You know, sometimes you just gotta look at the numbers, right? Especially with all the emails flying around these days, figuring out what’s actually working, or not working as it were, it becomes pretty important. Like, super important. We’re already in 2025 now, and while the email world keeps chugging along, what we keep an eye on to see if our messages are doing any good, well, that hasn’t really changed all that much.
Still, it’s good to have a chat about what these, what do you call them, performance indicators are, and why they’re sort of the backbone of figuring out if your email marketing efforts are paying off. Because really, just sending stuff out into the digital ether isn’t enough. You gotta know if anyone’s even, you know, noticing it.
We generally consider these indicators, or KPIs, as they often get called, to be how we tell if our email campaigns are, you know, hitting the mark. It’s not just about getting emails out the door, that part is easy. It’s about making sure those emails do their job once they land in someone’s inbox.
People sometimes get a bit mixed up, thinking it’s all super technical, but it’s actually about understanding how your messages are received and what folks do next. It’s a way of looking closely at how well your whole mailing system is doing its thing for your company.
It isn’t just one number either; it is a collection of different things we look at. Each one tells a tiny bit of the story, and together, they paint a bigger picture of what’s happening. This helps us see where things might be a bit off, or where we’re actually doing pretty darn good.
So, let’s kinda walk through some of these main ways we gauge how email marketing is performing these days. These are the things that normally give you the straight scoop on your campaigns. It’s all about making sure your messages are, you know, landing correctly and then getting some kind of reaction.
Getting into 2025, there are still a few main things everyone pretty much agrees you gotta keep tabs on. These basic ideas are still what pretty much everyone uses to see how their email programs are doing. They help you get a handle on the good and the bad.
The Basics: Open & Click Stuff
First up, and probably the one everyone thinks of first, is the Open Rate. This is simply how many people opened your email compared to how many actually got it. Like, if you sent it to a hundred people and twenty opened it, your open rate is 20 percent. Pretty straightforward, right?
Now, a good open rate, well, that generally means your subject line was pretty catchy, or people just know and like your brand. It also says your emails are making it through to inboxes, which is another whole thing sometimes. A low open rate usually hints at some kind of problem, maybe the subject isn’t tempting enough, or a lot of your emails are ending up in spam folders. That’s not so good.
Next, we normally look at the Click-Through Rate, or CTR. This one tells you how many people clicked on a link inside your email. So, they opened it, they read it (maybe), and then they decided to click on something. That’s a step beyond just opening it, you see.
A decent CTR means your email content was interesting enough, and your call to action, what you wanted them to do, was pretty clear. People knew what they were supposed to click on. If it’s low, maybe the content wasn’t hitting the mark, or the links weren’t obvious enough for people to bother with them.
Then there’s the Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR), which is a bit different from CTR. This one specifically measures how many people who opened your email actually clicked a link. So, it’s a more refined look at engagement after they’ve already decided to open your message.
This number kind of shows you if your content, once they get inside the email, is actually making sense to them. Like, if they opened it but didn’t click, your subject line was good but the actual message inside maybe wasn’t so great. It’s a useful little number to think about.
How People Act After Clicking: Conversions and Such
Okay, so people opened, they clicked. But what happened next? That’s where the Conversion Rate comes into play. This is probably the most, I don’t know, businessy one, because it tells you if people did what you really wanted them to do.
Did they buy something? Did they sign up for your thing? Did they fill out that form you were hoping they would? That’s what a conversion is. The conversion rate looks at how many people who clicked through from your email actually completed that specific action you had in mind.
A good conversion rate usually means your whole email-to-website journey is working well. The email got them there, and your landing page, or whatever they landed on, did its job too. If it’s not looking so hot, maybe there’s a hiccup between the email and what they see next. Or perhaps the whole offer wasn’t all that appealing to start with.
This is often considered to be the ultimate test of an email campaign’s real success. You send emails because you want people to do something, right? This number tells you if that doing is actually happening. It’s a pretty direct measure, generally speaking.
Then there’s Return on Investment (ROI), which is all about the money. This one looks at how much money you made because of your email campaign, compared to how much money you spent on it. It’s pretty important to any kind of business operation.
If you spent, let’s say, a hundred bucks on an email campaign and it brought in five hundred bucks in sales, well, that’s a pretty good return, wouldn’t you say? It tells you if your email marketing is actually contributing to the bottom line, which is, you know, kind of the whole point for a lot of companies.
Calculating ROI can sometimes feel a bit messy, what with all the different costs. But getting a general sense of it is quite useful for justifying why you even bother with sending emails in the first place. You want to see more money coming in than going out.
Keeping Your List Healthy: The Good and The Bad
Now, keeping your list of email addresses in good shape is really important, you know? It’s not just about sending to a bunch of people, it’s about sending to the right people who actually want your stuff. This brings us to a few other things we normally check.
The Bounce Rate is a pretty big one. This measures how many of your emails didn’t actually make it to the inbox. They “bounced” back. There are soft bounces, which are temporary problems like a full inbox, and hard bounces, which mean the email address just doesn’t exist anymore.
A high bounce rate means you’ve got some problems with your list quality. Maybe a lot of old addresses, or typos. It can also hurt your sender reputation, which means more of your emails might end up in spam for everyone. Nobody wants that, generally speaking. So, keeping this number low is a really good idea.
Then there’s the Unsubscribe Rate. This tells you how many people opted out of getting your emails. It’s not the end of the world if some people leave, that’s just part of it. But if this number gets too high, it might be a sign that your content isn’t, well, that great for your audience anymore.
Or perhaps you’re sending too many emails, or they just aren’t getting what they expected when they signed up. It’s a good signal to check in with what you’re sending out and how often. You want people to stick around, naturally.
On the other side of things, we have the List Growth Rate. This is how many new subscribers you’re getting, minus any unsubscribes or bounces. You know, you want your list to generally be getting bigger, not smaller. It’s how your audience expands.
A solid growth rate means your efforts to get new people onto your list, like those sign-up forms on your website, are working. It means more people are interested in hearing from you, which is always a plus. It’s a slow burn sometimes, but it really adds up.
The Nitty-Gritty: Deliverability and Complaints
Alright, so these next couple are about making sure your emails even get where they’re supposed to go. Because if they don’t land, none of the other numbers really matter all that much. This is about making sure your messages aren’t just, well, disappearing.
The Deliverability Rate is what we use to figure out how many emails actually made it to the intended inboxes. Not bounced, not sent to spam, but actually delivered. It’s normally a pretty high number, like 95% or more, if things are running smoothly.
A low deliverability rate can point to serious issues with your email sender reputation, maybe you’re on a blacklist, or your emails are just getting flagged as spam by the various email providers. This is a big problem that needs quick fixing if you see it happening, as it means your messages aren’t even getting a chance.
Finally, there’s the Spam Complaint Rate. This is when someone marks your email as spam. It’s different from unsubscribing; it’s a direct complaint to their email provider. And email providers take these complaints really, really seriously. Like, really seriously.
Even a tiny percentage of spam complaints can seriously damage your sender reputation and lead to more of your emails ending up in junk folders for everyone else. It’s a clear signal that your emails are unwelcome, and you might need to seriously rethink your sending practices or your audience targeting. Keep this number as close to zero as humanly possible, that’s usually the best approach. It helps everyone involved.
So, there you have it, a pretty decent collection of the things we tend to look at when trying to figure out how well email marketing is doing. It’s not just one number, it’s a whole bunch of them working together, giving you little clues and hints about what’s going on. It really is about paying attention to what the data is trying to tell you.
Keeping an eye on these things helps you see where you’re shining, and where you might need to, you know, tweak things a bit. It’s all about getting those messages out there and getting people to, well, react to them in a good way for your business. So, yeah, that’s generally how it all works.
Frequently Asked Questions About Email Marketing Numbers
What are email marketing KPIs, normally?
Email marketing KPIs are just numbers or specific measurements that help you see how well your email campaigns are working. They show you if your emails are getting opened, clicked, and if people are doing what you want them to do, like buying something. It’s how you check the pulse of your email sending.
Why is it important to keep tabs on these KPIs in 2025?
Even in 2025, with all the new tech, email is still a big deal for talking to customers. Keeping an eye on these numbers helps you make sure your messages are actually reaching people and making a difference. It also shows you where you can make changes so your emails do better.
What’s a “good” open rate or CTR for emails?
That’s a tricky one, because it really changes depending on your industry and what kinds of emails you’re sending. A good open rate might be anywhere from 15% to 30%, and CTR usually falls around 2% to 5%. It’s usually best to compare your numbers to your own past campaigns or to averages in your specific field.
Can a high unsubscribe rate ever be a good sign?
Normally, no, a high unsubscribe rate means people are leaving your list. But sometimes, if you’re cleaning up your list and sending to a more focused group, you might see some unsubscribes from people who weren’t really interested anyway. In that specific case, it might mean your remaining list is stronger, but generally, you want fewer unsubscribes.
How often should I look at my email marketing KPIs?
For most campaigns, checking in after a few days is good for initial reactions like opens and clicks. For bigger picture stuff like list growth or overall ROI, looking monthly or quarterly can give you a better idea of trends. It really depends on how active your email program is.
