Anyone can draft up a quick email and send it to their subscribers, but creating a campaign to achieve real results takes much more thought and effort. What do your subscribers want to see? What is making them click? It can be easy to get lost in the myriad of analytics provided by email marketing services such as Active Campaign or Flo Desk, but email analytics doesn’t have to be scary.

We get a lot of questions from our clients about what they should be sharing, when they should be sharing it, and who they should be sending to. Below, we will provide insight as to what you should really be looking at to make the best decisions for your email marketing campaign.

#1. Open Rate

The first thing you should look at is your open rate. The open rate tells you how many people are actually seeing your email. Out of all of the analytics you can study, this is the one that matters the most. You need people to open your email!

So what drives open rates? 

Your subject line will have the biggest effect on whether or not people open your email.  You can give a sense of urgency or make it personal, making people want to open it. Check out this article from Mailchimp and this one from Hubspot for some great tips on crafting a good subject line. When creating your subject line, don’t forget about the preview statement! This part of your email is also very important when trying to increase your open rates.

But it’s not just about the subject line. Days of the week and time of day are a huge factor as not everyone is checking their email every day. Also, if you have old emails on your list, they will negatively affect the open rates as these emails may no longer be used by your readers. These are called inactive subscribers.  This happens over time and it is okay to cleanse your list from time to time.  When you notice people are opening your emails less and less, you can create a strategy to reengage them or remove them from your list altogether.

#2. Click Rates

Your click rate will tell you how engaging your content is to your readers. When creating an email marketing campaign, it needs to have a goal. What is it that you want your reader to do? Make sure that your end goal is simple and clear so you can encourage action. These are called CTA’s or calls to action. Typical CTA’s include signing up, clicking to read more, adding a product to their cart, etc. Your readers may be opening your email, but are they taking the next step that you are directing them to?

• If you are seeing low click rates, you can test your format or styles to make maximize clarity and visibility
• If you are seeing high click rates, rinse, and repeat – you’re doing a great job!  

#3. Sentiment

One very important factor in the success of your email campaign is sentiment. This is often overlooked as it does not have a clear data point in your ESP or email service provider. However, there are ways to make sure your content is resonating with your audience.  One way to judge sentiment is if people are sending you a reply to your email. A lot of times people will respond directly to our emails. This is especially true when I share something personal, or when I share a tip that resonates with them and there is a follow-up question.  Questions are great feedback and they can help to drive future content ideas. Creating that personal connection with your email list is going to drive future sentiment, open rates, click rates, and ideally, reaction to your CTA.

There are all kinds of analytics you can study when launching an email campaign. However, you don’t have to spend hours and hours studying all of the numbers each month. If you focus on these three things listed above, you will get the results you want from your email marketing campaign.

If you would like more information about creating a successful email marketing campaign, reach out to us today!