Engagement metrics are numbers that will tell you who your active audience is, how many emails they click and open, what type of content they like, and so much more. When we talk about email marketing metrics, this type of metric is usually the first thing that comes to our mind. We split them into open and click rates.
Open rates These are dependent on your
subject lines and
preheaders. A
subject line, the main heading of your email, should contain the key information the email conveys. This is the place to mention the type of discount, the amount, the expiry date, and everything else that will offer value to the audience. A common mistake brands make is to leave out the offer details from the subject line and feature them in the
preheader. But many people don't read preheaders at all. In addition, lots of email service providers leave them out, so they're not displayed in the inbox. That's why providing only additional details in the preheader is a better approach, as it should be an extension of what you mention in a subject line.
A key thing to remember is that it's all about consequential steps here. A subject line should get people to open an email. A headline or a hero copy should get them to read the first paragraph of the copy, and so forth. And because people can't click on your emails unless they open them first, you need to focus on crafting
enticing subject lines and preheader pairs. This is the first step in a series of actions that will lead to conversion.
What do you do if you're doing great? Celebrate! Anything above
20% is considered a good open rate in eCommerce. If you boast a
24% or higher open rate, your segmentation and copy are probably already awesome, so it's worth going for it with the rest of your audience. In these cases, it's advisable to widen the segment — if you were sending to people who opened your email
twice in the last
60 days, bring that bar up to
90 days or reduce the threshold to
one time. Additionally, make sure to include the hot leads who will probably want to hear from you: the people who started checkout, placed an order, or viewed a product in the last
30 or
40 days.
What do you do if the open rate is low? Just the opposite: restrict the segment. You can reduce the number of days they opened an email, increase the necessary number of open emails, or exclude the hot leads. Alternatively, A/B test your subject lines and see what might work better: emojis/no emojis, statement/questions, serious/witty copy, etc. Not taking any steps in case of low open rates will surely affect your account and decrease deliverability.
Click Rates Click rate is the email marketing metric that reflects the quality of your content and the interest of users to either learn more or continue the journey. This means that you need to make sure you're targeting the right people and creating well-structured, nicely designed emails that people will click on.
Calls-to-action are your friends! First off, having a CTA above the fold, in your hero image, is a must. Without it, the hero will look empty and people probably won't click on the image at all. In addition, if they see something they really like, they won't read everything in great detail. Instead, they'll hurry to click on the first CTA they see.
But if readers are indifferent, they'll still need to scroll down to the second half of the email (to your main CTA below the body copy), and we all know how short the average person's attention span is… So, it's very likely you'll lose them and they'll simply close the email. Bottom line: Hero CTA, main CTA below the copy, and a bunch of smaller CTAs in a product/blog feed are the way to go! Make it easy and intuitive.
Email layout matters, too! Another way to improve click rates and stand out is by testing different email layouts and discovering what makes your audience engage with your emails, and what drives them to click.
1. Inverted Pyramid Well-known and frequently used, this layout contains the main attention-grabbing headline, a description with the main details of the offer, and a call-to-action. The layout is clear, it guides the reader towards the key element (a CTA), and makes reading super fast. Below the main CTA, additional elements can be added, such as product blocks, informative articles or blogs, or an Instagram feed.