15 Vital Email Marketing KPIs & Metrics with Benchmarks

You've set up your email marketing strategy: cleaned your email list, segmented your audience, and created targeted valuable content. But is all this effort paying off?

Without tracking your email marketing KPIs & metrics, it's impossible to tell.

We don't want your hard work to go to waste. So, here, we'll guide you through the 10 most critical KPIs and metrics and their benchmarks to improve your email marketing efforts.

What Are KPIs in Email Marketing?

Email marketing KPIs and metrics are measurements used to determine whether your email campaigns are successful or not. 

They help you understand different aspects of your email campaign - like whether people are opening your emails, clicking on links, or taking any other actions you want them to take. So they can give you a clear picture of what's working, what's not, and where improvements can be made.

15 Essential Email Marketing KPIs & Metrics to Measure Your Email Marketing Success

To make the most of your KPIs, it's important first to understand what each one shows. We've made a simple chart to help with that. 

Next, we'll explain each of the 10 KPIs in detail, along with some statistics and how-to formulas.

This will make it easier for you to understand how well your email marketing is doing.

1. Delivery Rate

The delivery rate in email marketing shows how many of your emails successfully reach people's inboxes.

Before worrying about open rates, click-through rates, or conversions, your emails need to be successfully delivered. 

Here is how to calculate your email marketing campaign’s delivery rate:

According to a study in 2023 by Email Tool Tester, the average delivery rate is 85.7%. 

• If your delivery rate is less than 85.7%, something might be wrong. It's a hint to check if your emails are going to spam or if there are old, incorrect email addresses on your list.
• If your delivery rate is over 85.7%, that's a good sign! This means that email providers like Gmail think your emails are good and not spam.

2. Bounce Rate

The bounce rate in email marketing shows the percentage of your emails that weren't delivered successfully.

To understand your campaign's bounce rate, it's helpful to know about two main types of bounces:

• Soft Bounce: This is when an email can't be delivered temporarily. Maybe the recipient's inbox is full, their server is down, or your email was too large. Email servers will try sending these again later.
• Hard Bounce: This means the email couldn't be delivered for good. The reasons might include wrong email addresses, issues with email settings, or your sending IP being blocked. Emails that hard bounce won't be tried again.

Here is how to calculate your email marketing campaign’s bounce rate:

According to Campaign Monitor, the standard to aim for with email bounces is less than 2%. So;

• If your bounce rate is above 2%, this is a signal to examine your email list and the content of your emails. Removing invalid email addresses or adjusting your emails might be necessary to ensure they're not being flagged as spam.
• If your bounce rate is below 2%, this is what you want. It suggests that your emails successfully reach your audience.

3. CTR 

The Click-Through Rate (CTR) in email marketing measures how many people clicked on a link within your email out of those who received it. 

It's a key indicator of how engaging and compelling your email content is, encouraging recipients to take action.

To calculate your email marketing campaign's CTR:

According to Active Campaign, a CTR above 3% is considered good, with the average ranging between 1-5%. This stat helps set benchmarks for evaluating the effectiveness of your email content.

• If your CTR is above 3%, you're doing well. This indicates that your emails engage and motivate recipients to click through, suggesting that your content resonates well with your audience.
• If your CTR is within the 1-5% average, you're on track, but there might be room for improvement. Experimenting with different calls-to-action, subject lines, or content formats could boost your CTR.
• If your CTR is below 1%, it's a sign to revisit your email strategy. This low rate suggests that your content may not be compelling enough to prompt action or your audience isn't properly targeted.

4. Clicks by link

The Clicks-by-link metric in email marketing provides detailed insights into which recipients clicked specific links within your email. 

This goes beyond the overall Click-Through Rate (CTR) by breaking down the clicks into individual links, offering a closer look at what specifically interests your audience within your email content.

To understand and leverage the "Clicks by Link" data in your email campaigns:

• Analyze Each Link: Look at how many clicks each link received. This tells you which content, offers, or calls to action are most compelling to your audience.
• Content Optimization: Use this data to optimize your email content. If certain links get more clicks, consider what makes them appealing and apply those insights to other areas of your content.
• Audience Preferences: Understanding which links are popular can also give clues about your audience's preferences, helping you tailor future emails more effectively.

There isn't a standard benchmark for "Clicks by Link" like there is for CTR or bounce rates because this metric is highly specific to the content and goals of each email. However, analyzing this data gives you a powerful tool for improving the relevance and effectiveness of your email campaigns.

• If certain links get a lot of clicks, it's a sign that your message is resonating. Consider featuring similar content or offering more prominent content in future emails.
• On the other hand, if some links rarely get clicked, it might be time to reassess their relevance or how they're presented in your emails.

5. Conversion Rate 

The conversion rate in email marketing evaluates how many of those clicks (“CTR & clicks by links”) turned into your desired action, like a purchase or sign-up.

This measure is critical to measuring the effectiveness of your email campaign for creating tangible results and reaching your business goals.

To calculate your email marketing campaign's Conversion Rate:

According to the Barilliance, the average conversion rate for email marketing campaigns is 15.22%

• If your conversion rate is above 15.22%, your email campaigns are effective. This suggests that your emails are not only engaging but also successfully encourage recipients to take the desired action. Good conversion rates like this reflect well on the alignment between your email content, the interests of your audience, and the attractiveness of your offer.
• If your conversion rate is below 15.22%, this may be a good indicator that there are areas for improvement in your email strategy. When creating your email funnel, consider examining every aspect, from how you capture emails to the final conversion process. Make sure you segment well, your offers are attractive, and your CTAs are good and visible. A/B testing different components of your emails can also provide insight into what works best for your audience.

6. Open Rate

The open rate in email marketing measures the percentage of recipients who open your emails. It's a crucial metric that indicates the effectiveness of your email's subject line and the timing of your email, both of which can significantly impact a recipient's interest and the visibility of your email in their inbox.

To calculate your email marketing campaign's open rate:

The average open rate is 34.23%, according to Mailchimp; this serves as a benchmark for your email campaign's initial engagement level.

• If your open rate is above 34.23%, you're doing exceptionally well. This indicates that your subject lines are compelling and that you're sending emails at times when your audience is most likely to engage with them. A high open rate suggests that the first step in your email marketing funnel—getting recipients to open your emails—is highly effective.
• If your open rate is below 34.23%, there's room for improvement. This could indicate that your subject lines aren't capturing attention or that your emails aren't being sent at optimal times for your audience.

7. Unsubscribe Rate 

The unsubscribe rate in email marketing shows the percentage of recipients who choose to unsubscribe from your email list after receiving an email. 

This metric is essential for understanding subscriber satisfaction and the relevance and frequency of your emails. 

A high unsubscribe rate can signal that your content is not meeting the needs or interests of your audience or that you're sending emails too frequently.

To calculate your email marketing campaign's Unsubscribe Rate:

Mailchimp says the average unsubscribe rate is 0.22%, which allows you to compare your emails to general subscriber retention standards.

• If your unsubscribe rate is below 0.22%, you're in a good position. This shows that your emails are well-received by your audience and the content is relevant and engaging. Your sending frequency is also likely aligned with subscriber preferences, maintaining a healthy balance between staying in touch and overwhelming your audience.
• If your unsubscribe rate is above 0.22%, it's time to reassess your email strategy. A higher-than-average unsubscribe rate might suggest issues with content relevance, email frequency, or audience targeting. 

8. Spam Complaint Rate 

The spam complaint rate in email marketing measures the percentage of recipients who mark your email as spam. 

This metric is critical because a high spam complaint rate can affect your sender's reputation, deliverability, and the overall effectiveness of your email campaigns.

To calculate your email marketing campaign's Spam Complaint Rate:

GetResponse says the average spam complaint rate is less than 0.01%, a benchmark for your emails.

• If your spam complaint rate is below 0.01%, you're within the acceptable range. This suggests that your emails are generally well-received, and subscribers do not view them as spam. Your content is likely relevant.
• If your spam complaint rate is above 0.01%, this could be cause for concern. It could mean you're sending too many emails, the people receiving them didn't ask for them, or they don't find your emails useful or interesting.

9. Email Sharing/ Forwarding Rate 

The email sharing/forwarding rate in email marketing indicates the percentage of recipients who share or forward your email content to others.

This metric is a valuable indicator of your email content's broader appeal and relevance. A high sharing/forwarding rate suggests that your emails resonate well enough with recipients that they are compelled to share your content with their network, expanding your reach and potentially growing your audience.

To harness the "Email Sharing/Forwarding Rate" data in your campaigns:

• Track Shares and Forwards: Monitor how often each email is shared or forwarded to understand which content resonates enough to be passed along. This insight can reveal what topics, offers, or types of content are most appealing to your audience.
• Optimize for Shareability: Use the insights gained from tracking to make your content more shareable. If certain types of content or specific calls-to-action (CTAs) are shared more frequently, incorporate these elements into more of your emails.
• Understand Audience Interests: The act of sharing or forwarding an email indicates a higher level of engagement and interest. Analyzing these actions can provide deeper insights into your audience's preferences, helping you to tailor your content strategy more effectively.

To calculate your email sharing/forwarding rate:

While there's no standard benchmark for the Email Sharing/Forwarding Rate due to its dependence on various factors, including industry, content type, and audience engagement levels, monitoring this rate is crucial for evaluating the broader appeal of your emails.

• If your emails are frequently shared or forwarded, this is a positive sign that your content is not only engaging but also valuable enough for recipients to share with others. It indicates that your emails are seen as a resource or contain information that's considered beneficial beyond your direct mailing list.
• If sharing and forwarding are rare in your campaigns, this suggests that while your content might interest your direct recipients, it may not possess the broader appeal or perceived value that compels sharing.

10. Social Shares

Social Shares in email marketing refer to the act of recipients sharing your email content on social media platforms via social sharing buttons included in the email.

This metric highlights the integration of email content with social media and its ability to extend the reach of your message beyond the initial email list. Including social sharing buttons in your emails can significantly enhance the visibility and engagement of your content.

To leverage "Social Shares" in your email campaigns:

• Incorporate Social Sharing Buttons: Ensure that each email includes easy-to-use social sharing buttons.
• Track Social Share Metrics: Monitor the frequency and platforms on which your content is being shared to understand which aspects of your content resonate most with a broader audience.

According to GetResponse, more people now include social sharing buttons in their emails - this has increased by 61% from last year (2023). Also, emails with these sharing buttons get clicked on a lot more - in fact, 158% more than emails without the buttons.

This shows that adding social media to your emails can really help to engage your audience.

11. Most & Least Engaged Subscribers

Identifying your most & least engaged subscribers in email marketing involves analyzing subscriber interactions to distinguish between those who frequently engage with your emails and those who do not. This metric is crucial for segmenting your audience based on their level of engagement, allowing for more targeted and effective email campaigns.

To analyze your most & least engaged subscribers:

• Engagement Tracking: Monitor key engagement indicators such as open rates, click-through rates, and email interactions over a defined period. This data helps identify subscribers who consistently open and interact with your emails versus those who rarely or never engage.
• Segmentation: Use the engagement data to segment your subscribers into categories, such as "Highly Engaged," "Moderately Engaged," and "Least Engaged." This segmentation enables you to tailor your email content and frequency to match the interests and behaviors of each group.
• Personalization and Re-engagement: For your most engaged subscribers, consider sending exclusive content, offers, or early access to products/services to reward their loyalty. Develop re-engagement campaigns for the least engaged subscribers with special offers, surveys, or compelling messages to reignite their interest.

Benchmarks for identifying highly engaged versus less engaged subscribers can change based on your industry, who your audience is, and what you aim to achieve with your emails. But knowing who's really involved and who isn't is crucial for making your email strategy better.

• If you identify a significant segment of least engaged subscribers, this group represents potential churn risk and an opportunity for re-engagement. Their lack of interaction may signal content misalignment, email fatigue, or other issues.

12. List Growth Rate

List growth rate in email marketing measures the rate at which your email subscriber list grows.

This metric is crucial for understanding the effectiveness of your list-building strategies and ensuring that your audience is continually expanding. 

A healthy list growth rate indicates successful subscriber acquisition efforts and the overall vitality of your email marketing program.

To calculate your email marketing campaign's List Growth Rate:

According to Shopify, aiming for a list growth rate of 2.5% is advisable. This serves as a benchmark for evaluating the effectiveness of your list-building efforts.

• If your list growth rate is above 2.5%, you attract new subscribers excellently and maintain a healthy and engaged email list. This suggests that your lead generation tactics, such as sign-up incentives, content marketing, or social media campaigns, resonate well with your target audience.
• If your list growth rate is below 2.5%, it may show that your subscriber acquisition strategies need to be revisited. Consider testing different sign-up forms, optimizing your website for conversions, or offering compelling reasons for visitors to subscribe. Evaluating the balance between new subscribers and unsubscribes is also important to ensure your list grows and retains its members effectively.

🌟Bonus: For those who own Shopify stores, Popupsmart's new email automation feature is a great way to connect with visitors and turn them into subscribers. It lets you make customized and well-timed emails, which can improve the customer experience and help grow your email list faster.

13. Engagement by Device

Engagement by device in email marketing measures how subscribers interact with your emails based on the type of device they use, such as desktops, smartphones, or tablets.

This metric provides insight into the preferences and behaviors of your audience, enabling you to optimize your email design, layout, and content for better engagement across different devices.

To learn how people interact with your content on different devices, you need to:

• Device Segmentation: Analyzing the open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates of emails by device type. This helps identify which devices your audience prefers and how they engage with your content on these platforms.
• Content and Design Adaptation: Tailoring your email content and design to offer the best user experience on the most popular devices among your subscribers. For example, ensuring emails are mobile-friendly if a significant portion of your audience opens emails on smartphones.

To calculate Engagement by Device:

• Track each subscriber's device type when they open and interact with your emails.
• Segment the engagement metrics (open rates, click-through rates, etc.) by device type.
• Analyze the data to identify trends and patterns in device usage and engagement levels.

14. List Segmentation Effectiveness

List segmentation effectiveness is about seeing how well your email campaigns do when you send different messages to different groups. 

You create these groups based on things like age, where they live, what they've bought before, or how much they interact with your emails. You know your segmentation works if these targeted emails get more opens, clicks, and sales, and fewer people unsubscribe compared to when you send the same email to everyone.

Here's how to check if your segmentation is working well:

• Pick Your Groups: Decide how you'll split up your email list. It could be by age, location, what people have bought, or how often they open your emails.
• Compare Campaigns: Look at important numbers like how many people open the emails, click on links, make purchases, and unsubscribe from your targeted emails versus your general ones.
• Check the Improvement: See how much better these numbers get when you send targeted emails. More open, clicks, sales, and fewer unsubscribes mean your targeting is on point.

15. Overall ROI

Overall ROI in email marketing shows how much money you make compared to how much you spend on your email campaigns. It's a key number that tells you how well your email efforts are doing for your business.

To calculate your Overall ROI in your email marketing:

According to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), the average ROI for email marketing is $42 for every dollar spent. This means that, on average, every dollar you put into email marketing could bring back $42 in return.

• If your ROI is around $42 or even higher, you're on the right track. Your email marketing is doing well, and you're getting a lot out of what you're putting in.
• If your ROI is lower than $42, don't worry. It just means there's room to grow. You might need to look at your emails and see what can be better. Maybe your emails need to be more interesting, or you need to send them at different times. There's always a way to improve and get that number up.

How to Improve Email Marketing KPIs

When your email marketing metrics aren't meeting your expectations, it's key to take the right actions for improvement. Here are some specific and applicable tips to turn around each of these essential metrics:

• Delivery Rate: Use an email verification tool before sending out emails to ensure you're not sending to invalid addresses.
• Bounce Rate: Identify hard bounces, check if those emails exist, and remove them from your list to avoid damaging your sender's reputation.
• Click-Through Rate: Adjust the placement of your Call-To-Action (CTA) in the email. Try placing it near the top so it's visible without scrolling.
• Clicks by Link: Use heat map tools to understand where users click the most and place your most important links there.
• Conversion Rate: Experiment with the wording, color, and size of your CTAs to make them more attractive.
• Open Rate: Test different subject lines. Incorporate humor, questions, or statements that create a sense of urgency or curiosity.‍
• Unsubscribe Rate: Send a simple survey to those who unsubscribe, asking for their reason - this can provide valuable insights.

• Spam Complaint Rate: Always provide a clear and easy way for recipients to unsubscribe. When people cannot find the unsubscribe button, they might mark your mail as spam instead.
• Email Sharing/Forwarding Rate: Include a small request to share the email in your footer; sometimes, people just need a small nudge.
• Social Shares: Step up the quality of content, share insights that aren't available elsewhere, or break a myth in your industry - valuable content gets shared more often.
• Most & Least Engaged Subscribers: Set up an automated "we miss you" email sequence for unengaged users, including a special offer or exclusive content to draw them back.
• List Growth Rate: Create a popup on your website offering useful resources (like an ebook or a free course) in return for email sign-ups.
• Engagement by Device: Send emails that have a responsive design, ensuring they look good on all devices - mobile, tablets, and desktops.
• List Segmentation Effectiveness: Test segmenting your list based on the recipient's last purchase or interaction with your website. Adjust your content to cater to specific behaviors using behavioral segmentation.
• Overall ROI: Limit the use of discounts to enhance revenue. While they might boost short-term sales, you could be reducing your profit in the long term.

Wrapping Up

In summary, it's crucial to understand and track email marketing key points to know if your strategies are working. Factors like ensuring your emails are getting delivered, read, clicked on, and driving actions you desire can give you a picture of how your plan is performing.

Checking things like how many emails bounce, how many people unsubscribe, or report you as spam can help you see where you might need to make changes. Specific points, like which links get clicked, how many are shared on social media, or how engaged your readers are, can show you what your audience likes. This helps you tailor future emails for better success.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is The KPI For Email Response Time?

When discussing email response time KPIs, we focus on several aspects. 

First, the "Average Response Time" indicates the typical duration of replying to an email, highlighting our speed.

Next, we look at the "First Response Time," indicating the speed of the initial reply after receiving an email, underscoring the importance of a quick first response.

Another key metric is the "Response Rate within X Time," measuring the proportion of emails answered within a specified period, such as within 1 day, to ensure timely replies. 

Lastly, we consider the "Resolution Time," tracking the total time needed to fully address and resolve the issue or query mentioned in the email. These KPIs collectively ensure that we're responding swiftly and effectively, resolving issues.

How Do You Measure Email Marketing Engagement?

Measuring email marketing engagement is like watching who's paying attention and interacting with your emails. You can track the open rate, CTR, and conversion rate. 

By looking at these signs, you can tell how interesting and engaging your emails are to the people receiving them.

What is The Most Important KPI in Email Marketing?

The most important KPI can vary depending on your campaign goals. Still, many consider the conversion rate to be crucial as it directly reflects the effectiveness of your email campaigns in driving recipients to take the desired action, whether it's making a purchase, signing up for a webinar, or any other key objective of your campaign.

Further Reading

• How Can Email Marketing Fuel Your Overall Inbound Strategy?
• Email Marketing Segmentation: The Ultimate Guide
• Email Marketing ROI Calculation & How to Use ROI Calculator
• Lifecycle Benchmark for Email Marketing / Analyzed 1,387 Brands

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