Behavioral emails aren’t just another tactic—they’re your chance to send messages that actually matter to your audience. Whether someone just signed up, browsed a product, or left something in their cart, these emails let you respond in real time. But sending them isn’t enough. To really know what’s working (and what’s not), you need to track the right metrics.
To measure success and improve results, focus on these 10 key metrics:
- Email Open Rate: Tracks how many recipients open your emails. Improve it with personalized subject lines, optimized send times, and mobile-friendly designs.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR): Measures the percentage of recipients clicking on links. Boost it with clear CTAs, segmentation, and A/B testing.
- Email Conversion Rate: Shows how many clicks lead to actions like purchases. Use personalized offers and perfect timing to increase conversions.
- Revenue Per Email (RPE): Calculates how much revenue each email generates. Enhance it with segmentation and targeted campaigns.
- Unsubscribe Rate: Tracks how many people opt out. Lower it by sending relevant, well-timed emails and offering preference options.
- Email Bounce Rate: Measures undelivered emails. Keep it low with list cleaning and email validation.
- Email List Growth: Tracks subscriber increases. Use effective signup forms and incentives like discounts or exclusive content.
- Long-term Engagement: Monitors subscriber activity over time. Re-engage inactive users with personalized campaigns.
- Email Sharing Rate: Measures how often emails are forwarded or shared. Create shareable content and make sharing easy.
- Email Marketing ROI: Calculates the financial return of campaigns. Use tools and analytics to refine strategies and maximize profits.
1. Email Open Rate
Email open rate shows the percentage of recipients who open your emails. Here's the formula:
Open Rate = (Number of Opened Emails ÷ Number of Delivered Emails) × 100
Several factors influence open rates, including:
- Subject lines that grab attention
- A recognizable sender name
- Sending emails at the right time
- Preview text that sparks interest
- Segmented email lists tailored to your audience
Want to boost your open rates? Try these tips:
- Write personalized subject lines that feel relevant.
- Experiment with different send times to find what works best.
- Remove inactive subscribers to keep your list fresh.
- Ensure your emails are mobile-friendly for easy reading.
Once you've improved open rates, you can dive into click-through rates to measure how engaged your audience really is.
2. Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Once you've checked open rates, the next step is to focus on CTR (Click-Through Rate). This metric shows how engaging your content is by measuring the percentage of recipients who clicked on a link in your email.
The formula is simple: (Clicks ÷ Delivered Emails) × 100.
Pay attention to CTR trends over time. While industry benchmarks differ depending on the type of behavioral email, your own historical data is the best guide for improvement.
3. Email Conversion Rate
Once you've tracked clicks, the next step is to evaluate how well those clicks turn into actions using the email conversion rate.
This metric measures the percentage of recipients who complete a specific action - like making a purchase, signing up, or submitting a form - after opening your emails. Unlike click-through rate (CTR), which only tracks clicks, the email conversion rate digs deeper to show the actual outcomes of those clicks. The formula is simple: (Conversions ÷ Delivered Emails) × 100.
Using Behavioral Data to Boost Conversions:
-
Purchase History Analysis
Look at past buying habits to send timely and personalized reminders that resonate with customers. -
Browse Behavior Targeting
Monitor website activities like cart abandonment, product views, or wishlist updates. Use this data to send targeted emails that address specific interests or hesitations. -
Engagement-Based Segmentation
Group your audience by their email activity. For example, separate active buyers, frequent openers, occasional readers, and inactive subscribers. This helps you craft messages that feel relevant to each group.
Strategies to Improve Conversion Rates:
Dynamic Content Personalization: Tailor email content to fit individual preferences. For instance, recommend products based on browsing history or highlight offers that align with their interests.
Perfect Timing: Schedule emails when engagement is most likely. Take time zones and customer behavior into account, and experiment with different send times to find what works best.
Clear Value Proposition: Make the benefits of your offer obvious. Use reviews or ratings for credibility, create urgency with limited-time deals, and emphasize what sets your product or service apart.
4. Revenue Per Email
After analyzing open and click-through rates, Revenue Per Email (RPE) offers a clear picture of your email campaign's financial performance. It’s calculated by dividing the total revenue generated by the number of emails successfully delivered. This metric shows how much revenue each email contributes to your business.
Why RPE Matters for Behavioral Campaigns:
RPE helps you understand which email campaigns are the most profitable. For example, cart abandonment emails often perform well because they target customers who are already close to making a purchase.
To calculate RPE, track the revenue generated directly from email clicks and any follow-up customer actions, such as repeat purchases. This kind of tracking allows you to identify areas for improvement and refine your strategy with better audience segmentation and well-timed email triggers.
Ways to Improve RPE:
- Segment your audience to target high-value customers effectively.
- Send emails at the right time to catch customers when they’re most likely to engage.
- Include content that motivates repeat purchases to increase lifetime value.
5. Unsubscribe Rate
The unsubscribe rate measures the percentage of people who opt out of your emails. It’s a quick way to gauge how well your messages connect with your audience and how effective your campaigns are. Ideally, you want this number to stay low, but the "acceptable" range can vary depending on the type of email.
What to Know About Normal Unsubscribe Patterns:
Not all emails perform the same way. For example, welcome emails, cart abandonment reminders, post-purchase updates, and browse abandonment messages will each have their own unsubscribe trends. Tracking these rates by campaign type helps you set benchmarks and spot when something might be off.
Red Flags for High Unsubscribe Rates
Here are some signs that something might need fixing:
- A sudden increase in unsubscribes after a specific campaign
- A steady rise in unsubscribes over multiple campaigns
- Noticeably high churn in certain types of emails
If you notice any of these, it’s time to revisit your approach.
Here are a few tactics to help keep subscribers engaged:
Tweak your email frequency: Send messages at intervals that match your audience’s preferences.
Make your emails relevant: Base your content on what your subscribers recently did or showed interest in.
Use segmentation wisely: Group your audience by their activity level and tailor your messages to each group.
Time it right: Analyze when your audience is most likely to engage and schedule emails accordingly.
Keeping Your List in Good Shape
Some churn is normal and even healthy - it ensures your list stays full of engaged readers. Instead of focusing solely on reducing unsubscribes, aim to attract and retain active subscribers. Regularly clean your list and offer options, like a preference center, where subscribers can choose how often they hear from you instead of leaving altogether.
6. Email Bounce Rate
Email bounce rate refers to the percentage of emails that fail to reach recipients. Keeping this rate low is crucial for ensuring your emails are delivered and your campaigns perform well.
Types of Email Bounces
There are two main types of email bounces to keep an eye on:
-
Hard Bounces
These occur when delivery fails permanently, often because the email address is invalid or no longer exists. To protect your sender reputation, remove these addresses from your list immediately. -
Soft Bounces
These are temporary issues, like full inboxes or server errors. Most of the time, these resolve on their own after a few retries. Monitor them, but don't take immediate action unless the problem persists.
7. Email List Growth
Email list growth shows how quickly your subscriber base is expanding, giving you a clear picture of how well your behavioral email campaigns are working.
How to Measure List Growth Rate
Use this formula to calculate your growth rate:
(New Subscribers – Unsubscribes) ÷ Total Subscribers × 100
Keep in mind that growth benchmarks can differ depending on your industry and business size.
Best Signup Form Placements:
Where you place your signup forms can make a big difference. Some effective spots include:
- Exit-intent popups: Capture visitors who are about to leave.
- Homepage headers: Make your signup offer the first thing visitors see.
- Post-purchase pages: Engage customers right after they buy.
- Product pages: Encourage signups while users browse.
- Static footer forms: Keep a signup option available at all times.
Creating the Right Incentives
Offering the right perks can encourage more people to join your list.
Content-Based Offers:
- Digital lookbooks
- Industry insights or reports
- Buying guides
- Tutorials from experts
Purchase-Related Offers:
- Discounts on first orders
- Free shipping deals
- Early access to special sales
- Invitations to exclusive product launches
Signs of High-Quality Growth
Pay attention to these indicators to ensure your list is growing with engaged subscribers:
- How new subscribers interact with your welcome emails
- Time it takes for new subscribers to make their first purchase
- Metrics like bounce rates, spam complaints, and overall engagement
8. Long-term Engagement
Long-term engagement looks at how well your email campaigns keep subscribers interested over time. By tracking this, you can spot patterns and identify areas where your strategy might need tweaking.
This metric builds on others like click-through rates and conversions, giving you a bigger picture of how loyal your subscribers really are.
Key Engagement Metrics:
Pay attention to these metrics to understand long-term engagement:
- Active Subscribers: The number of subscribers who have opened or clicked your emails within the past 90 days.
- Interaction Frequency: How often subscribers engage with your emails.
- Time-of-Day Patterns: When subscribers are most active, helping you optimize send times.
If engagement starts to drop, re-engagement campaigns can help bring inactive subscribers back. Here’s how to approach it:
- Segment inactive subscribers based on their last activity or purchase history.
- Create personalized content designed to win back each segment.
- Experiment with different methods to find what works best for reactivating your audience.
Using advanced email tools, like those from UltraLabs, can make it easier to track these metrics and execute targeted campaigns. This ensures your emails stay effective and keep your audience engaged over the long haul.
9. Email Sharing Rate
Email sharing rate measures how often subscribers forward your emails or share them on social media. For behavioral emails, this metric reveals how well your content spreads organically and how much your subscribers advocate for your brand. Tracking these numbers helps you expand your campaign's reach and integrate sharing data into your overall engagement strategy.
Focus on key sharing metrics like forward rate, social share rate, and new subscriber attribution. Use tools that automatically track these actions to simplify your analysis.
The right content can naturally encourage sharing. Consider:
- Helpful Resources: Industry reports, research, or practical guides
- Interactive Features: Polls, quizzes, or surveys that spark engagement
Making Sharing Simple
Remove barriers to sharing by implementing these tips:
- Add visible social sharing buttons
- Include a clear "Forward to Friend" option
- Ensure your emails look good on all devices
- Experiment with button placements and designs to see what works best
These tweaks make it easier for subscribers to share your content, increasing its reach.
Evaluating the Impact
Understand how sharing influences your campaign by looking at these metrics:
| Metric | Impact on Business |
|---|---|
| Direct Forwards | Helps bring in new subscribers |
| Social Shares | Boosts brand visibility |
| Secondary Opens | Measures extended audience reach |
| Forward-to-Open Ratio | Shows how shareable your content is |
10. Email Marketing ROI
Email marketing ROI measures the financial return generated by your email campaigns.
How to Calculate Email ROI
Use this formula to calculate ROI:
ROI = [(Revenue from Email - Cost of Email Campaign) / Cost of Email Campaign] x 100
When calculating costs, remember to include:
- Email platform subscription fees
- Design and content creation expenses
- Operational costs
This calculation works alongside metrics like conversion rate and revenue per email to give you a full picture of your campaign's performance.
Here are some proven methods to boost your email marketing results:
List Segmentation: Group your audience based on behavior or engagement to send more targeted messages.
Automation: Set up workflows for cart recovery, post-purchase follow-ups, re-engagement, and more.
A/B Testing: Experiment with subject lines, send times, content, and CTAs to see what drives better results.
Conclusion
Tracking the right metrics is how you turn good email marketing into great email marketing. Whether you're focusing on opens, clicks, conversions, or long-term engagement, each number tells a part of the story. Keep testing, keep adjusting, and let the data guide your next move. The more attention you pay to what your audience is actually doing, the better your emails will perform—and the stronger your results will get.
Here’s how to make the most of these insights:
- Track Trends: Look at metrics over time to spot patterns and new opportunities.
- Take Action: Use what you learn to fine-tune your targeting, timing, and content.
- Experiment and Improve: Test different strategies to see what works best.
- Align with Goals: Make sure your email metrics support your overall business objectives.