The KPIs that really matter in Email Marketing
Some time ago, in this very blogwe looked at what were the key metrics to measure and optimise our campaigns. To date, then email marketing continues to be one of the most effective channels for communicating, building loyalty and converting.
However, its true potential is only realised when integrated with a CRM strategy that allows to measure not only the immediate impact of mailings, but also their medium and long term effect on customer relationships and business results.
In this post, we are going to analyse the KPIs that really matter when it comes to email marketing campaigns from a CRM perspective, beyond the traditional metrics.
The importance of looking beyond the basics
Often, campaigns are evaluated solely on the basis of metrics such as open rate or click-through rate. Although useful to assess tactical aspects, these indicators are not enough if we want to understand the real impact of our actions. The integration of email marketing with CRM allows to enrich the analysis, crossing behavioural data, segmentation and business results.
Let us look at the most relevant indicators in this approach.
Delivery ratethe starting point for all measurement
The delivery rate indicates what percentage of emails have actually arrived in the user's inbox.. This is key to assessing the health of the database and the quality of the technical infrastructure. From a CRM perspective, a low delivery rate may be revealing recruitment problems, poor segmentation or lack of data hygiene.
According to LitmusA high deliverability ratio - above 98 % - is a necessary condition for any campaign to have traction. Without good deliverability, no subsequent metric makes sense.
Opening ratea metric that requires context
The open rate has historically been one of the most frequently consulted metrics in email marketing. However, since the advent of policies such as Apple Mail Privacy Protectionhas declined in reliability. Even so, it is still useful as an indication of interest or to compare between segments or A/B versions of an issue.
CRM allows you to enrich this metric by linking it to subsequent behaviours, such as clicks or conversions, and to understand whether the open actually translates into engagement.
CTRmeasuring real interest
Also known as "Click-Through Rate", measures the frequency with which users click on an advertisement or link after viewing it is one of the most relevant metrics, as it measures the first active behaviour of the user. From a CRM point of view, this data is not only used to evaluate the performance of a campaign, but also to feed scoring models, identify interests and improve personalisation in future mailings.
Analysing CTR by content type or by link location within the email (e.g. hero, secondary buttons, text links) allows for more granular and useful information.
Conversion rateconnecting marketing with business
Conversion rate is possibly the most relevant KPI when looking to measure the impact of email marketing in terms of business. It refers to the percentage of users who have performed the desired action after receiving the email: a purchase, a booking, a download or any other defined objective..
From the CRM, this metric allows you to link campaigns to real results and calculate the return on investment (ROI) of the channel. In addition, if it is crossed with indicators such as average order value (AOV) or purchase frequency, a much richer view of the effectiveness of the strategy is obtained.
Engagement scoreA composite view of behaviour
The engagement score is a composite metric that combines different user interactions - opens, clicks, site visits, conversions - to assign an overall score. This metric is particularly useful in CRM environments, as it allows users to be segmented according to their level of involvement and to design automated journeys adapted to each level.
In addition, it can be used as an indicator of attrition or drop-out risk, facilitating personalised retention strategies.
Attrition and complaints ratea warning sign
Unsubscribes and complaints (when a user marks an email as spam) are key indicators to understand whether the frequency, content or segmentation of our campaigns are misaligned with user expectations..
From the CRM perspective, analysing this metric allows you to detect patterns: what type of campaigns generate more unsubscribes, in which segments they occur most frequently, and how they evolve over time. This information is essential to adjust the strategy and avoid the deterioration of the database.
Bounce ratereal-time data quality
The bounce rate indicates what percentage of e-mails could not be delivered. Hard bounces (e.g. non-existent addresses) should be automatically removed to avoid sender reputation penalties. Soft bounces (e.g. full mailbox) can be handled with retry flows or corrective actions.
The CRM should include mechanisms to automatically manage these cases and maintain a clean and up-to-date database.
Repetition ratea strategic metric
Repeat rate - whether it is a purchase, open or click-through rate - is the rate at which the product or service is used. measures how many users reengage with the brand after previous campaigns.. This indicator is very valuable for assessing loyalty and the effectiveness of remarketing campaigns.
In addition, it allows to identify profiles with high recurring conversion potential and to feed Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) models.
