Most of your email program’s improvement comes from tracking the right metrics and acting on them; start by defining goals such as engagement, revenue, or retention so every metric ties back to what you want to achieve.
Delivery and inbox placement: measure delivery rate (emails delivered ÷ emails sent), hard bounce rate (permanent failures) and soft bounce rate (temporary failures). Monitor sender reputation, authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and use seed lists or inbox placement tools so you know whether your messages reach recipients or hit spam folders.
Engagement metrics: track open rate (opens ÷ delivered), click-through rate CTR (clicks ÷ delivered) and click-to-open rate CTOR (clicks ÷ unique opens). Use heatmaps and link-level clicks to see which content drives attention. Low opens signal subject line or sender problems; low CTOR signals content or design issues.
Conversion and revenue metrics: measure conversion rate (conversions ÷ clicks or ÷ delivered depending on attribution), revenue per recipient (total revenue ÷ delivered) and return on investment ROI ((revenue − cost) ÷ cost). Attribute conversions with UTM parameters and your analytics platform so you can tie email to downstream actions and lifetime value.
List health and risk metrics: track unsubscribe rate (unsubscribes ÷ delivered), complaint rate (spam reports ÷ delivered) and list growth rate ((new subscribers − attrition) ÷ total list). High complaint or unsubscribe rates indicate targeting, frequency or expectation mismatches; prune inactive addresses and re-engage with win-back campaigns to protect deliverability.
Testing and segmentation: run A/B tests on subject lines, send times, creative and calls to action, and measure lifts using statistical significance. Segment by behavior, purchase history and engagement to increase relevance; compare segment-level metrics to avoid averages masking performance gaps.
Reporting and cadence: build dashboards showing trends for opens, clicks, conversions, deliverability and revenue, and set short- and long-term KPIs. Clean your list regularly, automate welcome and re-engagement flows, and document benchmarks by industry and campaign type. Follow data privacy rules and opt-in best practices so your metrics reflect engaged recipients and sustainable growth.