The Essential Email Marketing Metrics You Need to Track

To measure success and optimise future campaigns, you need to track the right metrics. Here’s a breakdown of the most essential email marketing metrics and what they reveal about your strategy.

Open Rate

The open rate tells you how many recipients opened your email. A high open rate indicates that your subject lines are compelling and your audience is engaged. If your open rates are low, consider A/B testing different subject lines or adjusting your send times.

How to improve:

• Personalise subject lines - think of adding in first name or note previous purchases to really engage the recipient. 
• Trail different send times and frequencies - it might surprise you what send times actually perform best. 
• Keep your email list clean and engaged. This will keep your deliverability score high and healthy.

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

Your CTR measures how many recipients clicked on a link in your email. This metric is crucial because it shows how effective your email content and CTAs (calls-to-action) are at driving engagement. Especially for e-commerce, the CTR can have an impact on revenue performance. 

How to improve:

• Make your CTA clear and compelling - don’t bury the lead!
• Use buttons instead of text links so it’s clear how to get to the site. 
• Optimise email design for mobile responsiveness - most people read emails on their phones, so design accordingly.

Conversion Rate

A conversion happens when a recipient takes the desired action after clicking a link - whether that’s making a purchase, signing up for a webinar, or downloading a resource. This metric directly ties email performance to business goals.

How to improve:

• Ensure your landing pages are optimised for conversions and make it easier for people to action the conversion. 
• Offer clear incentives to make it more appealing to convert. 
• Reduce friction in the user journey - the more barriers to conversion, the less likely people will convert.

Bounce Rate

Bounces occur when an email fails to be delivered to a recipient. A high bounce rate can indicate an outdated or poor-quality email list and ultimately affects deliverability. 

Types of bounces:

• Soft bounce: Temporary issue like a full inbox or server issue
• Hard bounce: Permanent issue like an invalid email address

How to improve:

• Regularly clean and update your email list - this can be actioned after customers receive and don’t action a re-engagement flow. 
• Use double opt-in for better email subscriber quality.

Unsubscribe Rate

This metric tells you how many people opted out of receiving your emails. While some churn is natural, a high unsubscribe rate signals that your content may not be resonating or your frequency is too high. 

How to improve:

• Segment your audience based on interests and behavior.
• Send personalised content to the relevant segments you create. 
• Avoid sending emails too frequently.

Spam Complaint Rate

If subscribers mark your emails as spam, it can hurt your deliverability and sender reputation. Keeping your spam rate low is critical to ensure you maintain a healthy deliverability score. 

How to improve:

• Only send emails to those who have explicitly opted in to marketing communications. 
• Avoid misleading subject lines.
• Provide a clear and easy way to unsubscribe within the email.

List Growth Rate

Your email list should be consistently growing with engaged subscribers. This metric helps you understand how well your acquisition strategies are working.

How to improve:

• Offer valuable lead magnets (e.g., exclusive content, discounts).
• Optimise sign-up forms on your website and social channels.
• Run referral campaigns to encourage sign-ups.

Email ROI

Ultimately, email marketing should generate revenue. Tracking ROI ensures that your email efforts are cost-effective and contribute to business growth. It also ensures that you are optimising flows to maintain a platform that produces a return on investment with little hands-on effort. 

How to improve:

• Automate high-performing workflows (like abandoned cart, winback, etc.).
• Track attribution with UTM parameters.
• Test and optimise based on data insights.

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Email marketing success isn’t just about sending emails - it’s about understanding how your audience interacts with them. By tracking these essential metrics, you can refine your strategy, and drive better engagement specified to your audience, and increase revenue.

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