Opens, and clicks also rule the day in email marketing.
In the past 10 years, the number of email marketing platforms has exploded; ESPs now exist for different niches and consumers (bloggers, SaaS, ecommerce, etc). The software, the environment and many things have changed, but the email metrics have not changed.
Why alter what works, right?
The lack of creativity in email analytics can partly be traced back to the limitations imposed by email headers-used for email monitoring-and leading email clients (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo!, etc.).
To be fair, platforms such as MailChimp and HubSpot have taken measures to help their users track on-site goal fulfillment and campaign return on investment (ROI).
Yeah, what's wrong with Analytics for Email?
Opens and clicks are the metrics used by most advertisers to maximize email campaigns.
They're also the best email analytics available to assess email campaigns 'impact and interaction. They are some of the main metrics that we use at Highlights, too. And they aren't flawless email efficiency metrics in any way.
Why Openings are Email Marketing Metrics Imperfect?
Email marketing systems have a tiny picture (a monitoring pixel!) in any email you send out to market. When the email client loads the picture an open is counted. This means that if a receiver has allowed image-blocking on their email application, they will not be included in your open quota.
The open rate underreports on opens, but it also overreports on it ... Over 50% of email use has happened on mobile these last few years. This, and Gmail's rising market share (example below), has made common ground open-to-delete. Now, those that open count against your open limit.
In add to the difficulty of getting an exact image of your emails 'open rate, email forwarding also counts against the open rate. Technically this means an email will get an open rate of over 100 percent (I've seen it!).
What are Clicks Imperfect Email Metrics?
Although we usually suggest getting a single Call-to-Action (CTA) in your emails, we recognize that there are many occasions when it may not be possible (for example, newsletters). Yet, the click rate for an email includes all clicks (clicks on links to the email footer, supports links, and clicks on your main CTA). Is it fair that all of these clicks are part of the same click rate?
Now, when your recipients land on your site, blog or landing pages, what happens? If they quit in the first second they will be counted as part of your click rate?.
That is one of the reasons why we often recommend using custom targets or revenue numbers instead of clicks to evaluate the performance of a campaign.
We also strongly believe that the clickthrough rate (CTR) should be calculated over the opening of emails (e.g. 100 emails sent, 50 opens, 10 clicks = 20 percent CTR), and not the total number of emails sent (e.g. 100 emails sent, 50 opens, 10 clicks = 10 percent CTR). If the email opens is correct, this estimate will give you a better idea of the effect your emails would have. That's when ...?
How are Unsubscribes Imperfect Metrics on Email Marketing?
For Unsubscribes it gets even trickier.
If a person can unsubscribe from a specific email you've sent, a completely different email in your series or email marketing system may have caused the decision to unsubscribe.
Even so, many subscribers do not even take the time to unsubscribe because they are sick of getting your email messages. They're just going to stop opening, reading, and clicking. Worst of all, they can also mark your email addresses as spam.
Unsubscribed data points are fine. A better data point may be the disengagement rate for an email. Have your subscribers stopped opening your emails after receiving through email? It's a more important data point, but having that kind of info is far more difficult.
In the past 10 years, the number of email marketing platforms has exploded; ESPs now exist for different niches and consumers (bloggers, SaaS, ecommerce, etc). The software, the environment and many things have changed, but the email metrics have not changed.
Why alter what works, right?
The lack of creativity in email analytics can partly be traced back to the limitations imposed by email headers-used for email monitoring-and leading email clients (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo!, etc.).
To be fair, platforms such as MailChimp and HubSpot have taken measures to help their users track on-site goal fulfillment and campaign return on investment (ROI).
Yeah, what's wrong with Analytics for Email?
Opens and clicks are the metrics used by most advertisers to maximize email campaigns.
They're also the best email analytics available to assess email campaigns 'impact and interaction. They are some of the main metrics that we use at Highlights, too. And they aren't flawless email efficiency metrics in any way.
Why Openings are Email Marketing Metrics Imperfect?
Email marketing systems have a tiny picture (a monitoring pixel!) in any email you send out to market. When the email client loads the picture an open is counted. This means that if a receiver has allowed image-blocking on their email application, they will not be included in your open quota.
| Buy Email Database |
| Email Database Providers |
| Buy Targeted Mailing Lists |
| Verified Email Lists |
| Email Database For Marketing |
The open rate underreports on opens, but it also overreports on it ... Over 50% of email use has happened on mobile these last few years. This, and Gmail's rising market share (example below), has made common ground open-to-delete. Now, those that open count against your open limit.
In add to the difficulty of getting an exact image of your emails 'open rate, email forwarding also counts against the open rate. Technically this means an email will get an open rate of over 100 percent (I've seen it!).
What are Clicks Imperfect Email Metrics?
Although we usually suggest getting a single Call-to-Action (CTA) in your emails, we recognize that there are many occasions when it may not be possible (for example, newsletters). Yet, the click rate for an email includes all clicks (clicks on links to the email footer, supports links, and clicks on your main CTA). Is it fair that all of these clicks are part of the same click rate?
Now, when your recipients land on your site, blog or landing pages, what happens? If they quit in the first second they will be counted as part of your click rate?.
That is one of the reasons why we often recommend using custom targets or revenue numbers instead of clicks to evaluate the performance of a campaign.
We also strongly believe that the clickthrough rate (CTR) should be calculated over the opening of emails (e.g. 100 emails sent, 50 opens, 10 clicks = 20 percent CTR), and not the total number of emails sent (e.g. 100 emails sent, 50 opens, 10 clicks = 10 percent CTR). If the email opens is correct, this estimate will give you a better idea of the effect your emails would have. That's when ...?
How are Unsubscribes Imperfect Metrics on Email Marketing?
For Unsubscribes it gets even trickier.
If a person can unsubscribe from a specific email you've sent, a completely different email in your series or email marketing system may have caused the decision to unsubscribe.
Even so, many subscribers do not even take the time to unsubscribe because they are sick of getting your email messages. They're just going to stop opening, reading, and clicking. Worst of all, they can also mark your email addresses as spam.
Unsubscribed data points are fine. A better data point may be the disengagement rate for an email. Have your subscribers stopped opening your emails after receiving through email? It's a more important data point, but having that kind of info is far more difficult.
No comments:
Post a Comment