Have your email campaigns succeeded in the past?
If not, it is probably because you do not know where to improve, which is too bad because every attempt you make provides fresh insights. If you don't know, we're in bad shape, but we can show you where to look.
3 Analytics You Need to Measure to Track Your Email Marketing ROI
While there's a lot that goes into creating a successful email campaign, look at the following three metrics for ideas on improving your ROI.
1. Email List Growth: The Key to Improving Your Long-Term ROI
Although growing your email list is not a direct causation of ROI, the thought is the larger your email list the more revenue you can generate. This is dependent, however, on the quality of your list and the tactics used to convert subscriber into buyers.
For example, say you reach a 50 percent open rate and a 50 percent conversion rate. Those are insanely unrealistic numbers, but that is all the more reason you would be incredibly happy to hit them, right? With a subscriber list of 10,000 people, 5,000 of your emails would get opened and 2,500 would lead to a conversion.
If you are not able to grow that list, though, that is where your success story ends. Of course, those numbers would also inevitably fall unless you continuously increase the products or services offered. Most customers are not going to pay for the same thing twice.
So to achieve the kind of long-term ROI everyone wants, you need to invest in and track email list growth.
2. Click-Through Rate: The Make-or-Break Analytic
You can spend a fortune on the body of your email and amazing images, but those investments will not do you any good if the message never gets opened.
This is why click-through rate is the make-or-break analytic.
The art of getting your email opened can be a complicated one, but here are the basics:
- Take a Personal Approach - Unless your business has universal brand recognition, the "From" of your email should be the first and last name of the most recognized person at your company. You can add your company name after. Make sure you use the recipient's first name in the subject line or the first line of the body, which will appear after the "From" line in their inbox.
- Make a Promise in the Subject Line - There is no underestimating the importance of the subject line. If you want that all-important click, tell the recipient - again, using their first name - what they have to look forward to by opening the email. Do not use words that trigger spam blockers. Examples of these include:
- Apply Online
- Free Membership
- Free Money
- Get It Now
- Profits
- Think About Mobile Users - Chances are your email will first be discovered on a mobile device. Preview what your message is going to look like on a mobile device before you send it out. Otherwise, your click-through rate is never going to reach its potential.
3. Conversion Rate: The Be All, End All
Emails either get your recipients to take action - "convert" - or they are a waste of money. It is that simple, which is why you must track your email campaign's conversion rate.
Keep in mind conversion rate does not just apply to purchases. It applies to any desired action you want the recipient to take. Usually this means having the recipient click through from your email and take some action on a landing page. This means creating an optimized landing page is critical.
Treat Tracking as a Priority
It is easy to become so focused on building your list and sending out regular emails that you forget about tracking your metrics. This is a surefire way to either fail with your attempts or, at the very least, incur unnecessary overhead in the process. Fortunately, these three metrics are more than enough to put you on the path to success.
About the Author
Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com, which specializes in helping small businesses grow their business on the Web while facilitating the connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide. Connect with Megan on Twitter and LinkedIn.
