The 10 key metrics for email marketing

For email marketing In the words of Peter Drucker, the modern founder of management systems, “You can’t improve what you can’t measure.” To stop making decisions “on the fly,” you have to learn to identify the metrics or KPIs ( key performance indicators) that are most 10 key metrics appropriate for each activity. Monitor them constantly, and analyze them on a timely basis.

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What are the main kpis for?

For email marketing Has the great advantage over other channels that it can be fully in all its aspects . At any time, you can know precisely how  many users opend your messages, how many clickd on them, which messages generatd the most conversions, etc.

For email marketers, the main metrics fall into two broad categories:

On-mail KPIs : These refer to the user’s interaction with the message itself. These metrics are trackd directly from the  10 key metrics platform, which makes them available automatically and in an easily readable way. This category includes  openings, clicks, unsubscriptions, bounces, etc.
Off-mail KPIs : measure everything that originates from emails but manifests itself elsewhere, such as the online store (e-commerce), website or blog. These metrics analyse, in relation to the email channel, traffic volumes, average purchase value, conversion rate, etc. They are usually made available to analysis  systems external to the  email platform, such as Google Analytics.
Today we will focus mainly on email KPIs. We will therefore explore the ten basic indicators that every  professional should know, monitor and analyse. We will give the nomenclature in both Spanish and English, which is often the most commonly.

1. Open rate (or)

For email marketing The opening rate indicates the number of messages in relation to the total number of messages (or sent – ​​fortunately, in MailUp platform deliveries, these two values ​​coincide at 99%).

Technically, the system counts the openings by inserting a transparent image that intervenes each time the reader views the images  in the message. If a reader opens the message several times, the message will have a higher number of “opens”. If the reader does not download the images, the openings cannot be.

The elements that most affect the opening rate are the subject and the preheader : test frequently and pay the utmost attention to writing interesting texts that arouse curiosity and encourage people to open the message.

Discover the 7 golden rules for writing a subject that will not leave anyone indifferent >

2. Click-through rate (ctr)

For email marketing It is the number of canada email list clicks on links in a sent email message, by the number of messages . If the opening rate is an indicator of the quality of the subject line, the click rate is by the content  within the email: images, texts and, above all, calls to action.

To improve click-through  rates, it is good practice to frequently A/B test the wording and style of the CTA, the layout of the content, and the images .

 

3. Unique opens and unique clicks (uor)

A careful distinction must be made between the total number of openings or clicks – which also include repeat visits by the same user – and the number of users who have or at least once. In this case, we are talking about unique openings or unique clicks.

Although the data in this way is always cleaner and more precise than the total count, it is not always worthwhile to make distinctions at this level. In fact, to understand the evolution of a campaign, the more generic OR and CTR values ​​are usually more than sufficient.

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4. Click-to-open rate (ctor)

CTOR measures the number of clicks versus the number of openings , and is the most accurate indicator for measuring the level of interaction that messages are able to generate. How many readers close the email after reading it? And  how many of them interact with its content, landing on the site?

 

5. Bounce rate

The bounce rate indicates the percentage of email addresses that have an error when sending . Errors can be more or less serious, permanent (hard bounce) or temporary (soft bounce) . Permanent errors include non-existent depicter alternatives: 7 popup creation options to try or invalid email addresses, to which the message can never be . Temporary errors, on the other hand, include full email mailboxes or temporary server problems, and delivery can be made once the problem is .

Monitoring bounce rates is crucial, especially to ensure that messages are correctly . Higher than average bounce rates can cz lists be a symptom of a problem with a particular email client or with the message itself. Hard bounce rates are also one of the key elements that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) use to determine sender reputation , so it is always necessary to clean up your lists when this occurs.

The formula to calculate it: messages  sent messages

Keeping track of your email subscriptions is important, but it is also important to know how many users are unsubscribing . To be manageable and healthy, the  should be kept low, below 2%, and the number of unsubscribers should always be lower than the number of new subscribers.

If this number is increasing or spikes, it’s time to ask yourself questions. Rethink how often you send, or the content of your messages, and do plenty of testing to identify—and fix—the cause of the discontent.

7. Division by devices
Knowing whether users open your emails on a PC, smartphone, or tablet is invaluable information that allows you to shape and effective strategies. For example, knowing that most users read your emails on mobile devices allows you to get specific guidance on email design and whether it to be for on-the-go viewing.

8. Spam score
Anti-spam programs such as SpamAssassin work by scoring: they analyze the email message in all its parts and assign a score to each element that they perceive as a spam risk. If the sum of the scores a certain threshold (typically 5.0), the message has a good chance of ending up in the spam mail.

It is therefore always a good idea to keep an eye on the spam score of the messages you send , and to make sure that you always stay well below the danger threshold. The MailUp platform automatically performs an anti-spam check before each sending, highlighting the main critical factors and allowing you to correct them before sending.

The formula to calculate it. It is not , because the MailUp platform calculates it automatically

10. Return on investment (roi)

Return on investment is one of the key metrics to monitor because it accurately measures the economic effectiveness of email campaigns , i.e. how much they “perform” to the costs to run them. The calculation is simple. You take into account the value of sales and total revenue from an email campaign, subtract the costs to create it (including platform costs, human resources and the value of time) and divide the result by the cost. Then multiply by one and you have the value of the return on investment.

We will never tire of emphasizing that email is the channel with the highest ROI in absolute terms (400% on average). An excellent reason to optimize investments and make it even more profitable.

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