Email Marketing - Metrics

Segmentation

Segmentation is the art of splitting your list into different groups. These segments consist of people with similar characteristics. Segments can then be emailed reflecting the content and timing appropriate to them. Segmenting your lists helps you get better response rates (open & click). By sending messages to targeted groups within your lists, your recipients will find your campaigns more relevant, hence these appropriate campaigns get better results.

Why do you need Email Segmentation?

Your customers aren’t all the same. They don’t necessarily −

• Have the same interests.
• Come from the same sources (such as social sites, contests or in person).
• Live in the same geographic location.
• Belong in the same stage of your sales cycle.

So, don’t treat the same, with a single email blast. In these days of social networking, your customers want to know that you know them. Fortunately, it’s not all that difficult to create highly-segmented email campaigns.
There are four ways to segment your list with very small examples −

• Geographical Location (Your business wants to offer Hi-Tea in your locality).
• Age (you want to target a specific age group for marketing).
• Gender (Promoting Hair care products to Women).
• Interest (Send emails to those who are Web Designers).

Analytics & Tracking

Having sent an Email Campaign, then comes the stage of Analytics. Make sure you have setup Analytics in your Email Campaign. Many companies provide Analytics. One should have a strong eye on analytics as they define whether your email list wants to hear from you or not. There are many factors that are mentioned, when you see your analytics report.
They have been described in brief below for further understanding −

• Open Rate − The number of people, who opened your email as well as the total no of times your email got open. If you have a low open rate, then you have to make your email subject and content more appealing and try sending the email in different schedules.
• Click Rate − The number of people, who clicked a link in your email as well as the total number of times these links were clicked in your email. The goal of your email is to get the reader to take action. If this metric is low, maybe the quality of your content is not where it needs to be or not that compelling. Make sure your links and “Calls-to-Actions” are visible.
• Bounces − The number of people who did not get your email, e.g. their email account could not be reached. To avoid bounces, make sure your email list is clean from bouncing addresses. This list should prominently have those email addresses, which have been collected from a signup on your website, or having them opt-in to receiving special offers from you, once they make a purchase.
• Unsubscribe − The number of people who removed their email from your list by a link posted at the bottom of the email.
• Forward − The number of people who forward the email using “Forward to Friend” at the bottom of the email. The email platforms can (should) not capture data of people clicking the actual forward link in their email client.
• Complaints − The number of times a contact reports your message as spam in their email client. Similar to unsubscribe, to avoid complaints, and make sure you are not spamming your customers, don’t send multiple emails in a day.