Important Metrics for Email Marketing Campaign Optimization | Page 22

Optimizing future email marketing campaigns isn’t possible without data. You’ll need it to measure the effectiveness of your newsletters. Below are some important metrics to keep an eye on:

Open rate is one of the easiest ways to determine if your email strategy is working. Basically, it shows the percentage of people who open your emails. A high open rate means your subject line is working. According to MailChimp, the average open rate for newsletters is 20.81%.

Click rate is the percentage of successfully delivered emails that receive at least one click. You’ll need this metric to know if audiences are interested enough to click through your emails. The average click rate for all industries is 2.43%.

Soft bounces refer to emails that are bounced back to you because the recipient is temporarily unavailable (i.e. he or she has a full mailbox or is on vacation). Hang on to these and send them at a later date.

A hard bounce is an email that’s been sent back to you because the recipient's email address is invalid. If you have lots of them, it could mean your email list is stale. Try emailing your contacts regularly to ensure your list is always fresh.

Complaint rates can vary depending on the recipient's mailbox provider. These services block unwanted emails and automatically reject them based on the user’s filtering settings. High complaint rates lower your sending reputation (which means you won’t be reaching as many people as you’d like to).