There are multiple ways to measure the effectiveness of an email marketing campaign, from open rates and click-throughs to bounce rates and unsubscribe requests. But these do not always paint a full picture of how well your email marketing is performing.
For example, some emails do not require a click-through to be effective. Instead, they may inspire recipients to visit your brick-and-mortar store or provide information that will help them decide to purchase later. In addition, a person may not even bother unsubscribing from you; he may simply relegate your messages to the spam folder.
To get a better handle on how well your email marketing efforts are doing, here are three new tools you can use to measure effectiveness.
"Not Spam" Rates
It is rather common for legitimate marketing emails to get caught in spam filters. Usually, these emails end up languishing in a user's spam folder, never seen and never missed.
However, if a recipient really is interested in the email, he or she may look for it in the spam folder and instruct the email client that it is "not spam." Such an action is valuable to the marketer because it shows that the recipient considers the email important enough to take additional steps to retrieve it.
Deleted After Opening vs. Deleted Without Opening
Besides open rates, it is possible to track the delete rates of your emails. This can provide some additional insights, depending on whether recipients open the email before deleting it or delete it without ever opening it.
If an email has a higher-than-normal rate of being deleted without opening, it indicates a problem with something other than the content of the email itself. It may mean that the subject line is ineffective and fails to give recipients a reason to open the email. Or, it could be a timing problem, related to a change in your email marketing frequency or the day and time of its arrival.
If an email has an unusually high rate of deletion after opening, you know that the problem lies with the copy or design of the email's body. Recipients found the email worth opening, but they were disinterested after seeing what was inside.
Forwarding Rates
If a marketing email is really effective and really provides value to a customer, he may do more than open the email or click on a link inside. He may forward the email on to other people whom he knows.
This is a big "win" for you because it increases your reach in an organic way. Your email reaches more people, and since it is now coming from a friend or family member, your email is far more likely to be opened. It allows you to get referral business and likely gain some new subscribers.
By monitoring these rates and identifying what causes some emails to get better results than others, you can work to optimize your email marketing program. It will help you produce emails that are more successful--no matter how you measure it.
* Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
