Email metrics can give you insights into the effectiveness of your messages in a number of ways. They can tell you:

• what percentage of recipients have opened your message (open rate)
• what percentage of recipients have clicked on specific links within your message (click-through rate)
• what percentage of your list is bouncing or unsubscribing (bounce rate or unsubscribe rate)
• the relevance and effectiveness of the message content and offers
• the effectiveness of changing individual elements of your message, such as the subject line or from address

But reading email reports can be daunting - like trying to carve the Thanksgiving turkey with a dull knife. Here are some tips for getting the most out of your email reports:

What's your goal post?

The football teams who that will be playing over the Thanksgiving holiday have a clear, compelling objective: to score points and beat the other team. Similarly, to get the most out of your email reports, you need to first determine your objective or measure of success. Then, use the reports to tell you how your current performance compares to that benchmark.

Open rates do not equal success

Open rates may be either over-reported or under-reported due to a number of factors:

• the use of disabled images by several popular email clients,
• the kind of device that recipients are using to access your messages (mobile devices don't load images, which means those opens aren't counted),
• the security settings of your recipient's email program,
• and other factors.

Look at the whole picture

Look beyond the open rate of your messages to consider it within the context of other metrics. For example, one useful measure is to compare the percentage of recipients who opened your message versus the percentage who clicked a link within it. This will give you a picture of how persuasive your content or calls to action are.

A starting point for Web analytics

Use your email data as the start to determine what recipients are doing after they click on the link in your message. Use your click-through data to point you towards landing pages that may be ineffective, and explore integrating your email campaigns with your Web site analytics. This will enable you to tie the opening of an email message with making a purchase on your website, for example.

Look at trends over time

Look at the performance of your email campaigns over time to help you see trends in your overall list or within specific demographic segments. Use your email service provider's reporting tools to identify people who have not opened your messages or who have only done so sporadically. Then develop a different strategy to re-engage them. For example, send them a different message asking them if they still want to receive messages from you or with a different "from" name. Or, make them a more compelling offer, one that you only offer to that group of people.

Use reports to drive testing

The immediate nature of email reporting makes testing very quick and easy. You can send variations of messages - be it subject line, copy, offer, etc. - and start getting results instantly that show which variation is the most successful. Then use that information to make revisions for additional messages and maximize your campaign performance.

So before you start to feast on the wealth of email performance data offered by your email service provider, make sure you do so strategically following these tips. Happy Thanksgiving!

To learn more about using SubscriberMail to increase the effectiveness of your email campaigns, contact us today.