Knowing how to measure and analyze the performance of marketing activity is fundamental. Without constant monitoring of data and results, it is impossible to understand if a strategy is working. It may be a successor, or on the contrary, to fail. Even in email marketing campaigns, there are KPIs of crucial importance. These parameters allow those who manage a full-service email marketing to evaluate the validity of the tactics. Therefore, it is essential to collect them, analyze them, and draw a valuable lesson to improve one's initiatives.
You cannot measure a strategic plan without proper analytics or metrics. You also must not base it on subjective assessments instead, you must be guided by precise numerical data. But what are the main analytics in email marketing, and how do you set them? First, of course, there are many measurements used in the DEM world. Fortunately, you can track and measure each email send at any time on its way from the company to the customer. Still, some KPIs are essential to evaluate the actual performance of a campaign. Here are the ones to keep under constant control.
Indeed, data analytics has become a standard technology that marketers use to measure the effectiveness and track the performance of digital marketing campaigns, including email marketing. A prime example is cross-platform analytics or tracking user behavior as they shift between native mobile applications and website browsers using one tool.
Using cross-platform analytics in your email marketing campaigns can help you analyze recipient behavior data in one place. Analyzing your target audience’s behavior can help you set the relevant metrics according to your email marketing goals. But what are these relevant email marketing parameters?
Every business should take into account some fundamental parameters to monitor their email marketing campaigns. Different types of statistics and ratios will allow you to measure the performance of your emailing campaigns, as shown below:
This metric indicates the number of emails that the recipients open, compared to the total emails sent and delivered. It shows how many recipients have opened it. Technically speaking, the email sending platform identifies this number. It does so by detecting the download of the images by the recipient's email reader. The opening rate is one of the most used KPIs to monitor the progress of a DEM campaign. Although it cannot determine the actual interaction of users with the email.
The fact that an email has been opened does not mean that the recipient has read it. It could be that they have not read it. They may have even opened it mistakenly or clicked on them to mark them as "read emails." The subject lines and the pre-headers in the preview of every email are essential criteria. The opening rate is, in fact, a perfect metric for analyzing the effectiveness of the issues. It also allows you to experiment. Run AB testing with alternative copy, original and captivating. See which increases users' curiosity and pushes them to open the message.
The KPI called Click-through Rate in full-service email marketing measures the number of email recipients who click on one of the points of the message offering links. The rate indicates the number of clicks divided by the number of emails delivered. It is a more effective metric in understanding the level of interaction of the target audience with the content of the email. It is influenced precisely by the optimization of texts, images, and calls to action.
The CTR tracking also lets you know if the potential customer clicks on one of the links to guide him to a conversion landing page. Even in this case, A / B tests on the email's contents, colors, layout, and fonts can be decisive.
The bounce rate, or delivery error, shows the percentage of email addresses that returned an error when sent. The errors found by the full-service email marketing software can be more or less serious. They can be permanent hard bounces, i.e., non-existent or invalid email addresses. Or, soft bounces or transient errors, such as full email boxes, server errors. these are temporary and solvable problems.
Monitor the bounce rate constantly to proceed with any cleaning operations of the contact list. You want to remove non-real addresses promptly. Another reason to manage this KPI carefully is that an exceptionally high hard bounce rate affects reputation as a sender. Which is one of the key factors that internet service providers use to determine it.
In an email marketing plan, the conversion rate estimates the percentage of users who complete the conversion action of the email message. It is one of the essential email marketing metrics to assess whether the audience is behaving as expected. Thus, carrying out the objective measures of the campaign. The conversions can be different, such as downloading an e-book or document, signing up for a webinar, or completing the online purchase of a product or service. Better managing CTAs and accurately segmenting audiences are among the best practices to implement to achieve satisfactory conversion rates.
Normally, the unsubscribe rate stays at around 1-2% of subscribers to the email service. This should be lower than the number of new subscriptions. If the unsubscribe threshold rises beyond these limits, it is essential to carefully review every step of the email marketing strategy. You must identify the main reason for the issue. It is essential to correct the steps immediately.
You can reduce the unsubscribe rate by allowing recipients or subscribers to manage and update their email preferences, such as the type of messages they’re interested in reading. This step promotes relevancy and prevents frustration. Some people want to receive promotional content, while others are good with educational or news content.
In addition, set proper expectations as to the number of emails you’ll send weekly or monthly at the very start. Segmenting your email list based on relevant parameters, such as shopping behaviors, response cues, or inquiries, can help improve open and reduce unsubscribe rates. Most importantly, personalize your emails to a recipient from thinking they only receive generic or randomly sent emails.
These are the most crucial analytics for accessing email marketing campaigns. Including these metrics in your reports and thoroughly analyzing the results will help determine the right email marketing strategy for the present and future needs.
