Measuring the Success of Your Email Campaigns

Only 57% of marketers measure email campaign results within 24-48 hours after the email is sent and only18% measure email results on an annual basis according to a report by Email Stat Center (http://www.emailstatcenter.com/). The survey found that deliverability and clickthrough rates were considered to be the most important metrics when evaluating results.

I find these statistics surprising. One of the major advantages of email marketing is the rapid feedback, so I monitor these metrics carefully to determine which email campaigns are successful and which need improvement. Here are definitions of some of the metrics that I consider to be important.

Deliverability is the percentage of emails that Internet Service Providers allow to be placed into one of the addressee’s boxes. Some larger email service providers boast deliverability rates of 96% - 99%. It does not, however, necessarily indicate the percentage of emails that reached inboxes rather than the junk mail or spam boxes.

Hard bounce means that the email could not be delivered for a reason such as a nonexistent email address in which case sending it again will not remedy the situation.

Soft bounce is created by a temporary situation, such as a full inbox or a problem with the recipient’s email server.

Open rates refer to the percentage of emails that recipients click on and actually open. Open rates are obtained by obtained by dividing the number of emails opened by the number of emails sent and multiplying the result by 100. .

Clickthrough rates refer to the percentage of links clicked on by recipients. The clickthrough rate is obtained by dividing the number of clicks by the number of emails opened and multiplying the result by 100. Unique clickthroughs are the percentage of clickthroughs from different recipients. Total clickthrough rates reflect the percentage of clickthroughs from both unique and returning recipients.

Conversion rates are considered by many to be one of the most significant measures of success. The conversion rate is calculated by dividing the number of email recipients who actually clicked through to a website and took the desired action (purchased something, competed a registration form, provided information or whatever purpose the email was supposed to serve) divided by the total number of people who received the email multiplied by 100.

However, the Email Experience Council (http://www.emailexperience.org/) found that it is impossible to establish industry standards because of the lack of consistency in the calculation of these and other key performance metrics (March 2007).

Email Newsletters: Different Strokes for Different Folks

Some of us enjoy receiving email and some of us consider it an annoyance. But regardless of whether or not we like it, email marketing is here to stay. According to a recent benchmark study by Marketing Sherpa (http://www.marketingsherpa.com/), email marketing has the highest ROI of any direct marketing technique.

Email (electronic) newsletters are being used by more and more businesses to keep in touch with their customers and prospects, and there are several types of email newsletters.

Dynamic email newsletters can be customized to the preferences or demographics of each recipient. After opting in for the newsletters, recipients receive email messages that provide a list of topics and allow them to select any or all of those topics that are of interest. Their newsletters are populated with articles about those topics. At any time, the recipients can change their preferences and can unsubscribe to the newsletter.

Non-dynamic email newsletters can be customized but to a lesser extent. You can have different versions for various types of recipients (e.g. clients, prospects, vendors, employees). While each group receives a version designed specifically for it, all group members receive the same articles.

Email versions of print newsletters can be sent via email and/or placed on a website where visitors can view or download it. While this may seem to be merely a duplication of effort, different people prefer different methods of delivery. The same people who read the print version may not read the email version and vice versa.

Mini email newsletters or articles consist of one or possibly two articles which can be informational or promotional. Just as non-dynamic newsletters, you can have more than one version, but each group of recipients gets the same version.

Why should you use email newsletters? Here are some of the benefits:

1. Their costs are lower than those of print newsletters.
2. They provide real-time reporting statistics (delivery, open, clickthrough
and bounce rates).
3. Working with your web monitoring software, they can track conversions.
4. Email newsletters can drive traffic to a website.
5. A library of articles from the newsletter can be made available on the
website.
6. You can easily forward them to friends or colleagues.