Cold Email Analytics: 15 Sales Email Metrics & KPIs to Track

As mentioned by Primer Magazine, Pearson’s Law states that

“When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported back, the rate of improvement accelerates.”

You know, these days, sending out emails isn’t just about typing a message and hitting ‘send.’ It’s like a whole science, and analytics are like the secret ingredient that makes it all work. Ever heard of Pearson’s Law? It applies here, especially in the world of cold emails.

Let’s find out how email analytics helps to accelerate your performance.

• Email analytics reveals prospect interactions, including open rates, CTR, and conversion rates. Analyzing these statistics will help you craft more engaging content for future emails.

• Email marketing analytics can reveal which subject lines, images, and call-to-action buttons are most effective, with which you can refine your email content to maximize its impact and engagement.

• Analytics from A/B testing allows you to make data-driven decisions to improve email performance.

• Analyzing email data can help you determine the best times to send your emails, ensuring they reach your audience when they are most likely to engage.

• They help you identify trends that lead to unsubscribes or spam complaints. You can adjust your strategy based on this data to reduce unsubscribers.

• Email analytics optimize your budget by measuring campaign ROI, allowing you to allocate resources more effectively for maximum returns. 

• By monitoring email marketing analytics, you can quickly adjust to shifting consumer preferences and market trends, giving you a competitive advantage.

Email Analytics Benchmark Based on Industry

Email analytics benchmarks are standard performance metrics to evaluate and measure the effectiveness of your cold email or email marketing campaigns, reflecting the latest email marketing trends. 

As per Campaign Monitor, the email analytics benchmark based on industry type is.

Think of these benchmarks as signposts on your cold email journey. They don’t just tell you how you’re doing; they also guide you toward where you want to be. Have you ever had a roadmap on a road trip? These benchmarks work similarly, showing you the path to your goals.

Now, the best part? They’re not just numbers; they’re like your trusty sidekick, helping you figure out what’s working and needs a little boost. It’s like having a coach who points out your strengths and areas for improvement. With these insights, you can make intelligent decisions, understand your audience better, and rock your cold emailing!

Types of Email Analytics to Track

Once you press the send button, email metrics collect valuable insights into your cold email campaign’s performance. 

Irrespective of your campaign goal, you should understand the below metrics

1. Deliverability Metrics
2. Engagement Metrics
3. List Management Metrics
4. Behavioral Metrics
5. Revenue & ROI Metrics

#Email Metrics 1- Deliverability Metrics

Deliverability metrics are essential to determine whether your messages successfully reach their intended prospects. A high delivery rate ensures that your emails can be seen and engaged. 

1. Delivery Rate: Calculates the percentage of emails successfully delivered to the prospect’s inbox without encountering errors or bounces. It’s a fundamental indicator of how well your emails reach their intended destinations.

A high delivery rate indicates that your email infrastructure and sender reputation are in good shape. In contrast, a low rate suggests potential issues that need attention.

How do you increase your Delivery Rate?
– Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records to authenticate your domain
– Clean up your sending email list
– Maintain consistency in emailing
– Use the double opt-in option

2. Bounce Rate: Bounces occur when emails cannot be delivered to the intended prospect’s inbox. 

Bounces are typically classified into two categories:

• Hard Bounces: Occur when the email address is invalid, non-existent, or blocked. Hard bounces are permanent delivery failures and should be removed from your email list.
• Soft Bounces: These are temporary delivery failures due to issues like a full mailbox or a server problem. Repeated soft bounces may turn into hard bounces over time.

Various email-sending platforms have their benchmark for email bounce rates, but in general, 2% or less is accepted as a good benchmark.

Monitoring bounce rates is crucial because consistently high bounce rates can negatively impact your sender’s reputation and email deliverability. Regularly clean out hard bounces and address soft bounce issues to maintain a healthy email list.

How do you reduce your cold email bounce rate?
– Verify email address before sending
– Clean up your list regularly
– Check mobile optimization for your email content 
– Use optimized subject lines

#Email Metrics 2 – Engagement Metrics

Engagement metrics provide insights into whether your emails resonate with your audience and drive interactions. 

They are crucial for assessing the effectiveness of your email content and overall campaign performance. 

1. Open Rate: The percentage of emails the prospects open to the total number of emails delivered. 

Open rate is an important metric as it reflects how compelling your subject lines, sender names, and email preview are at capturing the prospect’s attention.

As per Invespcro, around 47% of the email recipients open the email based on the subject line & 69% marked the email as spam. 

How do you increase your email open rate?
– Write compelling subject lines
– Focus on sending at the best time
– A/B test your email elements
– Monitor your cold email metrics & make changes to the elements, if required.

2. Click-Through-Rate: CTR measures the percentage of prospects who clicked on one or more links within your email.

CTR is a crucial metric for assessing the effectiveness of your email content and call-to-action. A higher CTR indicates that your email successfully motivated prospects to take further action, such as visiting your website or landing page.

The average click-through rate is slightly above 2%.

How do you increase your click-through rate?
– Add a compelling call-to-action button
– Personalize your email content
– Segment your email list
– Include social proof (if required)

3. Conversion Rate: The percentage of prospects who took a desired action after clicking a link in your email. 

This email campaign metric is used for evaluating its ultimate success. It tracks actions that align with your campaign goals, such as purchasing, signing up for a webinar, or filling out a contact form.

How do you increase your cold email conversion rate?
– Use clear & compelling call-to-action
– Simplified conversion process
– Communicate the benefits of your product
– Personalized email content

4. Reply Rate: The reply rate is the number of responses received to the number of emails delivered. 

It indicates your email’s level of engagement and interest. A high reply rate suggests that your email content and outreach strategy are effective.

How do we increase cold email reply rates?
– Send your emails only to a targeted audience list
– Send emails at regular intervals
– Keep your email content brief & ask a question
– Personalize your email content

5. Unsubscribe Rate: The number of prospects who opted out of the email list to the total number of emails delivered. 

While list hygiene is essential, a high unsubscribe rate may indicate email content, frequency, or targeting issues. Monitoring this metric helps you manage list attrition.

How do you reduce your email unsubscribe rate?
– Keep your emails relevant & valuable
– Use automation for increased engagement
– Personalize your data and segment your list
– Gather feedback from the unsubscribers

6. Click-to-Open Rate: It measures how effective your email content and calls to action (CTAs) are at engaging prospects who have opened your emails. 

It helps to pinpoint which elements of your email, such as specific links or calls to action, resonate most with your audience. This data empowers you to optimize your content, customize emails to different segments, and conduct A/B testing to improve engagement and conversions. 

How to increase the click-to-open rate?
– Include a clear & compelling call-to-action button
– Personalize your email beyond the personal information, job title, company, etc.
– Give importance to the placements of the call-to-action buttons.
– Include social proof or back up your claims (if required)

#Email Metrics 3 – List Management Metrics

List management metrics refer to key performance indicators (KPIs) and practices for managing and maintaining your email subscriber list. 

These metrics and practices help ensure your email list remains healthy, engaged, and compliant with relevant regulations. Effective list management is crucial for the success of your email marketing campaigns. 

1. List Growth Rate: The growth rate measures how quickly your email subscriber list expands over a specific period, typically expressed as a percentage. 

A positive list growth rate indicates that you successfully attract and retain subscribers. A growing list can lead to increased reach and engagement.

The email list naturally decays, and at least 22.7% of email list expires every year. 

How do you improve your list growth rate?
– Use pop-ups to capture your target information
– Send high-value content
– Place a subscription form on your website.
– Promote newsletter sign-ups on social media channels

2. List Churn Rate: List churn rate measures the overall rate of subscribers leaving your email list, including unsubscribes, email address deletions, and other factors. 

List churn rate provides insights into the overall health of your email list. Reducing churn is essential for maintaining list quality and engagement.

How do you reduce your list churn rate?
– Pay attention to your email sending frequency.
– Set clear expectations during the subscription process
– Create high-quality, valuable, and engaging email content
– Implement a feedback mechanism to collect insights from unsubscribers 

#Email Metrics 4 – Behavioral Metrics

Behavioral metrics refer to key performance indicators (KPIs) that analyze how recipients interact with your email campaigns based on their actions and behaviors.

1. Time to Open: This metric tracks the time and day when prospects are most likely to open your emails. 

Knowing the optimal send times can increase the chances of your emails being seen and acted upon. It allows you to schedule campaigns when subscribers are most active.

2. Attachment: This metric tracks how often prospects interact with or download attachments, such as PDFs or images, in your emails. 

It helps you gauge the effectiveness of your attachments and understand which types of content resonate with your audience.

#Email Metrics 5 – Revenue & ROI Metrics

These are crucial for assessing your cold email outreach’s financial impact and effectiveness. These email campaign metrics help to determine the monetary value generated and whether they deliver a positive investment return. 

1. Revenue per Email: Revenue per email measures the total revenue generated from a specific cold email campaign or over a defined period, divided by the number of emails sent as part of that campaign or during that period. 

It helps you evaluate the campaign’s effectiveness in revenue generation on a per-email basis.

2. Return on Investment: ROI is a comprehensive metric that assesses the overall profitability of your cold email campaigns by comparing the revenue generated to the costs associated with running those campaigns. 

A positive ROI indicates that your campaigns generate more revenue than they cost, making them financially viable.

3. Cost per Acquisition: CPA calculates the cost incurred to acquire a single customer or lead through your cold email or marketing campaigns. 

Lower CPAs indicate more cost-effective acquisition strategies.

How do we reduce cost per acquisition?
– Focus on acquiring high-quality subscribers
– Ensure that your email campaign’s landing pages are well-optimized for conversion
– Implement robust conversion tracking to monitor and analyze the performance
– Implement retargeting campaigns to re-engage users.

“I want to do business with a company that treats emailing me as a privilege, not a transaction.”

Andrea Mignolo

While email analytics undeniably enhance campaign performance, it’s vital to remember that the ultimate goal is to secure sales. After all, customers aren’t just statistics. They are actual individuals with unique needs and preferences.

Think of email analytics as a treasure trove of information for your email marketing. It gives you all sorts of data to improve your email campaigns. But here’s the thing: having too much data can feel like having too many puzzle pieces – it can get overwhelming.

So, the trick to using email analytics effectively is to figure out which pieces of the puzzle matter the most for what you want to achieve with your emails. In other words, you don’t need all the data; you need the right data that helps you reach your goals.