The Rundown on Campaign Stats
The Rundown on Campaign Stats
What stats should you be tracking to measure campaign performance?
The answer to this question can vary depending on your ultimate marketing goals. Success can take on different meanings for different people. Here we will provide you with a list of what we consider to be the most basic and important campaign tracking analytics.
Open Rate
The Open Rate represents the number of campaign emails opened divided by the total number of emails sent out. If your open rate is low, it could be either a deliverability issue or something like an ineffective subject line.
At Thrive, not only will we consult with you to create the most effective subject lines, but we also have a 3% Open Rate guarantee on all of our campaigns. If your campaign doesn’t achieve the guaranteed Open Rate, we will rerun the campaign at no extra cost until it does.
Click-Thru’s
This metric represents the number of people who actually clicked on a link in the ad itself after opening the email. If this number is low, consider revising your ad or making the offer more desirable. Often times, you simply need a clearer call-to-action. Read our other blog post about Good vs. Bad Campaign examples.
Unsubscribes
This one is important. You or the company sending out your email must collect this information. This is the first step in remaining compliant with current SPAM laws. There must be a way for recipients of every email you send out to opt out of your future mailings. Once you collect that information, you have 10 days to remove them from your mailing list. You should never send email to that address again – unless, of course, they opt back in at a future date.
At Thrive, we manage this list for every client at no extra cost. We make your suppression list available for download at the conclusion of every campaign.
Bouncebacks
There are two types of Bouncebacks – hard bounces and soft bounces.
Hard Bounces are failures due to email addresses or domains that no longer exist. This can be caused by a few things – people changing email addresses, closing accounts, changing jobs, etc… These should be removed from your mailing list as to not negatively affect deliverability rates. Read our post about keeping good list hygiene [link to Keeping Good Hygiene]
Soft Bounces can be caused by any number of things – a full inbox, ISP server issues, auto-replies, and deferrals. A soft bounce indicates an issue on the recipient’s end. This does not necessarily mean that the address does not exist.
While these basic metrics can tell you a lot about the results of your campaign, it’s important to keep in mind that these are just numbers unless you know what to do with them. If you have a low open rate, look into your deliverability or work on improving your subject lines. If your click thru’s are suffering, work on improving your email ad. More than average unsubscribes? Consider the frequency of your emails as well as the content contained therein.
If you would like to learn more about what these stats mean and how to use them to improve your email marketing campaigns, contact a Thrive Marketing Strategist by:
Calling Toll-Free – 866.673.7004
or Emailing us at inquiries@thrivemg.com
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