Content Marketing 6 min read
30 Aug 2021

Is Your Email Campaign Working? Here Are 11 Unique Email Marketing Metrics To Measure Its Success

You won’t believe what happened one day!

I was sitting in my office cafe when I heard someone saying, 'email marketing is dead.’

What? Did you hear it too? Really?

Well...I'm here to let you know that email marketing is not only alive but going strong. ?

Even if I am too busy, I still take time out to check my email inbox.

Guess what?

99% of your customers also do the same.

So, if you want to stay in touch with your customers, there is no other way as powerful as email.

Today, every business that believes in digital marketing has an email marketing strategy.

But creating an ecommerce email marketing strategy is one thing. Effectively using it is another.

I know most of you spend months creating a targeted email marketing campaign. Some of you even break your bank to optimize it. ?

But the question is...

Does it matter how optimized your campaigns are if you’re not getting results?

No, right?

The good news is...

Email marketing is one of the most measurable marketing strategies on the planet. You can track everything - from who opened and read your emails to the recipient’s location and a lot more.

So why not use this benefit to your advantage?

Not sure where to start?

This post can be the perfect next step. Here are email marketing metrics 2021 you can track to measure the health of your campaign.

But wait, before we dive right into it...

Let’s first review the email metrics benchmarks every marketer needs to know...

Email Metrics Benchmarks

Average email open rate - 18%
Average click-through-rate - 2.6%
Average click-to-open rate - 14.1%
Average unsubscribe rate - 0.1%

(Source)

Want to know email benchmarks by industry? Give this 2021 Global email benchmarks data a read. I found it on Campaign Monitor - pretty good stuff, I must say…

Alright. Enough talk. Let’s move on to the metrics you can use to measure your email campaign health.

What Email Marketing Metrics Can Tell You About The Health Of Your Campaign

1. Open Rate

Your email open rate is probably the most important metric to measure. It tells you the ratio of recipients who opened your emails.

Open rates allow you to track:

Best performing subject lines;
Best performing day of the week;
Weekly performance.

Speaking of a healthy open rate...

Anything between 19%-22% is fine. There is room for improvement if your open rate is below that range.

Also, split-test often to see what works for you the best.

2. Deliverability Rate

You put your heart and soul into your emails.

But what if your subscribers are not receiving them at all?

You can use the deliverability metric to track the ratio of your successfully sent emails.

The deliverability rate is one of the first things tracked when you send out an email.

By the way, your service providers also look at this metric to know your sender's reputation.

A high deliverability rate means your emails have reached your customer’s inboxes.

But something is definitely wrong if it is too low.

There are a few reasons why you're getting low deliverability. Here are a few:

Creating emails with too many or extra-large images
Using URL shorteners
Absence of unsubscribing option
Using a free domain address

Look at this email. Isn't it too much for a reader to digest in a single go?

Instead of doing this, highlight a few ideas that you want your readers to focus on.

How about this one?

This one’s clear and more organized. Isn’t it?

Aim for a 99% deliverability rate. You can use MXToolBox, Mail-Tester, Mail Genius, or any other Email Deliverability Tool to check this. Because to get noticed, ensure your emails at least land at the right destination.

Anything below 97% should be a concern for you. In that case, you might need to audit your email collection channels.

Another email marketing metric you should measure is...

3. Bounce Rate

It's quite possible that not all your subscribers receive your emails. And I'm pretty sure you must have received the NDR (Non-Delivery Report) for those emails.

When a sender receives the NDR, it means his emails have bounced and not reached the receiver.

So, is it necessary to track this metric? Yes, it is!

This metric tells the sender how many people have not received the message. And they wouldn’t know about the business’s offers, announcements, promotions, etc.

Calculating the bounce rate helps you update your mailing list and remove inactive accounts.

As a matter of fact, the average email bounce rate is 0.7%.

But the lower the bounce rate, the better will be your email’s reach.

Why?

This can be useful for you if the success of your message and landing pages are intertwined.

You can calculate your bounce rate using this formula:

**Bounce rate = Total number of bounced emails/ Number of emails sent * 100**

Up next is...

4. Website Traffic Coming from Your Email Campaigns

Another way to track your email marketing campaign is to use Google Analytics.

Google Analytics web analytics tracking tool that allows you to monitor traffic from your email campaigns.

And once you have this data, you can now use it to compare different email campaigns to see which produce the best results.

PLUS you can also isolate visitors from your email campaigns to understand their preferences and behaviors.

That means you can optimize your campaigns and maximize your results!

Set up this metric in your tracking platform to analyze your email traffic.

Hey, trust me! It’s not difficult at all...

It’s simple to get started. And yet it works great!

What else can you track? Let’s find out...

5. Click-Through-Rate

Many recipients open your emails. But they never click through them.

The result?

It's like tossing your email out the window!

Another metric that is even more essential than your open rate is CTRs.

What does this metric tell?

It tells you that subscribers have not only opened your emails but also clicked through them to explore more about your offers.

Now, that's important.

Your emails are useless if they cannot drive readers from their mailboxes to your website.

The average click-through rate is 2.6%. So aim for the same (or better). To improve your email CTRs, you can provide more value to the readers.

Work on your email content. Add lucrative offers. And include action-driven CTAs to encourage subscribers to visit your store and buy.

What do you expect when a customer visits your store?

Conversions, right? That is what we're going to discuss next...

6. Email Conversion Rate

What should be your next goal when a subscriber has clicked through your email?

You want them to perform your desired action. That could be anything:

Buy something from your store
Download an ebook
Filling out a form
Register for a webinar

Track this metric if your campaign goal is to generate leads.

Again, there are countless ways you can improve your conversion rate. You can announce a deal/discount on your subject line. Having a clear and bold CTA in your email also provides direction to your recipients.

Looking for inspiration?

Check out Under Armour's conversion-fueled welcome email.

Under Armour's welcome email

(Source)

7. Unsubscribe Rates

I know what you’re thinking...

Every marketer’s biggest fear is when they see a spike in their subscription ratio.

Unsubscribe rate is the percentage of subscribers who unsubscribed after you forwarded an email to them.

The average unsubscribe rate is 0.1%. But the lower, the better.

Also, find out why subscribers opted out.

There could be many reasons. Try adjusting your content. Offer valuable discounts. Or bring more value to your subscribers.

Did you know that...

The size of your email list also plays a role in your campaign success.

8. List Growth Rate

Is your email list on track or falling apart?

Unsuccessful email marketing campaigns will cause your old subscribers to leave your list. Also, people you’re trying to target now won’t show interest in your campaigns.

That’s where the list growth metric steps in.

To use this metric, you may need to do some basic math.

For example, you’ll need to know your total new subscribers (X). You may also have to figure out the number of people who unsubscribed (Y).

And yes, the total number of subscribers you have on your list (Z).

Now, plug these stats into this formula to calculate your list growth rate.

X-Y/Z* 100

Trouble growing your email list? Don’t worry, Debutify is here to the rescue.

Our newsletter pop-up add-on makes growing email lists a no-brainer!

The best part?

It’s super simple and comes FREE with the theme. Watch this video to know more about our newsletter pop-up add-on: (Don't hesitate to download Debutify today!)

Today's business owners are smart. They think beyond conversions and CTRs. Do you belong to the same clan?

Then you don't want to miss out on the metric I am about to share...

9. Forward/Share Rate

Do you want your brand to get insanely famous?

Do you want your content to create a buzz in the online world?

And how about getting tons of new customers?

yes or YES?

If YES, then you might want to know how many of your subscribers are sharing your content with others.

Let’s see how you can measure that...

Track the total number of people who clicked on the Share tab on your email. Now, divide it by the total number of emails sent.

This email from .Mic check can be a good example...

10. Overall ROI

You can also track your ROI for your email campaigns. With this metric, you can figure out where your business stands.

Calculating your revenue is no rocket science. Use this basic formula to calculate your campaign ROI.

ROI = Total revenue/total spend

We’re down to our last option now...

11. Complaint Rate

No matter how hard you try, you can't please everyone. There will always be someone disliking your emails and marking them as spam.

But that doesn’t mean you don’t try...

Here are a few legit ways of reducing your complaint ratio:

Always send a confirmed opt-in email. The very essence of email marketing is consent. So ask for it. And your subscribers will acknowledge it when the time comes.
While it is tempting to grow your list using sneaky subscription methods, it will cost you in the long run. Getting people through this way will skyrocket your complaint rate.
Do not bombard your subscribers with your emails. Just because they have allowed you to send emails doesn't mean you ruin it for them.