Email marketing and analytics go hand in hand when it comes to understanding what’s working, how your audience is responding, and where to improve. It’s not just about what you send, but how you send it, when, and to whom. Bounce rates, click-through rates, and open rates aren’t just numbers, they’re your roadmap to identifying where your campaigns have succeeded and where they’ve fallen short. After all, you can’t improve what you don’t measure.
Below are explanations of the three main data points used in analyzing the success of email campaigns, along with some other tips about how to make your emails more effective.
Bounce rate
The bounce rate measures how many emails weren’t delivered to a subscriber’s inbox. “Hard” bounces occur when you attempt to send an email to an invalid address or domain, while “soft” bounces typically result from temporary issues ranging from full inboxes to server issues.
A high bounce rate may cause your email provider (such as Mailchimp, HubSpot, etc.) to suspend or ban your domain, which can harm your business and brand. To reduce your bounce rate, regularly update your email list, use a double opt-in process to confirm subscribers genuinely want your emails, and avoid purchasing email lists. Ideally, you want to keep your bounce rate under 2%, with about 0.53% hard bounces and 1.54% soft bounces.
Click-through rate (CTR)
An email’s click-through rate (CTR) measures the percentage of recipients who click a link within your email. This can be a valuable metric when it comes to understanding how effectively your content and call-to-action (CTA) work together to engage your audience.
According to Mailchimp, the average CTR for the business and finance industry is 2.78%, so a lower rate may indicate the need to improve your language, link visibility, email design, or personalization. A high CTR usually means your audience is interested enough to take the next step, whether that’s reading a blog post, signing up for something, or making a purchase.
Open rate
The open rate is the percentage of people who opened your email out of the total number of emails successfully delivered. According to Mailchimp, the average open rate for the business and finance industry is 31.35%. Essentially, this metric reflects your ability to grab attention and indicates how well you’re connecting with your audience. If your emails aren’t being opened, it may be time to reevaluate key elements to the emails you are sending. For example, it could mean that your subject line isn’t enticing enough, the timing is off, or your audience doesn’t find your content relevant.
Some email marketing platforms provide advanced analytics beyond basic open rates, including tracking repeated opens and individual activity. When a recipient opens the same email multiple times, it can indicate strong interest or engagement with the content. However, it is important to consider the context and interpret this data carefully. Following up with a personalized email, offering additional resources, or inviting them to a call or meeting to share more information and better understand their needs can be helpful.
Subject lines and preheaders
The subject line and preheader are the first things your recipient sees in their inbox. The subject line acts as your email’s headline and should be clear, compelling, relevant, and concise. The preheader provides a short preview of the email content and adds context to the subject line.
Since performance can vary from business to business, don’t be afraid to test different subject line variations and refine your strategy to find what works best for your audience. Additionally, pay attention to what subject lines get the most attention. If you are trying to establish an ongoing campaign, like a monthly newsletter or an educational series, you may want to include familiar elements in the subject line and/or preheader so that your followers know immediately what to expect, and will open rather than delete it.
When to press send
Email marketing is a cost-effective way you can increase brand awareness, generate leads, and increase revenue regardless of the size of your business. This includes knowing the best times to press send.
Adobe Business reports that Tuesdays tend to yield the highest open rates and often generate higher click-through rates compared to other weekdays. This may be because Mondays are typically busy, with people catching up on emails and tasks from the weekend. However, Thursdays were found to generate the most revenue from email campaigns.
While choosing the right day is important, also take the time of day into account. According to a study by Omnisend, emails sent at 8 a.m. had the highest open rate of 20.32% and a strong click-through rate of 7.79%. This may be because many people start their day by checking their inboxes.
Remember, your business is unique—and so is your audience. It’s important to use your own data to inform your decisions. While these general benchmarks can be helpful starting points, running multiple tests will help you identify which days and times tend to deliver optimal results for your specific goals.
Test and adapt
A common mistake is treating your analytics as a one-time verdict rather than an ongoing opportunity for optimization. Data shows that email performance shifts as subscriber habits evolve. This means that last year’s perfect timing or subject line may no longer resonate with your current audience. This is why it’s important to regularly review these metrics and adjust your strategy accordingly. The marketing landscape is dynamic and ever-changing; don’t let it leave you or your business behind.
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At Quantum, we help our advisor partners create email and marketing campaigns that are specifically tailored to their brands. If you’re interested in our strategic marketing services, please give us a call today at 800.440.1088.
Sources:
https://www.business.com/articles/email-marketing-analytics/
https://mailchimp.com/resources/email-marketing-benchmarks
https://mailchimp.com/resources/insights-from-mailchimps-send-time-optimization-system
https://business.adobe.com/blog/basics/the-best-time-to-send-emails
https://www.omnisend.com/blog/best-time-to-send-email/
Josef Vargas is an email developer with Quantum, helping our advisor partners effectively leverage email marketing strategies with professionally designed messages. He also helps with website updates, front-end development and content changes, and he specializes in building custom websites through WordPress, HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Bootstrap.
