Optimizing Email Campaigns for Engagement and Conversions

TLDR: Review your metrics and leverage tools and strategies to optimize your efforts.

Optimize Your Email Campaign Results

Once you've sent out your email, it's time to assess its performance to ensure you're getting the most out of your campaign. Remember those SMART goals you set? We told you they’d come up again, and again, and- well you get the gist. . Take this time to reflect on what you aimed to achieve. Were you looking to track event attendance? Did you want to increase phone calls or website submissions? How did you plan to measure the results—by the number of phone calls received for a specific product or service, or perhaps by the number of new leads generated?

Now, consider yourself as a master puzzle builder. The metrics relevant to each of the marketing channels you leveraged are the individual puzzle pieces, so let’s see how well they fit together with your campaign goals in mind. Let’s consider all the elements of your campaign’s performance. For instance, if you’re promoting a new service, did you notice an uptick in inquiries or appointments booked? What channel (i.e. email, SMS, social media) seemed to drive the most engagement? These are all valuable indicators of your campaign’s success.

Analyze Your Metrics

There might be some overlap, but each channel has its own metrics to consider when evaluating campaign performance. For email, you’ll want to take a look at:

• Open Rate: The open rate is an important metric that indicates the percentage of recipients who opened your email. A low open rate can be a red flag, suggesting that your subject lines may not be compelling enough to grab attention or that there are issues with the delivery of your emails. It’s important to test different subject lines and ensure that your emails are reaching the inbox rather than being filtered into spam or promotions folders. Additionally, consider the timing of your emails and the preferences of your audience to optimize this rate.

• Click-Through Rate (CTR): The click-through rate (CTR) measures the percentage of recipients who not only opened your email but also clicked on the links within it. This metric is a strong indicator of how engaging and relevant your content is to your audience. A high CTR suggests that your email content is resonating well and that your call-to-action (CTA) is effective. Conversely, a low CTR may indicate that your content needs improvement or that your CTAs are not clear or compelling enough. Regularly analyzing your CTR can help you refine your email strategy and better understand what drives your audience to take action.

• Bounce Rate: The bounce rate reflects the percentage of emails that were undeliverable and returned to the sender. There are two types of bounces: hard bounces (permanent delivery failures, such as invalid email addresses) and soft bounces (temporary delivery issues, such as full inboxes or server problems). A high bounce rate can negatively impact your sender reputation and email deliverability. It’s essential to regularly clean your email list to remove invalid or inactive addresses, and to investigate any technical issues that might be causing soft bounces. This will help ensure that your emails reach the intended recipients and maintain a healthy sender reputation.

• Unsubscribe Rate: The unsubscribe rate measures the percentage of recipients who opted out of receiving future emails from you. A sudden spike in unsubscribes can be a significant warning sign that your content is not meeting the expectations of your audience. It might indicate that your emails are too frequent, not relevant, or not providing enough value. Paying attention to this metric can help you identify areas for improvement in your email content and frequency. Consider conducting surveys or gathering feedback to understand why subscribers are leaving and adjust your strategy accordingly to retain your audience and keep them engaged.

Are you curious how your metrics stack up against industry standards? Check out average industry rates for a comparison. If your rate is close, you’re doing great!

Optimize Your Metrics

Now that you have a clear understanding of where your metrics stand, it’s time to take proactive steps to optimize them! By leveraging powerful tools or keeping some key considerations in mind, you can significantly boost engagement, improve deliverability, and ultimately achieve better results from your email campaigns. Each of these tools or strategies play a crucial role in refining your approach.

• Resend to Non-Openers: One of the easiest ways to increase engagement is by resending the same email to people who didn’t open it the first time. Simply tweak the subject line to make it more enticing or time your resend when your audience is more likely to check their inbox. Resending can help capture attention from those who may have missed your email initially.

• Segment Your Audience: By segmenting your contact list based on factors like demographics, behavior, or past interactions, you can send more personalized emails. Tailoring content to specific groups of subscribers increases the likelihood of opens, clicks, and conversions. For example, send one version to new subscribers and a different version to long-time customers.

• Use A/B Subject Line Testing: If you’re unsure which subject lines will perform best, run A/B tests. This feature lets you send the same email but with different subject lines to small portions of your list to see which one performs better in terms of opens and clicks. Then, the winning version gets sent to the rest of your list. Want to see it in real time? Add an emoji to a subject line and see which email gets more opens!

• Monitor Timing and Frequency: Analyze when your audience is most active online and send your campaigns during those peak times. Use Resend to Non-Openers (RSNO) to increase visibility, and balance your email frequency to keep engagement without overwhelming your audience, aiming for at least once a week or twice a month to stay relevant.

Improve Future Campaigns with Reporting Insights

Set aside time each month to do a deep dive into your reports. Track trends in opens, clicks, and conversions over time to understand what resonates with your audience. Are specific types of content, calls-to-action, or product categories performing better? Use these insights to refine future email strategies.

Optimizing your email campaign doesn’t stop after you hit send. By analyzing performance, revisiting your initial campaign goals, segmenting your audience, resending to non-openers, and leveraging insights from reporting, you can continually refine your strategy to maximize both online and offline engagement and results.

Get Inspired!

Of course, when it comes to analyzing and optimizing your metrics, it might be helpful to see it broken down with an illustrative example.

Maria owns a small Austrian restaurant. She wants to increase her customer base and boost sales through email marketing.

Metrics Analysis:

• Open Rate: Maria notices that her open rates are low. She realizes that her subject lines are too generic and not attention-grabbing.

• Click-Through Rate (CTR): Even when customers open her emails, they rarely click on the links to view the menu or make a reservation.

• Conversion Rate: Few customers who click on the links end up making a reservation or visiting the restaurant.

• Bounce Rate: Some of her emails are bouncing, indicating that her email list might have invalid addresses.

• Unsubscribe Rate: A few customers are unsubscribing, which could be due to too many emails or irrelevant content.

Optimization:

• Open Rate: Maria starts using more specific and enticing subject lines, such as "Exclusive Offer: 20% Off Your Next Vienna Sausage Dinner!" and "Join Us for a Taste of Austria This Weekend!"

• Click-Through Rate (CTR): She adds more visually appealing images of her dishes and clear, prominent CTAs like "Book Your Table Now" and "View Our Menu."

• Conversion Rate: Maria personalizes her emails by segmenting her list based on customer preferences and past visits. She also offers limited-time promotions to create a sense of urgency.

• Bounce Rate: She cleans her email list by removing invalid addresses and double-checking the accuracy of her contacts.

• Unsubscribe Rate: Maria reduces the frequency of her emails and ensures that each one provides value, such as recipes, cooking tips, and special events.