Every day, 99% of online users check email. 73% of millennials prefer to communicate with brands through newsletters. What are these numbers getting at? That email marketing, which has been steadily predicted to die, is still alive.
You can sell everything from epoxy to the best betting sports odds. But it’s useless just to send emails through the base – you need to think about a strategy, to check the metrics. Let’s find out together how to evaluate the effectiveness of an email channel. The parameters which will help us in this are divided into three levels: Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced.
Elementary
OR (Open Rate)
The more frequently emails are opened, the more interested subscribers there are in the base. Accordingly, the better the mailing – in theory, because a good OR doesn’t mean that everyone will go to the site and buy something.
The rate is influenced by the sender’s name, subject line, time sent, preheader and avatar. Here’s how to improve your metrics:
- Send Time. There’s no ready-made solution. Only tests will tell you what time is right for you. Mailing platforms have open time reports. It makes sense that the peak is the sending time. Pay attention to the second parameter, it is smaller. For example, you sent an email at 7 pm, and the second peak opening was at 11 pm. Next time, try to send the newsletter at this time – perhaps this way you will improve your open rates and sales.
- Sender Name. Email on Acid research has shown that people look at who’s writing to them first. In the “Name” field, use the company name or a bunch of “employee name + company,” such as “John from Netflix.” The second option appeals more to users, especially in cases where the customer has interacted with this person before.
- Memo. The number of characters for the “Name” field is limited. For example, iPhone Mail displays 20 characters, while Outlook displays 32 characters. To make sure the company name is accurately seen, stick to the lower character limit.
- Subject. After reading it, the subscriber should understand what will be in the letter: a new collection, a sale, news or interesting content. The subject line should be intriguing, but don’t go overboard. “To lose weight, all you have to do is…” – such a theme will attract attention, but is more likely to be a reason to send you to spam than to go to the site.
- Avatar. It’s not displayed everywhere. For example, the desktop version of Google Mail has no avatar, but the mobile version does. Set it up – it will not be superfluous. Set up the company logo. Otherwise subscribers will have a pattern break or think you are a spammer.
- Preheader. This is the text that is displayed right after the subject line. It will help to hook the subscriber even more. You can also make it stand out in the user’s mailbox by not having a preheader. Make up a short subject and leave the preheader blank. But you don’t have to do it that often.
CTR (Click-Through-Rate)
The more users clicked on the target action (from an email), the higher CTR is. It means that the message worked well – the marketer, copywriter, and designer did a great job. Or well done, the multi-armed millipede, who did everything himself.
Here’s what will help raise the clickability:
- Text. Write simply and to the point. Use short sentences. People are overwhelmed with information. Write smaller and clearer, even if it’s a content message.
- Design. No more than three colors per letter. There can be more shades. Check fonts, indentation, block placement, footer information.
- CTA button. It can be any color. The main thing is that it should be contrasting and call to action: go to the site, call, order. The text of the button should contain verbs and questions: “Find out more”, “How does it work?”. The button should be visible on the first screen. If the email is large, add a second or even a third button at the end. Make sure they work and the links are active.
Unsubscribe
This parameter directly affects the reputation of the domain and therefore the deliverability. If people suddenly began to unsubscribe in droves, it means they did not like something. Identify the average number of unsubscribes and check after each newsletter. Set up a data visualization system with Power BI or Data Studio – this will make it easier to understand when something went wrong.
Delivery and Bounce Rate
What’s the point of doing a newsletter if it’s not reaching the recipients? Track the rate in the postmasters, see the statistics in the platform.
The mailer sends delivery information to the box, but without specifics. That is, the letter can be in “Spam”, and you will believe that it came to the user. To monitor the reputation of the domain in all services, set up a postmaster.
Intermediate
Conversions
Direct
The user opens the email, clicks the button, gets to the website, and places an order. To track conversions from a specific channel, set up UTM tags.
If the subscriber interacted with the brand via other channels before, conversion is only counted with the mailing.
Associated
They help you see the real picture on user interactions with the brand and understand which channel brings more value. Associate conversions can be viewed in Google.Analytics if you have goals set up.
Increased Repeat Sales
Attracting a new customer is much harder than retaining an old one. Pareto’s law applies here: 20% of customers bring in 80% of profits. And according to marketers, letters extend the life cycle of subscribers, which means they generate more sales.
Average Check Growth
People love to spend money. Create the conditions for users to spend it from you. To do this, segment your base and personalize your messages. If a woman who ordered a dress from you gets a selection of matching handbags, jackets or accessories in time, she’s likely to come back and make a second purchase.
Reducing the Transaction Cycle
To know that the deal cycle has shortened, you need to see the cycle. If you haven’t already spelled out your sales funnel, do it as soon as possible. Analyze where the “hitch” is happening and direct the power of email marketing there.
Advanced
ROI/ROMI (Return On (Marketing) Investment)
Example: you paid 50 thousand rubles to set up an email about an abandoned cart. A year later you conducted an analysis of a control group. It showed that those who abandoned the cart and received a reminder bought 100 thousand more than those who only saw the retargeting. So you didn’t spend the money for nothing.
You can calculate ROI using simple and complex formulas.
A simple one:
ROI = profit from the channel / investment in the channel x 100%.
The minus is that it does not take into account margin and gross profit. That is, the ROI will be high, but the actual profit will not.
Here’s the complicated formula:
ROI = (gross profit – costs) / costs x 100%, where gross profit = margin x revenue.
LTV (LifeTimeValue)
Nothing lasts forever. Neither are customers. Today they order a lot and often, and tomorrow they move, change jobs or interests and that’s it. Alas, even old customers go away. Two formulas can help you calculate the revenue from a particular user over the entire period of brand communication.
Here’s a simple formula:
LTV = customer revenue – cost to attract and retain a customer.
And this one is more difficult:
LTV = average check x purchase frequency x lifetime (how long the customer has interacted with you).
CRR (Customer Retention Rate)
The higher it is, the more customers come back to you for purchases – so your marketing strategy is working. A normal value is 80-90%.
CRR = (number of customers at the end of period – number of new customers for period) / number of customers at the beginning of period x 100%.
There is a sea of other metrics and formulas, and you can get drowned in them. So don’t chase them. You have business objectives and marketing channels that will help you solve them. They will only bring results together.
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