5 meaningful numbers that don't lie
Greg Grdodian
In a sea of numbers, there are some that matter and some that only look important. If evaluated correctly, these numbers will help you strengthen your results and give your budget direction.
1. Time of day. After analyzing a client's lackluster email marketing results, we noticed that the majority of its customers live on the West Coast. We split the client's email deployments by region so everyone received an email message at the same time of day regardless of time zone. This slight tweak increased results by 200%.
2. Open rate. This is a critical statistic because it shows the interest and acceptance of your product, offer, and brand. There are three main factors that affect your open rates: subject line, “from” line, and pre-header. Variations of these three elements should be tested as each can have a major impact on your campaign results. Use split testing to remove other variables that can skew your results. Typical acquisition open rates range from 4 to 15%, and average customer open rates range from 10 to 35%.
3. Click rate. Revered as the most important statistic in email marketing, the click is the action that all marketers seek. That click is the validation of your marketing campaign's success. Although every element in your email campaign has a part in generating a click, the one with the most direct impact is your email's call-to-action (CTA). You'll implement the most effective CTAs when you follow the IOU principle with each campaign. “IOU” is a catchy way of remembering the basics: Your email must generate Interest, deliver a strong Offer, and provide a sense of Urgency. Without these three elements, your likelihood of success decreases dramatically. Typical acquisition click rates range from 0.2 to 2%, and customer click rates vary from 2 to 7%.
4. Click-to-open ratio. This ratio is deceptive because it is sometimes used interchangeably with the click rate. When your click-to-open rate is low, that means the people who open your mail aren't actually clicking anything in it. They may look, but they don't interact. Sometimes a low “C2O” rate happens because the offer in the email differed from the offer the reader expected—so don't be deceptive. A weak CTA can also produce a low click-to-open rate. Keep a close watch on this statistic; it will give you a great indication of what needs improvement. Typical click-to-open rates range from 10 to 25%.
5. Conversion rate. The conversion is the climax to the story, the exclamation point to the sentence. Your conversion rate is directly linked to the effectiveness of your CTA. Customers who aren't sure what they're clicking will lead to low conversions, whereas an explicitly clear call-to-action will produce results. Free offers have a higher conversion rate than paid offers, but ideally, both kinds of offers should draw double-digit conversion rates. If your rates are lower, it's imperative to assess your landing page and make the necessary changes. Typical conversion rates are between 20 and 35%.
To boost conversion rates try customizing your landing page so it resembles your HTML. Don't feel overwhelmed. Focus on the most meaningful numbers and you'll be able to get more out of your reports.
