You know that finding new leads is a crucial part of growing your business, so you’re likely investing in multiple types of marketing campaigns, including email. Email marketing campaigns provide a lot of positives for your business. They’re inexpensive, relatively easy to put together, and can be sent out with tight turnaround times. But how successful are your email campaigns? Are your subscribers actually reading your emails, or do they hit delete without even opening them? Further, how many of your email subscribers go on to become customers?
Email marketing software, such as that provided by companies like Mailchimp and Constant Contact, is not overly expensive and can provide you easy access to important email metrics that you should absolutely be paying attention to. Still not convinced? We’ll go over five important email metrics and explain why you can’t afford to overlook them.
Important Email Metrics to Track
1. Bounce Rate
The bounce rate measures the percentage of emails that are bounced back as undeliverable or rejected by the receiver’s email server. Emails can be bounced back if the receiving email address uses an out of date domain, contains an error, is invalid, or has been deactivated. They can also be bounced back if the receiver’s mailbox is full or if the server is experiencing temporary issues. It may sound like there’s nothing you can do about emails that are bounced back, and you may be wondering why you should care about this email metric. The reality is that a bounce rate over 5% will damage your sending reputation and degrade your deliverability. The most immediate action you can take is to remove subscribers whose emails bounce back from your list. A best practice is to only send email marketing campaigns to subscribers who have opted-in, or people who actively responded “yes” to receiving your emails. This reduces the likelihood of sending to old, inactive, or false email addresses.
2. Open Rate
Once your bounce rate is under control, you should turn your attention to the open rate. The open rate email metric measures the percentage of emails that are actually opened and read, as opposed to left in the inbox unopened or deleted without opening. Opening an email is the first step toward conversion, and promotional campaigns typically see open rates around 10-20%. If your open rate is too low, that’s a good indication that your subject line is not grabbing the attention of your subscribers. Perhaps the subject line is too vague or uninteresting. A subject line of “Spring is Here!” might not give enough information, whereas a subject line of “Book Your Spring Start-Up Now and Receive a Discount” may entice subscribers to open the email for more information. Make sure your email campaigns are interesting and specific, as opposed to generic and bland. If all your emails look the same, subscribers may stop paying attention.
3. Click-Through Rate
Now that your subscribers are opening your emails, the next step you want them to take is to actually connect with your content. The click-through rate measures the percentage of emails that result in a subscriber actively showing interest, whether by replying to the email, clicking on a link(s) in the email, viewing a video, or performing some other action. Knowing your click-through rate is important because, like the open rate, it gives insight into how interesting and pertinent your emails are to your subscribers. However, unlike the open rate, which is based mostly on the subject line, the click-through rate helps you evaluate the quality of an email campaign’s content. If you’re seeing low numbers, think about where the email went wrong. Did your email deliver on the information promised in the subject line? Was the email too dense, making it hard to find the important content? Your emails should engage your customers and lead them to that next step. Customers who click through become more qualified leads, and even a small increase in the click-through rate can cause a larger increase in the overall conversion rate.
4. Conversion Rate
Of course, the ultimate objective of a promotional email campaign is to turn those subscribers into solid leads and customers. Whether your email leads someone to making an online purchase or signing up for a service, the conversion rate measures the percentage of emails that lead to a sale. The conversion rate is the best measure of success for an email campaign, as it provides you the return on investment for a campaign. By tracking your conversion rate, you can see what’s working and what’s not, and adjust your campaigns accordingly. Are you seeing a high click-through rate but a low conversion rate? Your email is peaking interest, but customers aren’t following through. In this case, you might want to consider the reason for that—whether it’s a problem with your website, poor customer service, or not delivering on promises made in the email. Pay attention to your conversion rate to get the most for your marketing dollar.
5. Unsubscribe Rate
Finally, some people may decide to unsubscribe from your email campaigns—and it should be easy for them to do so, otherwise you’ll risk frustrating and alienating possible customers. The unsubscribe rate measures the percentage of subscribers who choose to unsubscribe from your mailing list. Many times this happens because the subscriber is no longer in the market for green industry services or they have already chosen to purchase from a different service provider. However, if you are seeing an abnormally high or rising unsubscribe rate, the problem likely lies with the frequency of your emails. Readers often are prompted to unsubscribe when they feel they are getting “spammed” with too many emails, particularly if the emails are not really of interest to them. If you see this happening, consider cutting back on the frequency of your emails or targeting your emails to more specific groups. Instead of sending our twice-weekly blasts encouraging subscribers to start up a lawn care service, you could send out bi-weekly emails with lawn care tips or special discounts for new customers.
The bottom line is this: If you’re not tracking important email metrics, you could be throwing money down the drain without even knowing it. Work smarter, and get a better return on your investment, by paying attention to the five email metrics for your next campaign.
Ready to implement industry-leading marketing and technology, but not sure how to get started? The Spring-Green marketing and technology teams has proven systems to help with an email marketing strategy. “I know the lawn fertilization and weed control business, and I know customer service. But I only thought I knew marketing,” said Dan Hillenbrand, Spring-Green franchise owner. “After reviewing the industry-leading marketing support provided by Spring-Green, I knew it would be the perfect strategic partnership and help accelerate my growth.” Spring-Green can help you grow and diversify with our 40 years of experience and our proven expertise in marketing and technology. Learn more about how Spring-Green can expand your lawn care services. Call 1-800-777-8608 or visit us at www.growmygreenindustrybusiness.com.