The numbers are saying mean things about your email marketing behind your back. Oh no she didn’t! Your rep is being totes ruined, and you don’t even know about it. That’s cra cra! If you want to be in the cool marketing clique, you had better get your email marketing legit!
If you have ever executed an email campaign, the word “metrics” probably means something to you. Any email marketing software worth anything tracks the metrics
But do you know what they mean?
And if know what the different terms mean, do you know which number are bad?
And if you realize that a metric is bad, do you know what to do to fix it?
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Bounce Rates – How many emails were sent vs. How many emails were delivered
What is a bounce?
A bounce means your email was not delivered. There are two types of bounces, hard and soft. A hard bounce means the email is permanently undeliverable, while a soft bounce is temporarily undeliverable.
For example, a soft bounce might be caused by a full mailbox, while a hard bounce is caused by things like invalid email addresses and unsubscribes.
How can you stop the bounces?
Clean your list. Make sure you get rid of any invalid email addresses. Another reason for hard bounces could be a particular ISP has blacklisted emails from your organization causing them to go straight to the spam folder. It doesn’t take many complaints to land on the blacklist. If this happens, call and work with the particular service provider to get removed from the blacklist.
If you are getting a lot of invalid email addresses, you should examine the way in which you gather them. You may need to adjust your method so as not to encourage people to enter false email addresses.
Open Rates – Number of emails opened vs. Number of emails delivered
Are your emails getting deleted without even an open? Keep in mind a 10% open rate is considered good for most industries. But let’s pretend for the moment that your open rates fall in that dismal 1 to 2 percent range.
The first thing you need to look at is your subject lines. This is the first contact with the recipient. You get 5, maybe 6 words to grab their attention. Keep them simple but informative. Don’t attempt to make a sale with the subject line. Just tell them what is in your email. Questions are sometimes a good idea and can perk curiosity. You can also test your subject lines by with a little A/B testing.
Secondly, you may need to clean your list. Make sure you remove all of the invalid emails from your list and remove people who haven’t engaged in a long while.
Click-Through-Rates – Number of emails clicked vs. Number of emails delivered
Click-through-rates tell how interested your prospects are in what you are sending. If your click-through-rates are low, then your content most likely stinks. Or it could mean your list isn’t very targeted.
The content of your emails need to be direct and concise. Get right to the value you are providing without being wordy or salesy.
Conversion Rate: Number of people who took action vs. Number of emails delivered
Are your emails inspiring people to take action? If you aren’t securing leads with your emails or getting people to fill out forms, then what’s the point. If you are going to ask your audience to raise their hand, you need to be providing something of significance that will help them win.
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The numbers are giving you the blueprint to be successful with your email marketing. Listen to them and adjust. Always remember to provide value and never spam your audience.
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