Measuring Email Success: Beyond Opens and Clicks
Email marketing success can be measured by a series of metrics: opens, click-throughs, replies, sales, new subscribers, and even unsubscribes. But which of these metrics should you focus on to determine the effectiveness of your email campaigns? The answer isn't always straightforward, as it depends on your specific goals and the stage of your email marketing journey.
The Importance of Measurement
Before deciding which metric is best for email marketing, let's first emphasise the importance of measuring something from the beginning. Establishing a baseline metric will serve as your North Star, guiding you in the right direction as you navigate the ever-evolving landscape of email marketing.
Tailoring Metrics to Your Goals
Your choice of the most relevant email metric should align with your objectives. There is no one-size-fits-all answer, but let's explore some common scenarios to help you make an informed decision.
Growing Your Email List
1. New Subscribers and Open Rates
If you're starting with a small email list, your primary goal might be to grow your subscribers. In this case, metrics like new subscribers and open rates are invaluable. An increase in new subscribers indicates that your content is attracting interest, and a high open rate suggests that your subject lines are compelling enough to capture attention. Use these metrics to help you create more of the content that your readers love, further growing your list and increasing those open rates.
2. An Established List, Regularly Selling Products or Services: Click-Throughs and Sales
For marketers with an established list and products or services to offer, the focus shifts towards conversion. In such scenarios, click-through rates and sales become paramount. Click-through rates reveal how effectively your email content and calls-to-action are engaging recipients. Ultimately, sales are the ultimate measure of success for e-commerce or sales-focused campaigns.
3. Driving Traffic: Open and Click-Through Rates
If your goal is to direct traffic to a landing page, website, or blog, then open and click-through rates are your key indicators. An email's effectiveness in driving recipients to a designated destination can be gauged by these metrics. Additionally, observing an uptick in website traffic corresponding to your email campaigns signifies their success in generating interest.
The Power of Focus
While all these metrics provide valuable insights, it's important not to get overwhelmed by analytics. By honing in on one primary objective and the relevant metric, you can maintain focus and achieve outstanding results. A scattergun approach to measurement might lead to confusion and hinder progress.
The Unsubscribe Conundrum
What about those dreaded unsubscribes? Should you agonise over every person who decides to part ways with your email list? The short answer is no, not necessarily. Unsubscribes are a natural part of email marketing, and people have the right to decide whether your content is relevant to them or not.
However, it's worth investigating if you notice a sudden surge in unsubscribes. This could indicate that your content, frequency, or targeting needs adjustment. When people are leaving in large numbers, it may be an excellent time to seek professional guidance to ensure your email strategy aligns better with your audience's needs and expectations.
Let’s sum it all up. Measuring email success requires a tailored approach based on your specific goals and the stage of your email marketing journey. Opens, click-throughs, replies, sales, new subscribers, and unsubscribes are valuable metrics, but their significance depends on your goal. Focusing on the most relevant metric, you can stay on course and achieve remarkable results in your email marketing endeavours. And remember, while unsubscribes may sting momentarily, they are often a sign of a healthy list that is evolving.