Ever since I published my blog post about email marketing, I’ve been receiving a lot of questions about email data metrics. For instance, “How do I know I’m doing well with email?” Or, “What kinds of numbers should I track?” To make everyone’s life easier, today I’m going to give you the answers to these questions and more.

9 Email Data Metrics That Matter

First things first, I’m going to keep my email data metrics tips as simple as possible. What I have here are the basics, since my goal here is to make sure you can get email marketing right the first time.

Also, I realize if you’re using a really good email marketing and web analytics software, everything is much easier. You can generate numbers very quickly. However, you still have to learn how to read the information correctly.

While you’ll definitely learn and gain mastery as you go along, it never hurts to start with a solid knowledge base. I know when I first started out with email marketing, here are the 9 factors I consider:

1. Open Rate

Open rate refers to the percentage of emails opened versus the ones you delivered. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t get 100% because that’s impossible. It’s even rare if you strike 50%. The average open rate right now across the industry is about 25%.

However, I don’t want you to settle for that! Strive to keep improving this number. Remember, your open rate is your first step toward conversion through email marketing.

2. Click-Through Rate

Opening an email doesn’t result in a conversion. That’s why one of the most important email data metrics is the click-through rate, which measures the percentage between the number of clicks on the links and emails you sent. These links can be anything. For instance, you can use them to point toward your free consultation, product page, social media accounts, or blog.

This one has a far lower goal percentage than the first. In fact, the average is just 4.19%. Even with such a low number you can’t ignore this though. After all, with good content, you can convert your recipients into customers. If you’re struggling, here a few effective content marketing strategies you can try.

3. Unsubscribe Rate

The unsubscribe rate is exactly what it sounds like. It basically means the percentage of people unsubscribing from your email. Currently, the average rate is 1-2%, and you want to keep it that way. However, it’s normal to have a higher rate when you’re building a new mailing list.

Obviously, you don’t want people to unsubscribe and leave your mailing list. To stop this from happening, you have to delve deep to figure out why they’re doing it.

One cause for unsubscribing is that you may not be attracting the right clients. It could also mean you’re not providing the right content. A lot of subscribers are simply also resistant, but you can overcome that with my 4S system.

4. Bounce Rate

Of all the basic email data metrics, bounce rate is also crucial to examine. Not all of your recipients will be able to read your email — and that may not be because they find your content boring.

Instead, it’s possible the inbox of the recipient is already full or the email is invalid in the first place. This happens when people rush to take advantage of your free gifts and mistype their information. To stop this, always remind your subscribers to double-check their emails so they can receive your messages and gifts from time to time.

5. Click-to-Open Rate

Your click-to-open rate (CTR) measures the percentage of clicks versus the emails opened. It’s a great metric to assess your level of interaction with your recipients or customers. You want them to keep on being interested and engaged. That way, it’s easier for you to bring them into the sales or marketing funnel system. In other words, if your CTR is good, converting them to customers over and over doesn’t take a long time.

6. Delivery Rate

You can’t have those clicks on your links, you can’t convert, and you certainly can’t build a successful email marketing campaign if you don’t know your delivery rate.

This email data metric simply compares your successful deliveries with the bounce rate. The higher the number, the better your position is.

7. Conversion Rate

The conversion rate is your percentage of a successful completion of the desired action. Many people think it’s always about customers buying a product. However, that’s just partly true. Your definition of a high conversion rate depends on your goal.

For example, with my opt-in page, I don’t think about the purchase. Rather, I think about increasing my subscribers. That means if I have a high conversion rate through my landing page, I am still successful even if I’m not offering anything yet.

8. List Growth Rate

Is it easy to offer upgrades to your programs to the existing mailing list? Yes. Should you be happy with having X number of subscribers? No. You need to continuously build that list to make up for the people who will eventually leave your list, those who have no interest in enrolling in your program, and bounced or undelivered emails. I always aim for at least 25% growth each year.

9. Revenue Per Sent Email

Email marketing requires money, and as businesses, you should not only be concerned with how to generate a consistent flow of income. Remember, you also need to be mindful of how you’re spending it. If the strategy is only burning a hole in your pocket, there’s no use in doing it.

Therefore, one of the fundamental email data metrics is the revenue per sent email. This is basically your email measurement that indicates whether there was a successful delivery or not. To get that, you have to divide your total revenue per campaign with the total emails sent. Then you can compare that with every cost of delivery.

Email Data Metrics: How to Maximize the Numbers

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— Ted McGrath (@ted_mcgrath) October 23, 2017

These email data metrics usually have average rates, but I don’t want you to stick to them. I want you to raise the bar, and to achieve that, you have to do two things:

The first is testing. To put it simply, to test is to come up with various scenarios, roll them out, and compare the results. For example, to increase my open rate, I need to do better with my email subject. To do that, I create multiple headlines, send them, and then determine which one has the highest open rate.

The second is to constantly improve your system. There’s no better way around it. Monitor your numbers, relate it to your entire campaign, find out which ones work and which ones don’t, and reinvent your strategies.

In the end, email data metrics just give you a glimpse of how your marketing strategies are doing. They’re not the end all and be all. For me, it matters more that I’ve delivered my message, enrolled high-quality clients, and generated a sustainable income through my high-end offers. Most important of all, through my email marketing program, I am able to build a deep strong connection with my leads and clients.

Which email data metrics matter to you the most? Let me know why in the comments below.

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