5 Essential Email Marketing Performance Metrics You Should Check Often

In today’s digital world, email marketing has never been more important. But what does “good” look like? We’ve compiled a list of essential stats to keep your eyes on to know how effective your email marketing campaign is.

Email marketing is a type of digital communication where emails are sent out to targeted people. Emails are known as “a powerful way to promote products/services”. An email marketing strategy includes things like sending promotional offers out to customers using email lists. Businesses send out these emails to inform their potential customers about their latest promotions, events, and anything else relevant to business. This helps businesses keep their existing clients updated while attracting new ones.

Let’s take a look at some useful email marketing statistics:

• Email marketing is used by 1 in 2 media planners. It will continue to grow this year with 22% planning to leverage it for the first time.(HubSpot Blog Research, 2021)

• Email marketing revenue is estimated to reach almost 11 billion by the end of 2023. (Statista, 2021)

• There are 4 billion daily email users. This number is expected to climb to 4.6 billion by 2025. (Statista, 2021)

• More than 306 billion emails are sent and received each day. (Statista, 2021)

• 64% of small businesses use email marketing to reach customers. (Campaign Monitor, 2021)

Does email marketing really work? If you don't believe me, aside from the above stats, look at your inbox every day. Most of us open our emails multiple times throughout the day. Emails are also an excellent tool for promoting sales or events. In other words, they're an effective way to promote almost anything!

However, creating an effective email marketing campaign isn't always straightforward. For example, some businesses send too many emails and fail to provide useful information. On the flip side, some businesses send too few and miss out on valuable leads. Email is still considered the best form of communication because it helps build trust and relationships between brands and customers.

Here are 5 essential email marketing campaign performance metrics you should check often.

1. Open Rate

Open rate refers to the percentage of emails sent by an organization that actually opens. An email marketing service provider can track how many times someone opens your email. It’s calculated by dividing the number of opens by the number of total recipients and multiplying the outcome by 100. This number is then expressed in percentages. A high open rate means that recipients are reading your messages and responding positively. An indication that your email marketing campaigns are working well.

2. Click Through Rate

A click-through rate (CTR) measures the number of people who clicked on your link compared to the total amount of emails you sent. CTR is calculated as the number of clicks received divided by the total number sent. You can then multiply that number by 100 to show a percentage. So, if you had 1,000 emails sent out and 150 people clicked on your links, then the CTR would be 15%. In other words, 15% of people who received your email actually clicked on your link!

3. Unsubscribe Rate

Unsubscribe Rate (UR) is the percentage of people who have opted out of receiving emails from you after they signed up for your list. If 50% of your subscribers unsubscribed after signing up for your list, then UR 50%. Note that email marketers use different terms to measure Unsubscribe Rates including “opt-out rate”, “unsubscribe ratio”, “rate of removal”, and “email opt-out rate”. When calculating a website's Opt-Out Rate, make sure you only count those people who go through the trouble of opting out via the link provided at the bottom of your email, not those who just unsubscribe from your mailing list without any assistance.

4. Spam Rate

Spam Rate (SR) refers to how many messages that were sent to your recipients ended up being labeled as SPAM by their ISPs/mail providers. SR should always be considered alongside your UR since some mail service providers may incorrectly label legitimate emails as SPAM if the UR is high enough. The lower the SR, the better for your business. Spam rates vary widely across industries, so it’s difficult to say exactly what constitutes good or bad. However, there are some general guidelines to follow when crafting your emails. First, avoid using overly aggressive language. Second, make sure your messages are relevant to your subscribers. Third, use clear subject lines and body copy. Finally, test your emails before sending them out.

5. Bounce Rate

Bounce Rate (BR) is the percentage of emails sent to your audience that bounced back before reaching the intended recipient. BR shows what proportion of the total number of emails were lost after being sent. A high BR indicates that your emails aren't getting delivered. Make sure that you're using valid email addresses! You should also ensure that you're sending messages during regular working hours and do not send your emails at times when your customers are likely to be offline.