In many small businesses, the concept of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) can seem a little grand. It is one of those business terms that get bandied about when someone is trying to blind you with science – and normally trying to sell you something they insist you need (but actually you probably don’t!) In my view, rather than focus on the name, it is better to understand the underlying principle and then uses it appropriately in your business. If you don’t think it is appropriate, don’t use it. I just read this new post from e-consultancy…
16 most important email marketing KPIs for your business
… and it set me thinking. Yes, I agree that email can be an immensely powerful and cost effective marketing tool but how many small business owners are going to monitor and analyse 16 separate performance measures consistently and on an on-going basis? The article is somewhat B2C/E-commerce focussed but the core principles can apply across all businesses. On reading it, I came to the conclusion that, actually, there are only 3 email marketing measurements which really matter:
1. Bounce Rate
This tells you how accurate your list is. If you get a high bounce rate (I reckon anything over 10% is high) then you should question where your list came from, you aren’t even getting your message out there! I’ll include unsubscribes and spam complaints here too. If you get more than the odd complaint, it is too many. Similarly with unsubscribes, a handful may be acceptable, but no more. If you see higher numbers, you need to go back and look at where your list came from and should you be using it at all?
2. Open Rate
If your emails are being delivered (to appropriate people), the next question is how many open them? Measuring open rates is not an exact science but for a qualified list of known contacts/prospects, 15%-25% is a typical range. If it is higher than this, then great. If it is lower, maybe you need to look at the subject line or headlines in your message. Are you really encouraging people to take a look.
3. Engagement Rate
Do the people who open your email read it and click on links? You must have links in your email as it is clicks on links that are a core measure of engagement. An email with no links makes measurement more difficult. The key to good engagement is content. People will read relevant, interesting messages. If your goal is online sales, then it is your email content and the engagement it generates that is key. Once your email has delivered a visitor to your website it’s job is done. After that it is down to your website to deliver! If you combine a low bounce rate with good levels of opening and engagement in your email marketing you have and effective communication channel. How you use it…..well, that’s for another time. If you want to read the full e-consultancy post, click here Added bonus: e-consultancy have pulled together links to 50 of their most popular email marketing posts – there is a lot here but some useful tips and ideas – take a look
