Top 50 Digital Marketing Metrics Part 4: Email Marketing Metrics
Continuing our comprehensive blog series on the top 50 digital marketing metrics with part 4: Email Marketing Metrics and KPIs. Read our recent blogs in the series explaining Website Traffic Metrics, Search Engine Optimization Metrics, and Paid Advertising Metrics for a better understanding.
Email marketing is a digital marketing channel that involves sending commercial messages to a targeted group of individuals via email.
These messages may include promotional offers, newsletters, updates, and other forms of content that are intended to engage and persuade the recipient to take the desired action.
The importance of email marketing lies in its ability to reach a large audience at a low cost, while also providing businesses with valuable data on customer behavior and preferences.
With effective email marketing, businesses can build relationships with their audience, increase brand awareness, drive sales, and ultimately grow their business.
Additionally, email marketing allows for personalized and targeted messaging, which can improve the chances of conversion and customer loyalty.
According to the report published by DMA, email marketing has an average ROI of $40 for every $1 spent (4000%), making it one of the most cost-effective marketing channels available. In comparison, the ROI of SEO and keyword ads are $22.24 and $17, respectively.
As a business owner or marketer, you already know the power of email marketing in digital marketing. However, simply sending emails to your subscribers is not enough.
You need to track and analyze various metrics to understand how your emails are performing and how to improve your email marketing campaigns and increase your ROI.
But how do you measure the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns? That’s where email marketing metrics and KPIs come in.
In this blog, we’ll dive deeper into what email marketing metrics (KPIs) are and show you how to use them to measure the effectiveness of your campaigns. So, without further ado, let’s go:
The open rate measures the percentage of recipients who opened an email. It is calculated by dividing the number of emails opened by the total number of emails delivered minus bounced emails and multiplying it by 100.
For example, if a business sends out 1000 emails and 200 of them are bounced, then the total number of emails delivered would be 800. And out of those 800, 400 are opened then the open rate would be 50% (400/800 * 100).
Open rate is an important metric for businesses as it indicates the effectiveness of their email subject line and overall email content. A higher open rate can lead to increased email engagement, clicks, and conversions.
To improve open rates, businesses can focus on optimizing their email subject lines to be engaging and relevant to the recipient.
They can also segment their email list and personalize their emails to increase relevance and encourage email opening.
Additionally, sending emails at the right time and frequency can also improve the open rate.
It is important to note that the open rate can be impacted by various factors such as email deliverability, email client, and preview text. It is also important to avoid using misleading subject lines or engaging in spammy practices, as this can negatively impact the open rate and damage brand reputation.
By optimizing email content and personalizing emails, businesses can increase open rates and ultimately increase email engagement and conversions.
Email click-through rate (CTR) measures the percentage of recipients who clicked on a link within an email. It is calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the total number of emails delivered and multiplying it by 100.
For example, if a business sends out 1,000 emails and 200 recipients clicked on a link within the email, the email CTR would be 20% (200/1000 * 100).
Email CTR is an important email engagement metric for businesses as it indicates the engagement and interest of the recipient in the email content. A higher CTR can improve website traffic, conversions, and revenue.
Businesses can focus on creating engaging and relevant email content with clear calls to action to improve email CTR. Personalizing the email content to the recipient’s interests and preferences can also increase relevance and encourage clicks.
Also, optimizing the email layout and design can make it easier for the recipient to navigate and find the desired information or link.
It is important to note that email CTR can be impacted by various factors, such as the placement and visibility of the link, the device and email client used by the recipient, and the relevance and value of the linked content.
Email marketing conversion rate measures the percentage of recipients who completed a desired action after clicking on a link within an email. This desired action can be anything from purchasing to filling out a form or downloading a resource.
The email conversion rate is calculated by dividing the number of recipients who completed the desired action by the total number of recipients who clicked on the link and multiplying it by 100.
For example, if a business sends out 1,000 emails, 200 recipients click on a link within the email, and 40 of those who clicked complete the desired action, the conversion rate would be 20% (40/200 *100).
Conversion rate is an important email marketing metric for businesses as it directly measures the effectiveness of their email campaigns in driving desired actions and generating revenue.
To improve email marketing conversion rate, businesses can focus on creating highly targeted and personalized email content with clear and compelling calls to action. Providing incentives or special offers can also encourage recipients to complete the desired action.
Additionally, optimizing the landing page or form where the desired action takes place can increase the likelihood of conversion.
It is important to note that email marketing conversion rate can be impacted by various factors, such as the relevance and value of the linked content, the user experience on the landing page or form, and the overall trust and reputation of the business.
The bounce rate measures the percentage of emails that were not delivered to the recipient’s inbox. There are two types of bounces: hard bounces and soft bounces.
A hard bounce occurs when an email is returned to the sender because the recipient’s email address is invalid or does not exist.
A soft bounce occurs when an email is returned to the sender because the recipient’s mailbox is full, their email server is down, or the email is too large.
The bounce rate is calculated by dividing the number of bounced emails by the total number of emails sent and multiplying it by 100.
For example, if a business sends out 1,000 emails and 50 of those emails bounce, the bounce rate would be 5% (50/1000 *100).
A high bounce rate can negatively impact the sender’s reputation and deliverability as it indicates that the sender is sending emails to invalid or inactive email addresses. This can lead to the sender’s emails being marked as spam or blocked by email providers.
To reduce bounce rates, businesses can focus on maintaining a clean and updated email list, removing invalid or inactive email addresses, and using email verification tools to ensure the validity of email addresses before sending.
Additionally, avoiding spam trigger words and keeping a consistent sending schedule can help maintain a positive sender reputation.
It is important to note that bounce rate can also be impacted by various factors such as email content, formatting, and sender reputation.
By maintaining a clean and updated email list, using email verification tools, and avoiding spam trigger words, businesses can reduce bounce rates and maintain a positive sender reputation.
Reducing abandoned cart rates can be achieved by implementing various strategies, such as simplifying the checkout process, offering free shipping, providing clear pricing information, and sending cart abandonment emails to remind customers about their abandoned items.
A/B testing can also be used to test different variations of these strategies to determine which ones are most effective in reducing the abandoned cart rate.
By continuously monitoring and optimizing abandoned cart rates, businesses can improve their online sales and revenue.
The unsubscribe rate measures the percentage of subscribers who opt out of an email list after receiving a particular email. It is calculated by dividing the number of unsubscribes by the total number of emails sent and multiplying it by 100.
For example, if a business sends out 1,000 emails and 20 subscribers opt out of the email list, the unsubscribe rate would be 2% (20/1000 *100).
The unsubscribe rate is an important metric for businesses as it indicates the level of engagement and interest from their subscribers.
High unsubscribe rates can be an indication of a lack of relevance, poor content quality, or too frequent emails. It is essential to keep the unsubscribe rate low to maintain a healthy email list and ensure the effectiveness of email marketing campaigns.
To reduce unsubscribe rates, focus on delivering valuable and relevant content to their subscribers. Also, you can segment their email lists and send targeted emails to specific subscriber groups.
Additionally, allowing subscribers to modify their email preferences or frequency can give them more control and reduce the likelihood of them opting out altogether.
However, it is also important to note that some level of unsubscribe rate is natural and can even be beneficial for the business as it helps in keeping the email list up-to-date and eliminates subscribers who are not interested in the business’s offerings, leading to a more engaged and active subscriber base.
The forward rate is an email marketing metric that measures the number of subscribers who forward an email to others. It is an indication of how shareable and valuable the content of an email is to subscribers.
The forward rate is calculated by dividing the number of times an email is forwarded by the number of emails delivered, multiplied by 100.
For example, if a business sends out 1,000 emails and 50 subscribers forward the email to their contacts, the forward rate would be 5% (50/1000 *100).
The forward rate is an essential metric for businesses as it can increase the reach and exposure of their email marketing campaigns.
When subscribers forward an email, they are essentially endorsing the content to their contacts, who may not be part of the business’s email list. This can lead to an increase in brand awareness, website traffic, and ultimately, conversions.
To increase forward rates, businesses can focus on delivering highly engaging and valuable content in their emails. They can also include social sharing buttons, making it easier for subscribers to share the content on their social media platforms.
Additionally, incentivizing subscribers to share the email with their contacts, such as offering a referral discount or bonus, can also increase the likelihood of forwards.
It is important to remember that the forward rate is not always an accurate representation of how many people viewed the email content.
Subscribers may forward an email without opening it or reading the content, leading to an inflated forward rate. However, the forward rate can still provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of the email content and the level of engagement from subscribers.
By delivering highly engaging and valuable content, including social sharing buttons, and incentivizing subscribers to share the email, businesses can increase forward rates and increase the reach and exposure of their email marketing campaigns.
Conclusion
In today’s fast-paced digital world, email marketing remains a powerful and cost-effective way to reach and engage with your audience.
The key to successful email marketing is to provide value to your subscribers consistently. By crafting relevant and personalized emails, you can increase your subscribers’ engagement and ultimately drive more sales.
Email marketing metrics are essential tools for measuring the effectiveness of your email campaigns and improving your ROI. By tracking email campaign metrics, you can gain valuable insights into how your subscribers are engaging with your emails and craft a better email marketing strategy.
By leveraging the right email marketing metrics and continually optimizing your campaigns, you can stay ahead of the competition and drive long-term success for your business.
Contact our experts at ABK Digital to craft a successful digital marketing strategy for your business utilizing all channels, including email marketing.
Please check out our next blog lined up in the series: Social Media Marketing Metrics.
