In every B2B demand generation company, B2B email marketing is a vibrant avenue for seasoned business-to-business marketers, offering various tools such as marketing segmentation, automation, and personalization.
Yet, the essence of success lies not merely in crafting inventive strategies but in diligently scrutinizing their outcomes.
True proficiency in email marketing transcends surface-level metrics like opens and clicks. It necessitates a profound exploration of data to unearth insights that resonate with the core objectives of your enterprise.
In the forthcoming discourse, we shall delve into the essential B2B email marketing metrics & KPIs that hold sway for B2B marketers. We shall unravel the intricate tapestry of email marketing success. To begin with:
What Are the Most Important Metrics & KPIs in Email Marketing Marketers Should Be Tracking?
Before you hit send, think of each email marketing campaign as a unique friend, each with its personality and goals. Take a moment to understand the metrics available to you for these campaigns.
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Email audience trend
Every email campaign strives to attract subscribers, but it’s natural for subscriber numbers to fluctuate, possibly declining over time. Recognizing this trend early on is critical to preventing a significant drop.
These fluctuations may stem from concerns about data privacy. Calculating the opt-in-to-opt-out ratio as a percentage is a valuable strategy. Divide the number of opt-ins and opt-outs by the total subscribers, then multiply by 100.
This method helps assess subscriber health and guides strategic decisions.
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Active audience trend
Monitoring active audience growth or decline is crucial to gauge if your subscriber count is rising. Active audience members regularly engage with your emails, often bringing in the most revenue.
Detecting drops in engagement early is essential. Implementing a strategic re-engagement program can help maintain audience interest and involvement.
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Click-through rate
The Click-Through Rate (CTR) measures the percentage of email recipients who click a link after opening it. A higher CTR indicates your content is resonating, as more link clicks engage readers. Conversely, a low CTR suggests your content isn’t effectively capturing attention.
CTR is a vital metric to track because it directly correlates with your email’s ability to generate new business – recipients need to click to take action. Optimizing email user experience (UX) can significantly boost CTR.
Is your email designed to highlight conversion points effectively? Collaborating with a UX designer can substantially enhance your email’s CTR.
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Mobile click rate
This is like the click rate, but it is for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. Mobile click rates are lower than desktop click rates for obvious reasons. Users use Safari, Chrome, and other browsers with different layouts.
Desktops with multiple browsers are easier to use than mobile devices. Remember that mobile engagement is highest on weekends (depending on audience demographics). Late in the day, professionals engage most.
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Mobile open rate
When crafting email content, consider both desktop and mobile users. Optimizing content for small screens is essential, ensuring compatibility across all major email providers.
While Outlook usage is minimal (0.1% of subscribers), 70% use iPhones, influencing mobile open rates. Determining a subscriber’s device can be challenging, so leverage small business b2b email marketing tools to optimize emails for various platforms.
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Click-to-open rate
The click-to-open rate (CTOR) is a crucial metric for email performance.
Subscribers with a low CTR but a high CTOR may not be enticed to open an email due to a weak subject line. This can hinder email performance, as great content may go unnoticed.
However, a low CTOR doesn’t always signify poor performance.
Content that falls below expectations can dampen engagement, even with a catchy subject line. Aim for a 15% CTOR as a good benchmark.
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Conversion rate
Your email recipients click on your links because they find your content appealing, which can lead to sign-ups and purchases. Conversion rate measures the percentage of recipients who click a link and complete a desired action, indicating the effectiveness of your email campaigns.
A/B testing CTAs can boost website traffic and optimize emails for better performance. To enhance effectiveness, create urgency in your emails using countdown timers and limited-time offers.
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Bounce rate
Email marketing bounces occur when your message doesn’t reach its intended recipient. The bounce rate reflects the percentage of emails rejected by servers and undelivered. A high bounce rate can damage your brand’s image and flag you as a potential spammer.
Soft Bounce: Encountering temporary email issues? It’s crucial to monitor them to prevent more significant problems down the line. Soft bounces often stem from temporary blacklisting, full mailboxes, connection errors, or graylisting.
If your soft bounce rate exceeds 0.5%, it indicates poor filtering by the recipient’s domain.
Hard Bounce: High hard bounce rates can result from blacklisting or sending emails to inactive users. When an email bounces, check the status message or code.
To maintain email list health (aiming for under 1% bounce rate), strive to keep the bounce rate below 0.5%, which is considered a benchmark for good practice.
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Delivery rate
After sending an email, your priority should be checking its deliverability. Significant issues, like servers rejecting emails, can significantly reduce delivery rates. Email marketers typically aim for a 99% delivery rate, which may vary by campaign.
Certain emails, such as double opt-in and welcome emails, often have lower delivery rates. However, anything below a 97% delivery rate warrants concern.
Ensure the email addresses you collect are valid by using real-time validation tools to gather more valuable addresses and avoid inactive users.
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List growth rate
Are you keen to monitor your list’s growth? The list growth rate is your ally! Calculate it by subtracting the new subscribers from the unsubscribes, dividing by the total email addresses, and multiplying by 100.
Facing hurdles is inevitable, but focus on growing and engaging your list while attracting new subscribers.
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Subscribers vs. Unsubscribers
Every email campaign aims for more qualified subscribers, and subscriber growth often indicates popular content, reflecting your influence. However, a high unsubscribe rate signals a campaign issue.
Even top-notch campaigns experience unsubscribes, but tracking these email marketing metrics and KPIs helps troubleshoot. If a recent email generates numerous unsubscribes, it may suggest the content was unappealing. Monitor the average unsubscribe rate for significant fluctuations.
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Email sharing rate
Well-executed email campaigns are great for brand awareness. In addition to bringing conversions for you, they also have the potential to attract new leads.
Optimizing this email marketing metric and key performance indicator will help you boost brand awareness and understand what content your leads are interested in.
If a particular type of blog generates a lot of shares through email, use the indicators to plan future campaigns. The recommended practice is adding social sharing buttons at the bottom of your emails and asking readers to share the content with friends.
Include social channels most relevant to your reader base. Usually, these are just Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
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Open Rate
When do you check emails the most? Do recipients typically open messages within 30 minutes or later in the day? Is there a higher open rate on Thursday mornings?
The timing of email openings can vary depending on your audience, subject line, and other factors. Experiment with different send times to optimize engagement.
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Domain open rate
The Open Domain Rate is crucial for email deliverability, indicating the percentage of email provider users who open emails.
This email marketing key performance indicator and metric helps identify spam-filtering domains and potential issues. While tracking the open domain rate for Apple Mail users without Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) may be challenging, it’s still worth considering.
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Domain click rate
Check how many people click on emails from a specific provider. You can spot spam policy issues by comparing two email providers’ click rates.
Find the average click rate for each provider and compare it.
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Total open rate
It would be best if you compared it to the previous open rate metric to use it. It shows the number of re-engaged email users. The USP may be bringing customers back.
It could be new information or improved email content. Emailing new information keeps customers engaged more quickly.
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Total Opens vs. Unique Opens
Examining an email’s total and unique opens can offer valuable insights. Multiple opens of the same message may indicate that the campaign was sent inconveniently.
For instance, if a recipient initially opened the email at 11 AM but revisited it at 6 PM after work, it suggests that timing affected engagement for some.
These metrics and KPIs for email marketing shed light on how subscribers interact with your content. Are your email timings optimal for individual recipients?
Is there too much content to digest in one go? A/B testing sends times and content lengths to gauge subscriber responses and make necessary adjustments.
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Opens per customer
Are you trying to adjust your email frequency rate? For this purpose, the open-per-customer metric comes in handy.
Select the period you want to calculate (last 7 or 30 days). It may depend on the audience engagement or how frequently an email is sent.
Let’s say you send 15 emails monthly; the average number of opens in 30 days could be 1.6, so you might reconsider the email frequency.
Sending fewer emails with the same opens per customer can increase the open rate. Therefore, frequency is the key to a higher opening per customer.
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Engagement time
The email read time rate measures the number of people who opened and read the emails. It benefits editorial emails, updates, privacy notices, and similar content. Emphasizing calls-to-action (CTAs) can extend engagement time.
Typically, tools define a “read” email as one that remains open for 8 seconds or longer.
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Overall ROI
Email marketing ROI assesses the value delivered by the program against its costs, which include tools and team expenses. Estimating email marketing costs can be challenging without a budget in place.
However, the best metrics and KPIs for email marketing are valuable for ongoing campaigns and calculating the ROI of new projects. It’s worth noting that email marketing often boasts the highest ROI among digital marketing campaigns.
Conclusion
B2B email marketing KPIs and metrics emerge as a vibrant arena, pulsating with possibilities. Yet, its mastery extends beyond the superficial metrics of opens and clicks, delving into the nuanced realms of audience dynamics and content resonance.
The discourse illuminates the path toward true proficiency, urging marketers to transcend the ordinary and embrace the extraordinary.
By deciphering audience trends, optimizing engagement tactics, and refining content strategies, businesses can unlock the latent potential of email marketing, sculpting bespoke campaigns that resonate profoundly and yield substantial returns.
The artistry lies in synthesizing data-driven insights and creative ingenuity in this dynamic landscape, propelling brands toward unrivaled success.
Get ready for streamlined email campaigns with Binary Demand! Say hello to a flood of leads waiting at your doorstep.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q. What is a reasonable open rate for email?
A. Email open rates are pivotal to the success of marketing campaigns. To build an engaged email list, offer quality content to readers. The email open rate signifies the rate at which recipients open your emails.
Q. What is a good CTR for email?
A. An email’s click-through rate (CTR) determines whether recipients click on images, hyperlinks, or CTAs. A high CTR indicates that subscribers are interested in or intrigued by your offering.
To calculate CTR, divide the clicks by the emails your campaign delivered.
Q. What is a well-sized email list?
A. The size of your email list should align with your industry and business size, akin to email open rates. When determining list size, consider both the average open rate and conversion rate.
To mitigate low conversion risks, it’s advisable to have at least 1000 subscribers, irrespective of business size. Typically, around half of your email list subscribers are potentially interested in your products or services.
Q. What is an email marketing benchmark?
A. An email marketing benchmark evaluates the success of your business’s email marketing campaigns, providing a yardstick for performance assessment. Benchmarks typically include important email marketing metrics such as email open rate, click-through rate, and email list size, comparing them to gauge campaign success.
Q. What is the most critical metric in email marketing?
A. ROI stands as a crucial email marketing metric and KPI. When crafting emails and campaigns, it’s essential to prioritize ROI alongside metrics such as conversion and list growth rates.
