There are a lot of numbers thrown around regarding email marketing metrics and email campaign KPIs. It can be hard to know which ones really matter, and how you stack up. Here are the five most important email marketing campaign KPIs, and what they are telling you about your email list.
Open Rate
Just like it sounds, this is the number of people who opened your email. Typically it is presented as a percentage of your total email list. It may vary across individual email campaigns, but you will normally have a fairly steady rate. Aim for 25% and test subject lines to improve your email open rate. Open rate is just one factor in email marketing, but many other metrics rely upon opens.
Engagement Rate
Once your email has been opened, it’s time to get people clicking! Sometimes called click rate, an email engagement rate is one of the most important indicators of list health. It signifies that people are interested in your content and are valid subscribers to your list. They haven’t deleted the email campaign automatically or opened accidentally. Higher engagement ensures your emails continue to reach the inbox; aim for 5% or more but know that this can fluctuate based on content.
Growth Rate
List size is important, but it can be easy to feel discouraged if your email list isn’t very large. That is where Email Growth Rate comes in. This describes the rate at which you are adding to your email list, which is an important factor for conversion. When looked at alongside Engagement Rate, it can provide a good look at the success of your email campaigns. Growth Rates vary wildly and can be dependent on initial size and branding.
Bounce Rate
The first three email marketing KPIs were positive numbers, where you want to see growth and improvement through larger percentages. Bounce Rate, however, is the opposite. This measures how often your emails did not reach the Inbox and should be low. Bounce Rate and Engagement Rate are looked at together as an indicator of the quality of your list; low interaction or high bounces could impact the deliverability of future sends. Try to keep yours to 2% or less.
Unsubscribe Rate
Another “negative” email marketing KPI, you don’t want to see a high Unsubscribe Rate. But you also don’t want to see a low Open Rate or Engagement Rate as uninterested, old subscribers stick around. To combat this, we recommend a re-engagement campaign outside of the Inbox to keep your list fresh. Make sure your Unsubscribe Rate stays less than 1%.
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