using terms such as “free” or “guarantee” because they entail a degree of mistrust.
2. Click-Through Rate
Open rates are a measure of how open your emails are, and click-through rates can tell you how many recipients opened a link within your email. Low CTR can demonstrate that your content is not relevant to your readership, or that the call-to-action was opaque and/or ineffective.
Improve CTR
Deliver Value-Driven Content: Email content should address the pains and desires of the recipients. Focus on the benefits rather than features because you are essentially selling what the recipients want.
Insert Images, Videos, or Infographics: Adding images, videos, or infographics will not only break up the text but also keep the reader entertained. Typically, viewers absorb information better when presented with visuals, and clicks may rise.
Aim for CTA Above the Fold: You don’t want your CTA to be overlooked. Put it above the fold- so people don’t need to scroll-or in a separate box to make it very easy to see.
Use Strong Colors and Bold Sayings: A successful CTA is visually obvious. Use different hues and clear language to direct the audience to do whatever it is you want them to do.
Try Out Several CTA Formats: Different users might react differently to several formats. Try comparing buttons and text links and see which type of link gets the most clicks.
3. Conversion Rate
The percentage of email recipients who complete a certain action after clicking on a link in your email is called the conversion rate. Such action may be purchasing, filling out a form, or downloading a resource. A low conversion rate might indicate that your landing page isn’t optimized for conversions or your offer isn’t appealing to your audience. If you’re looking to optimize your conversion rate, here are some best practices:
Ensure a clean and consistent user experience from your email to landing page.
Write in a way that’s easy to understand and aligned with your audience’s desires and challenges.
Clear your landing page of clutter and distractions, and get straight to the key elements.
Try different designs, colors and forms to maximize conversions.
Provide a compelling value proposition and social proof to ensure confidence and trust.
4. Bounce Rate
The proportion of emails that do not arrive at the intended recipient’s inbox due to an empty mailbox, mistyped email address, or server problems is referred to as bounce rate. The bounce rate can also damage your sender reputation and deliverability, and therefore your email marketing performance. If you’re interested in reducing your bounce rate, try the following tactics:
Be sure to cleanse and verify your email list every day to weed out spam or unread emails.
Double opt-in or confirmed opt-in is a way to validate your list accuracy and consent.
Use a re-engagement campaign to reconnect unsubscribes or purge them from your lists.
Utilize an e-mail service that is reliable and compliant with industry standards and practices.
Keep track of your sender’s reputation and deliverability, such as Spamhaus, Sender Score, or Return Path.
5. List Growth Rate
List growth rate is how many new subscribers you’ve acquired over time relative to your entire email list. A high list growth rate means that your email campaigns are reaching your customers and gaining new subscribers. If you want to speed up the growth of your list, try these tips:
Provide an enticing lead magnet or incentive in return for email subscribers (an e-book, webinar, or trial).
Adopt your email form through your website, social media, or other marketing mediums.
Encourage your current subscribers to share with their friends and contacts through a referral or viral sharing scheme.
Create a preference center where subscribers can choose the emails they would like to receive and at what interval.
Optimize your email signup form for mobile devices and make it easy to fill out with few fields and clear instructions.
Conclusion:
Overall, email marketing analytics play an important role in measuring how well and effectively your email campaigns are performing. You can analyze these metrics and use them to make a plan for improvement and grow your email marketing efforts. Utilizing the techniques and best practices shared in this white paper, you can increase your open rate, CTR, conversion rate, bounce rate, and list growth rate and consequently, generate more revenue and response with your email marketing campaign.
