What Are Email Marketing Metrics?
Email marketing metrics are data points that measure the performance of your email campaigns. They track key aspects like delivery rates, open rates, click-through rates, and conversions. By monitoring these metrics, you can assess how effectively your emails engage your audience, optimise content, and align your email strategy with your marketing goals.
Tracking the right email marketing metrics is essential for continuous improvement of your campaigns and making data-driven decisions. Whether you’re focusing on improving deliverability, increasing engagement, or boosting conversions, understanding and benchmarking these key metrics can guide you towards better results. Since these metrics can vary by industry and audience, regularly reviewing and adjusting them is crucial for long-term success.
In this guide, we’ll explore a comprehensive list of email marketing metrics across different categories, from delivery and engagement to conversion and retention. Whether your goal is to improve engagement or increase revenue, these metrics will help you refine your email marketing strategy and achieve your business objectives.
Here’s a comprehensive list of metrics you can track:
Reach and Delivery
Delivery metrics focus on whether your emails are successfully reaching your recipients’ inboxes. They help you understand the health and quality of your email list and identify any issues that might prevent your messages from being delivered.
1. Delivery Rate
- Definition: Delivery Rate is the percentage of emails that were successfully delivered to recipients’ inboxes, excluding any emails that bounced.
- Formula: Delivery Rate = [(Total Emails Delivered – Total Bounces) / Total Emails Sent] * 100
- Purpose: Measures the effectiveness of your email delivery and inbox placement.
- Benchmark: You want your Delivery Rate to be as close to 100% as possible. A high Delivery Rate indicates that your emails are successfully reaching your audience.
2. Inbox Placement Rate
Definition: The percentage of emails that successfully land in recipients’ inboxes, as a proportion of the total emails sent, excluding any emails that bounced.
- Formula: Inbox Placement Rate = [(Total Emails Delivered – Total Emails Marked as Spam) / Total Emails Sent] * 100
- Purpose: Measures the effectiveness of your email deliverability in terms of getting emails into the primary inbox.
- Benchmark: Ideally, you want your Inbox Placement Rate to be as close to 100% as possible.
3. Bounce Rate
- Definition: Bounce Rate is the percentage of total emails sent that could not be delivered to the recipient’s inbox.
- Formula: Bounce Rate = (Total Bounces / Total Emails Sent) * 100
Alternatively, you can calculate it as: Bounce Rate = (Total Bounces / Total Emails Delivered) * 100 - Purpose: Measures the deliverability of your email campaigns and the quality of your email list.
- Benchmark: Generally, a bounce rate of 2% or lower is considered good, but strive for as low a bounce rate as possible to ensure your emails reach your intended audience.
This can be further broken down into:
- Soft Bounces: Temporary delivery issues (e.g., full inbox, server problems). Should be minimal, ideally less than 0.5%
- Hard Bounces: Permanent delivery failures (e.g., invalid email addresses). Aim for less than 0.5%.
Engagement Metrics
Engagement metrics measure how recipients interact with your emails. These metrics provide insight into how compelling your subject lines and content are, indicating overall interest and interaction from your audience.
4. Open Rate
- Definition: The percentage of recipients who opened your email out of the total number of emails delivered.
- Formula: (Total Emails Opened / Total Emails Delivered) * 100
- Purpose: Measures the effectiveness of your subject lines and timing.
- Benchmark: The average benchmark is between 20% and 25%. However, this can vary by industry.
5. Unique Opens
- Definition: The number of unique recipients who have opened your email at least once.
- Purpose: Measures the reach and engagement of your email campaigns by showing how many individuals have opened your emails.
- Benchmark: Varies based on your email list size and industry. Higher unique open rates indicate better engagement.
6. Read Time (Average Time in Seconds or Minutes)
- Definition: The average amount of time recipients spent reading your email.
- Purpose: Indicates how engaging your email content is and helps understand reader behaviour.
- Benchmark: Ideally, aim for an average read time of over 8 seconds. This indicates meaningful engagement with the content.
7. Scroll Depth
- Definition: The percentage of the email that recipients scroll through, indicating how much of the email content was viewed.
- Benchmark: Aim for over 50% scroll depth on longer emails, indicating recipients are consuming most of the content.
8. Click-Through Rate (CTR)
- Definition: Click-through rate (CTR) is the percentage of email recipients who clicked on at least one link in your email message, relative to the total number of emails delivered.
- Formula: Click-Through Rate (CTR) = (Total Clicks / Total Emails Delivered) * 100
- Purpose: CTR is a broader metric that measures the overall effectiveness of your email campaign in driving clicks. It’s calculated based on the total number of emails delivered, regardless of whether they were opened.
- Benchmark: A good CTR benchmark is 2.5% to 3.5%.
9. Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR)
- Definition: Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR), also known as Click Rate, is the percentage of email recipients who clicked on at least one link in your email, relative to the number of unique opens (emails opened by recipients).
- Formula: Click Rate = (Total Clicks / Total Opens) * 100
- Purpose: Click rate helps you understand how engaging your email content is to those who open it. It’s a more specific metric compared to CTR because it looks at clicks as a proportion of opens, not sends.
- Benchmark: Aim for 20% to 30%. This shows the effectiveness of your email content once opened.
10. Total Clicks
- Definition: Total Clicks is the total number of times recipients have clicked on links within your email campaign.
- Purpose: Measures the overall engagement and interest of your email recipients by showing how many times links were clicked in total.
- Benchmark: Varies based on your email list size, industry, and the nature of your email content.
11. Unique Clicks
- Definition: Unique Clicks is the number of unique recipients who have clicked on at least one link in your email campaign.
- Formula: Not applicable (This is a count of unique recipients).
- Purpose: Measures the engagement and interest of your email recipients by showing how many individuals clicked on links within your emails.
- Benchmark: Varies based on your email list size and industry. Higher unique click rates indicate better engagement.
12. Forwarding Rate
- Definition: Forwarding Rate is the percentage of recipients who have forwarded your email to others.
- Formula: Forwarding Rate = (Number of Forwards / Total Emails Delivered) * 100
- Purpose: Measures the virality and shareability of your email content.
- Benchmark: While typically low, aim for around 0.02% to 0.05%. Encouraging sharing can help increase this.
13. Unsubscribe Rate
- Definition: The percentage of recipients who unsubscribed from your email list after receiving an email.
- Benchmark: Aim for less than 0.5%. Higher rates may indicate issues with content or frequency.
14. Spam Complaint Rate
- Definition: The percentage of recipients who marked the email as spam.
- Benchmark: Aim for less than 0.1%. Higher rates can harm your sender reputation.
Conversion Metrics
Conversion metrics track the effectiveness of your emails in driving desired actions, such as purchases or sign-ups. These metrics are crucial for assessing the return on investment (ROI) of your email campaigns and understanding how well they support your business goals.
15. Conversion Rate
- Definition: The percentage of recipients who clicked on a link within your email and completed a desired action (e.g., made a purchase, signed up for a service).
- Formula: (Number of Conversions / Total Emails Delivered) * 100
- Purpose: Measures the effectiveness of your email campaign in achieving specific goals.
- Benchmark: A good benchmark is between 1% and 5%, depending on the complexity and nature of the conversion action
16. Revenue per Email
- Definition: Revenue per Email is the average amount of revenue generated for every email sent.
- Formula: Revenue per Email = Total Revenue / Total Emails Sent.
Alternatively, you can calculate it as: Revenue per Email = (Total Revenue / Total Emails Delivered) - Purpose: Measures the financial effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns.
- Benchmark: This varies widely by industry, but a common target is $0.05 to $0.10 per email.
17. ROI (in Currency)
- Definition: Return on Investment (ROI) from your email marketing efforts, calculated as revenue generated minus the cost of the campaign.
- Formula: (Revenue – Cost) / Cost * 100
- Purpose: Measures the profitability of your email marketing campaigns.
- Benchmark: Industry Average: $38 return for every $1 spent (DMA, 2019)
18. Average Order Value (AOV)
- Definition: The average amount of money spent by customers who made purchases through the email campaign.
- Benchmark: Benchmarks depend heavily on your product/service, but aim to keep this consistent with your business averages or higher.
19. List Growth Rate
- Definition: The rate at which your email list is growing, accounting for new subscribers and unsubscribes.
- Benchmark: A healthy list growth rate is around 5% per month, accounting for new subscribers minus unsubscribes and bounces.
Device and Client Metrics
Device and client metrics provide information on the types of devices and email clients your recipients use to open and read your emails. This data is essential for optimising your emails for different platforms and improving the user experience.
20. Device Usage
- Definition: The percentage of recipients who opened the email on different devices (e.g., mobile, desktop, tablet).
- Benchmark: This can vary, but currently, around 40%-50% of opens occur on mobile devices. Ensure your emails are mobile-optimised.
21. Email Client Usage
The percentage of recipients who opened the email in different email clients (e.g., Gmail, Outlook). This will depend on your audience, but understanding the primary clients can help tailor your email designs (e.g., Gmail, Outlook).
Campaign Performance Metrics
Campaign performance metrics evaluate the overall success and profitability of your email campaigns. They provide a high-level view of how well your email marketing contributes to your business objectives.
22. Return on Investment (ROI)
- Definition: The overall profitability of your email campaign, calculated by comparing the revenue generated to the campaign’s cost.
- Benchmark: Aiming for an ROI of 300% or higher is typical in email marketing, meaning you earn $3 for every $1 spent.
23. Cost per Acquisition (CPA)
- Definition: The cost associated with acquiring a new customer or lead through the email campaign.
- Benchmark: This will vary by industry and business model, but lower CPA indicates more cost-effective campaigns.
Engagement Segmentation Metrics
Engagement segmentation metrics break down engagement data by specific audience segments. These metrics help you tailor your content and strategies to different groups within your email list, improving relevance and effectiveness.
24. Engagement by Segment
Metrics broken down by specific segments of your email list (e.g., demographics, purchase history). Benchmarks will vary, but tracking should reveal higher engagement rates from more targeted and relevant segments compared to general sends.
25. Behavioural Metrics
Actions taken by recipients within the email, such as video plays, downloads, or form completions. Benchmarks will vary based on the action. Track and aim for incremental improvements over time.
Testing and Optimisation Metrics
Testing and optimisation metrics measure the results of A/B tests and other optimisation efforts. These metrics guide you in making data-driven improvements to your email campaigns to enhance performance over time.
26. A/B Testing Results
- Definition: Metrics comparing the performance of different versions of an email (e.g., subject lines, content variations).
- Benchmark: Aim for a minimum of 5% improvement on the key metric (e.g., open rate, CTR) from A/B tests.
27. Heat Maps
Visual representations showing where recipients clicked within the email. Look for high engagement (clicks) on your primary call-to-action areas. Continuous optimisation should lead to clearer patterns of engagement.
Metrics at a Glance
This table provides a quick reference to the benchmarks and formulas for evaluating the performance of your email campaigns.
| Metric | Benchmark | Formula |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery Rate | As close to 100% as possible | [(Total Emails Delivered – Total Bounces) / Total Emails Sent] * 100 |
| Inbox Placement Rate | As close to 100% as possible | [(Total Emails Delivered – Total Emails Marked as Spam) / Total Emails Sent] * 100 |
| Bounce Rate | 2% or lower | (Total Bounces / Total Emails Sent) * 100 or (Total Bounces / Total Emails Delivered) * 100 |
| Soft Bounces | Less than 0.5% | (Total Soft Bounces / Total Emails Sent) * 100 |
| Hard Bounces | Less than 0.5% | (Total Hard Bounces / Total Emails Sent) * 100 |
| Open Rate | 20% to 25% | (Total Emails Opened / Total Emails Delivered) * 100 |
| Unique Opens | Higher rates indicate better engagement | Count of unique recipients who opened the email |
| Read Time | Over 8 seconds | Average time spent reading the email |
| Scroll Depth | Over 50% scroll depth | (Average scroll depth / Total email length) * 100 |
| Click-Through Rate (CTR) | 2.5% to 3.5% | (Total Clicks / Total Emails Delivered) * 100 |
| Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR) | 20% to 30% | (Total Clicks / Total Opens) * 100 |
| Total Clicks | Varies based on list size and content | Count of total clicks within the email |
| Unique Clicks | Higher unique click rates indicate better engagement | Count of unique recipients who clicked on a link |
| Forwarding Rate | 0.02% to 0.05% | (Number of Forwards / Total Emails Delivered) * 100 |
| Unsubscribe Rate | Less than 0.5% | (Total Unsubscribes / Total Emails Delivered) * 100 |
| Spam Complaint Rate | Less than 0.1% | (Total Spam Complaints / Total Emails Delivered) * 100 |
| Conversion Rate | 1% to 5% | (Number of Conversions / Total Emails Delivered) * 100 |
| Revenue per Email | $0.05 to $0.10 per email | Total Revenue / Total Emails Sent |
| ROI (in Currency) | $38 return for every $1 spent | (Revenue – Cost) / Cost * 100 |
| Average Order Value (AOV) | Consistent with business averages or higher | Total Revenue / Total Orders |
| List Growth Rate | Around 5% per month | [(New Subscribers – Unsubscribes) / Total Subscribers] * 100 |
| Device Usage | 40%-50% of opens on mobile devices | (Opens on specific device / Total Opens) * 100 |
| Email Client Usage | Varies by audience | (Opens in specific email client / Total Opens) * 100 |
| Return on Investment (ROI) | 300% or higher | (Revenue – Cost) / Cost * 100 |
| Cost per Acquisition (CPA) | Lower CPA indicates more cost-effective campaigns | Total Campaign Cost / Total Acquisitions |
| Engagement by Segment | Higher engagement rates for targeted segments | Varies by segment and metric |
| Behavioural Metrics | Incremental improvements over time | Varies by specific action |
| A/B Testing Results | Minimum 5% improvement on key metrics | Comparison of performance between A/B test versions |
| Heat Maps | High engagement on primary CTAs | Visual representation of click activity |
Not all Metrics are Equal
Tracking all these metrics can be overwhelming. The key is to focus on those that align most closely with your specific goals and the stage of your email marketing strategy. To get you started, we’ve compiled a list that reflects the general importance of each metric in evaluating and optimising email marketing campaigns. Metrics at the top of the list are essential for ensuring emails are delivered and engaged with, while those further down provide more detailed insights and opportunities for advanced optimisation. Here’s that list starting with the most critical metrics:
- Delivery Rate
- Open Rate
- Click-Through Rate (CTR)
- Conversion Rate
- Unsubscribe Rate
- Spam Complaint Rate
- Inbox Placement Rate
- Bounce Rate
- Unique Opens
- Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR)
- List Growth Rate
- Revenue per Email
- Cost per Acquisition (CPA)
- Return on Investment (ROI)
- Total Clicks
- Unique Clicks
- Read Time
- Scroll Depth
- Average Order Value (AOV)
- Device Usage
- Email Client Usage
- Engagement by Segment
- Behavioral Metrics
- A/B Testing Results
- Heat Maps
- Forwarding Rate
Over to You!
Tracking the right email marketing metrics helps ensure that your campaigns are effective and targeted. By focusing on metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and conversions, you can refine your strategies for better performance and stronger audience engagement. Now, over to you! What email metrics have you found most valuable in your campaigns? Share your insights in the comments below!
