You should review your data to see what has worked, what hasn’t, and consider what tweaks or improvements you can make to increase the likelihood of reaching your goals before the end of the year.
There are a lot of topics on this, but let’s focus on reporting. Historically, the go-to metric has always been the general open rate, but it’s no longer the most reliable metric to rely on.
With changes like Apple's Mail Privacy Protection (MPP), mail apps often pre-load images, which triggers a "proxy open" even if the subscriber never actually looked at your email. This can falsely inflate your open rate.
Instead, look at these key metrics to get a true impression of how your contacts are engaging with your emails:
Confirmed Opens: Constant Contact now filters out proxy opens in your primary reporting. Keep an eye on your "Confirmed open rate" and your "Unique opens" rather than just the total number.
Click-Rates (Unique vs. Total): This is the true indicator of engagement. Check your Click Distribution and Heat Map tabs to see exactly which links are driving the most traffic.
Desktop vs. Mobile Open Percentage: Knowing where your audience reads your emails tells you exactly how you should be designing them.
Conversion Rate & Total Sales: If you have an eCommerce store connected to Constant Contact, check your Revenue tab. It attributes orders placed within 72 hours of an email open or SMS delivery straight to that campaign!
After you have a better understanding of how people engage with your emails, think of improvements you can make to boost that engagement. For example:
Email Timing and Frequency: Evaluate the timing and frequency of your emails. Sending emails at the right time can significantly increase overall engagement. (Tip: If you have access to the new AI Assistant, you can ask it to analyze your audience's hour-by-hour engagement to find your best send times!)
Subject Line Effectiveness: The power of your subject lines can greatly influence your confirmed open rates. Test different subject lines to see what resonates best with your audience.
Mobile Responsiveness: If your reporting shows a high Mobile Open Percentage, ensure your design is mobile-friendly. Take advantage of the new Mobile Stacking Control feature to dictate whether your columns stack left-to-right or right-to-left so your primary buttons are never buried.
Segmentation: Segment your email list based on user behavior (like sending targeted campaigns specifically to the list of contacts who clicked a certain link in your last email). Tailored emails are more likely to convert.
Clear Calls to Action (CTAs): Include clear and compelling calls to action. This guides your recipients on what steps to take next, whether it's visiting a website, signing up for a webinar, or making a purchase.
The work is never done, and privacy trends are always shifting. What worked yesterday might not work today. It’s important to stay on top of your reporting data and pivot when necessary.
If you have any interesting insights you’ve gleaned from your own reporting, let us know in the comments!
