Email marketing can be the most effective form of marketing, if done correctly. Achieving email marketing success relies on being able to measure and analyze data on what’s working and what isn’t – using key performance indicators (KPIs). In order to achieve your email marketing goals and see higher ROI, it’s important to monitor your top 10 email marketing KPIs and tweak your approach if necessary. If you’re not sure which KPIs are right for you, here are our top 10 email marketing KPIs that every business owner should know about in 2017.
1) Open Rates
One of the most important email marketing KPIs is your open rate. This metric tells you how many people are actually opening and reading your emails. A good open rate is around 20-30%, but it will vary depending on your industry and list size. There are a few things you can do to improve your open rate, such as using a catchy subject line, writing compelling content, and segmenting your list.
2) Click Through Rates
One of the most important email marketing KPIs is your click-through rate (CTR). This metric measures how often people who receive your email actually click on the links inside it. A high CTR means that your audience is engaged and interested in what you have to say.
3) Sent Rate
One of the most important email marketing KPIs is your sent rate. This is the percentage of emails that were successfully sent out of the total number of emails that you attempted to send. A high sent rate indicates that your email list is healthy and up-to-date, and that your emails are being delivered to the inboxes of your subscribers.
4) Bounce Rate
Your email marketing KPI #1 should be your bounce rate. A high bounce rate indicates that your recipients are not finding your content relevant, and this can quickly lead to list fatigue and a poor sender reputation. To keep your bounce rate low, make sure to segment your list and only send targeted content.
Monitoring your bounce rate will help you improve your email deliverability and ensure that your messages are getting through to your subscribers.
5) Bounces vs. Unsubscribes
One of the most important email marketing KPIs is your bounce rate. This measures the percentage of emails that were undeliverable. A high bounce rate could indicate that your list is outdated or that there are deliverability issues with your emails.
6) Avg. Time Spent Reading E-mails
If you’re like most people, you probably spend a good chunk of your day reading and responding to emails. But how much time are you actually spending on email, and is it really worth it? How many emails are being sent in the first place? What’s the average amount of time spent reading an email? These are all questions that can be answered with just one KPI: Avg. Time Spent Reading E-mails.
7) Customer Lifetime Value
One of the most important email marketing KPIs is customer lifetime value (CLV). This metric tells you how much revenue a customer will generate over the course of their relationship with your business. To calculate CLV, you need to know three things: the average purchase value, the average number of purchases per customer, and the average customer lifespan.
8) Expected Revenue Per Email Acquisition
Each unique subscriber has an average lifetime value of $X. (Revenue Per Email Acquisition)
Percentage of emails that were delivered to inboxes vs spam folder: Do you know how many of your emails actually make it into recipients’ inboxes, or get filtered as spam?
Email Opens Rate – How many people opened their email after they received it? Did they open it on their desktop computer, laptop, mobile phone, or tablet? Did they read all of the content or just skim over it and close out without clicking on anything else? % of Unsubscribes by Month – Did you have any unsubscribe requests in the last month?
9) Cost per Click
As an email marketing KPI, cost per click (CPC) measures how much it costs you to generate a click from a given email. To calculate your CPC, simply divide your total cost of email marketing by the number of clicks generated. A low CPC is indicative of a successful email campaign. There are a few things you can do to lower your CPC, such as segmenting your list and personalizing your content.
10) Clickthrough rate distribution by industry
In the table below, we take a look at the clickthrough rate distribution by industry for B2B and B2C companies. As you can see, the average clickthrough rate for all industries is 3.17%. However, with certain industries such as technology or travel agencies reporting much higher rates of 4% or more.
For example, email marketing KPI’s to keep in mind when considering your own strategy are: Open rates (55% of email recipients open emails), Click-to-open rates (38% of email recipients who open emails also click on links), Spam complaints (4%), Deliverability (88%), Delivery time (99%), Total revenue generated from new subscribers ($12.5 billion) and Customer acquisition cost per subscriber ($11).
In order to succeed in the increasingly competitive digital marketing world today, understanding these KPIs are essential. Your company will want to analyze these metrics closely in order to develop strategies that will help your business grow exponentially!