The importance of metrics in Email Marketing

One of the tools most used in Digital Marketing strategies and in many cases as part of the Content Marketing strategy is email marketing.

The effectiveness of this tool is one of the highest compared with some others used in this field, although such effectiveness certainly depends on a number of important factors such as:

• Email content: We provide our readers something they really need (if we are talking about content) or, wear our offer as attractive as possible (if we use it as a sales tool)
• Email Title: The rate of opening our emails depends on a large number of cases that the title is attractive enough to draw the attention of a large number of recipients.

There are many ways to measure the effectiveness of email marketing campaigns. Should take into account the results of studies, not only as a way to observe and correct each of the measuring elements (bounce rate, openings, leads, etc) but as a source of information on users who send them our emails.

One of the latest studies is the one that has carried out consultancy, and has taken into account campaigns by various companies in the US, Europe and Asia.

Although they have taken into account the most common types of industry and the rates that we provide are average rates, are a good basis for applying to our campaigns and assess whether we are really doing things right or we can find areas of improvement.

Some of the results that the study offers are:

Opening rates only: Sectors with higher open rates are leisure and travel an average 38.5%, retail 39.6% and 46.1% Education, while the lowest average rates correspond to health with 30% and services 27.3%. Total opening rates vary somewhat by sectors being the worst of the financial sector with 38.1%. Users who more times open the email they have received to consult are those whose issuing company belongs to the consumer sector.

The click-through rate, is one that measures the number of unique clicks on each email links between the number of emails sent. In this case it remains the best valued education sector and hence gets more clicks.

The message size is another aspect to consider and clearly smaller messages are better valued than those who weigh more or have more reading difficulties if we do not read the email on a computer but on a mobile device.

Finally the casualty rate: The accepted average rates are below 1% being the worst those of education and consumption sectors with 0.18% and the real estate under construction or 0.10%.

Metrics are important to redirect our efforts and budgets towards those goals are really going to report us a conversion, but the most important is undoubtedly integrate all actions or campaigns on a global strategy that not only analyze the results of specific actions but of total company goals and allow us to assess the reality and the total of the actions we take.