Top 5 Email Newsletter Metrics to Track in 2023

Are you ready to crush your newsletter marketing goals this year?

If you answered yes, you must be an analytics expert.

But if not, don’t worry–you’re about to become one.

You want to craft an email newsletter that stands out against your competition. There are multiple ways of determining the results of your email marketing efforts, from open rate to monthly active users. There are 4.2 billion email users worldwide, and the user count continues to grow daily! You worked hard to create a stellar email newsletter, but how do you know if it's performing well?

Introduction to Email Newsletter Metrics

Before you continue with your email marketing efforts, take a minute and ask yourself: "What is the goal of my email marketing newsletter? Am I increasing my subscribers, expanding my target audience base, or generating new leads?”

Once you have a goal (or two, or more!) in place, you want to start reviewing key performance indicators (KPIs) to help you stay on track with your goals. These are the five most effective email marketing metrics that every marketer should track. Understanding these metrics will help you optimize audience engagement and scale your business.

KPI #1: Open Rate

An open rate refers to the number of unique people who open your email divided by the number of emails you have sent. If one subscriber were to open your newsletter on ten separate occasions, it would still count as only one unique open.

This KPI is the primary email newsletter metric to help determine how well your content engages with your audience group and can help improve your subject lines and bylines. With that said, open rates can also be misleading as an email newsletter metric to track. For email newsletters to be counted as "open," the images embedded in the email must be received by the recipient. Many email users have image-blocking enabled in their email host, which prevents images from being delivered to the recipient. If the recipient opens the email newsletter without the photos, it will not count as "open."

Utilizing open rate as your only form of email newsletter metrics to track would not benefit you in reaching your goal. Using this metric as a weekly comparative analysis, you'll gather more data to help strategize which content your audience is more engaging with and where you may need to improve your tactics.

A good open rate varies on the industry, the size of the company, and the number of emails being sent. Generally, a good open rate for all industries would be 17.13%.

KPI #2: Click-Through Rate (CTR)

Your click-through rate (CTR) refers to the number of unique clicks by readers divided by the number of emails opened. Your CTR indicates the level of engagement your newsletter is receiving. You can test different ways to optimize engagement through call-to-actions (CTAs), graphics, content, and links throughout your email newsletter. Here's a great article to help you build an engaging email newsletter!

A good CTR will vary depending on the industry, the number of emails sent per month, and the company's size. Generally, a good CTR for all industries would be 10.65%.

KPI #3: Conversion Rate

The conversion rate is the percentage of users that clicked on links within your email and then completed a purchase or enlisted in the services you provided. The conversion rate is an email newsletter metric to track how successful your newsletter was in generating leads and sales.

To calculate conversion rates, you need the number of users who took the desired action divided by the total number of emails sent.

Conversion rates are essential if your goal is to generate leads and prospects. They give you insight into your return on investments. Knowing how much you have spent and how many subscribers are converting makes it easier to determine whether your email newsletter campaigns are working.

KPI #4: Unsubscribe Rate

You can calculate your unsubscribe rate by dividing the total number of unsubscribes by the total number of emails delivered. Analyzing your unsubscribe rate can help you understand your email newsletter content's effectiveness with your audience.

Although your unsubscribe rate does not directly affect your goals, keeping an eye on it monthly will help you determine your email list growth rate. Check out our blog post here for more on unsubscribe rates.

Why do you need an unsubscribe page? Read here.

KPI #5: Bounce Rate

You can calculate your bounce rate by the total number of bounced emails divided by the total number of emails sent. There are two kinds of bounces to track: "hard" bounces and "soft" bounces.

Soft bounces result from a temporary problem with a valid email address, like a full inbox or a problem with the recipient's server. The recipient's server may release the emails for delivery once the issue is resolved, or you can try to resend your email message from soft bounces.

Hard bounces result from an invalid or non-existent email address, and these emails will never successfully be delivered. When you receive hard-bounce email addresses, you should immediately remove them from your email list because internet service providers use bounce rates to determine the sender's email reputation.

Even though soft bounces and hard bounces may not directly influence your email newsletter goals, you should still continually monitor these to ensure there are no issues with your email delivery. If you have too many hard bounces, internet service providers may qualify your company as a spammer. Read this blog to learn more about soft and hard bounce emails.

You can preemptively decrease your bounce rates by requiring a double opt-in, which asks subscribers to verify their email addresses and confirm that they want to receive emails from you. A double opt-in is a great option to clean your email list and ensure higher-quality subscribers and lower bounce rates.

Tracking Email Newsletter Metrics (Conclusion)

Tracking these email newsletter metrics ensures you can effectively measure your email performance, the health of your email list, and the progress toward achieving your business goals.

Once you analyze the metrics you're tracking from your email newsletters, you'll start to understand your audience more and what your audience would like to see in your newsletters. The more engaged your subscribers are, the more loyal they will become.

Email marketing is one of the essential tools in a marketer's arsenal. The more you understand how these five effective email marketing metrics are determined, the quicker you'll be able to evolve your email marketing strategy to continue meeting your goals.

Consistently tracking these email newsletter metrics can help you determine other vital elements of your email marketing strategy, like the health of your email list and the best times and dates to release your email newsletter to maximize your reach. Here's an article to help you boost your open rate with the best times to send your newsletter.

If you're searching for a one-stop shop tracking all your email metrics, beehiiv is an excellent platform for your email newsletter needs!