Looking for Love? Embrace the Metrics Outside of those Risky Email Opens for a More Happily Ever After
Apple’s iOS 15 Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) update made headlines, especially in the email marketing community. What the new MPP feature does is downloads all emails from the ESP before they are opened by the user. For the ESP, this is seen as an opened email, which for marketers is suboptimal. However, this feature allows any spam to be filtered out before a user even sees it, which is a good thing.
“Mail Privacy Protection hides your IP address, so senders can’t link it to your other online activity or determine your location. And it prevents senders from seeing if and when you’ve opened their email.” Apple
Sounds like a great security feature, right? However, it means not every email open is a real open.Oh and remember our post about junk email addresses? This is now a feature in iOS15.
“Instantly generate unique, random email addresses that forward to your personal inbox — so you don’t have to share your real email address when filling out a form on the web or signing up for a newsletter. Hide My Email is built into Mail,4 Safari, and iCloud Settings.”
Spoiler alert: Neither Google nor Outlook has announced similar updates. Yet. Apple controls about 50% of the email market. For years, online marketers have been relying on clicks and opening rates. At the end of the day, we all know that these metrics only put food on the table when they are combined with a hard conversion. The new iOS update is probably a wake-up call for us all. Instead of relying on open rates, we need to get a better grasp on where our subscribers click and why. After all, just because someone walks into your shop is no guarantee they will leave with a purchase.
Shifting Your Focus from Opens to Clicks
Sure, a handcrafted subject line will get attention and probably an open, especially if it is personalized, but let’s think outside of the open box. Email opening rates never corresponded with reality, and now even less so. Individual figures alone are not very meaningful. In combination with other key figures, (how long your subscriber spent on your email and where they clicked) your marketing quickly becomes exciting.
An email with a higher number of links theoretically also increases the probability that the user will find an offer that interests them. If you fit the links and CTAs to the needs of your recipient, that is. Relevant, personalized emails containing products and offers specific to the needs of the subscriber are King. Or Queen.
Ask yourself: Why did the subscriber sign up for my email? The answer is the majority are looking for the best product to fit their needs, and at the best price. That is your call to action.
“The most important metric to focus on now is Clicks and understanding where and what people click on in your emails. Understanding these engagement behaviors can help improve your email structure and overall engagement with your content.” Groundhogg
Understanding Metrics Outside of Email Opens
Those vanilla email KPIs are just small pieces of a larger puzzle. Think about the big picture. Your customers certainly are. They are less interested in your marketing silos and more interested that your offer will make or break their expectations.
Email marketing metrics go beyond open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribe rates. Often, these alone won't help you answer the key question -- is your email marketing effective? So, the more you know, the more you can measure your success.
Click-to-open rate: the key to assessing the quality of your contact list and the relevance of your emails to the target audience.
Contact list growth rate: how fast your email list is growing.
Average revenue per email sent: how much revenue you make from each email.
Finally, the email sign-up rate from landing pages. This indicates how many website visitors find their way to your subscription list. And measuring your website traffic is where we’re going next.
“With the iOS 15 update, it is likely that email open rates will be inflated. The level of inflation will be determined by the number of Apple Mail users in a company’s email file or customer base. In 2020, about 50% of emails opened were from Apple products using the Mail feature … this is a time to get creative. We can tie site traffic to an email campaign, enlist the help of click maps, and analyze unsubscribe rates.” Media Horizons
Measure the Site Traffic Tied to Your Campaigns
A campaign promotes products or services to increase sales as well as to strengthen the image and market position of a business. An advertisement in general refers to the announcement of information. An ad is a one-off, and if left alone, it will stand and fall alone.
Campaigns work over time, so stop treating your emails like ads.
So, what is a successful email campaign? The open rate doesn’t tell you whether your email was read or whether your recipients clicked on CTAs or other links. Of course, open, and click-through rates are important metrics for your email marketing. But email tracking and website traffic, give you important insights that are more useful for targeting and measuring your campaigns.
Why? Email traffic to your website shows you how engaged and connected your subscribers and leads are.
What did the visitor do on your website?
What was their user journey and,
How long did they stay on your website?
These answers are more valuable than a simple open and click rate and will help you identify any cracks in the path you’ve laid out for your visitors.
“For the ultimate impact, you need to make each visit count! From creating impactful content to improving your website user journey, there are several ways to help keep visitors engaged. And website visitor tracking tools are an effective way to maximize on every visit, helping you see what works, what doesn’t, and where changes need to be made.” Lead Forensics
Your Email Conversions are Key
Email marketing is the primary revenue driver for many businesses. And yet, many email campaigns are often sub-optimally designed and, in the end, aimless.
Email campaigns can be improved by:
Constantly improving content
Tailoring messages, and
Having the right targeting criteria
While these are critical to success, the ingredients for actual conversions are more varied.
When it comes to conversion rate, content in the right context is everything. The wrong content at the wrong time guarantees you a low conversion rate. Know when your customers need what content in their customer journey, you can add value throughout the buying process.
You can run endless A/B tests, but if the actual content of your email isn't compelling, conversions won't happen. Find the reasons why your customers should make that conversion happen.
“Because your definition of a conversion is directly tied to the call-to-action in your email, and your call-to-action should be directly tied to the overall goal of your email marketing.” HubSpot
Get the Most from Your Email Marketing Deployment and Analytics
In addition to a qualified list of contacts, a high-performing email campaign can be your company’s most reliable asset for engaging leads.
Our end-to-end Email Services Suite offers a one-stop-shop for everything you need to launch a campaign for your business. It includes append, reverses append, validation, and deployment services.
Our team would be more than happy to handle your entire campaign end-to-end. Contact us today. AWI delivers all you need to sit back, relax, and enjoy the results!
Be Certain.
