Latest / Imperfect Marketing / 225: Measuring Success: Key Metrics for Email Marketing with Host Kendra Corman
Transcript
- 0:28Kendra Corman: Hello and welcome back to another episode of Imperfect Marketing.
- 0:31Kendra Corman: I'm your host, kendra Korman, and today we're diving into a topic I talk about at least once or twice a year because it's that important, okay, and that is measuring the success of your email marketing campaigns.
- 0:46Kendra Corman: So we're going to explore the key metrics you should be looking at and why setting your own benchmarks is essential.
- 0:53Kendra Corman: So let's go ahead and get started.
- 0:55Kendra Corman: Measuring success in email marketing is extremely important.
- 1:01Kendra Corman: I know you like sharing information, but if it isn't working for you and your ideal customer, then it's not worth your time.
- 1:09Kendra Corman: Don't you want to know that?
- 1:10Kendra Corman: And you're going to need to make changes.
- 1:12Kendra Corman: It's like checking your GPS while on a road trip you need to know if you're on the right path or if you need to make some adjustments along the way.
- 1:20Kendra Corman: Understanding your key metrics can help you refine your strategy, improve engagement, convert more clients and isn't that the whole point of what we're trying to do here?
- 1:33Kendra Corman: So let's break down the key metrics you should be paying attention to.
- 1:37Kendra Corman: First up, open rates.
- 1:39Kendra Corman: I know I have bad-mouthed open rates a lot in the past, but I'm coming back around because they can give you a really good indication of how well your subject lines are performing, whether your audience is interested in what you have to say.
- 1:51Kendra Corman: Just remember, they're not the end-all be-all, but they are a good starting point.
- 1:56Kendra Corman: I recently did an email all about open rates and how.
- 1:59Kendra Corman: They're not the whole story, so be sure to check out episode 207 if you want a refresher on that.
- 2:06Kendra Corman: So now let's talk about click-through rates.
- 2:08Kendra Corman: Ctrs or click-through rates.
- 2:10Kendra Corman: They measure the percentage of email recipients who opened your email and then clicked on one or more of the links in your email.
- 2:17Kendra Corman: This metric is really important because it shows how engaging your content is and if people are taking action on your content.
- 2:26Kendra Corman: So are you driving them to take action or are they opening it and deleting it?
- 2:31Kendra Corman: Action or are they opening it and deleting it?
- 2:37Kendra Corman: Now let's discuss this a bit more.
- 2:38Kendra Corman: If you don't have anything to click, then how do you tell?
- 2:39Kendra Corman: Well, first, I do recommend that you should have things to click on in an email every so often at a minimum.
- 2:46Kendra Corman: Right, it's really important because it demonstrates engagement.
- 2:50Kendra Corman: But I have a client who doesn't really have anything to click on.
- 2:53Kendra Corman: They never do, they don't plan to add it, they don't plan to make it available, they just like having their emails go out to their clients once a month so that they know that they're staying top of mind.
- 3:04Kendra Corman: The only reason I know that the emails are working for them is that they get replies with follow-up questions on what they send out or should I say what I send out for them.
- 3:14Kendra Corman: If they didn't share that with me, I wouldn't have a clue if it was working or not.
- 3:19Kendra Corman: So figure out how you're going to evaluate that engagement and go from there.
- 3:25Kendra Corman: Now let's talk about conversion rates.
- 3:27Kendra Corman: Conversion rates track the percentage of recipients who completed the desired action after clicking on a link in your email, such as signing up for a webinar, booking a consultation, purchasing a service.
- 3:40Kendra Corman: This is a key indicator of your email campaign's effectiveness and your email program and initiatives ROI.
- 3:51Kendra Corman: Now there are bounce rates.
- 3:53Kendra Corman: This metric shows the percentage of your emails that were not delivered.
- 3:56Kendra Corman: High bounce rates can indicate issues with your email list quality and can really negatively impact your sender reputation negatively.
- 4:05Kendra Corman: It can really hurt the future deliverability of your emails.
- 4:10Kendra Corman: So clean up your email and remove the bounces that should be removed.
- 4:14Kendra Corman: I want you to head back to episode 213 and my clean up your email hygiene episode If you have questions about that and getting good list hygiene on your emails.
- 4:24Kendra Corman: Number five is unsubscribe rates.
- 4:27Kendra Corman: I want you to keep an eye on how many people are unsubscribing from your list after each campaign.
- 4:31Kendra Corman: A high unsubscribe rate that can signal that your content isn't resonating with your audience or that you're emailing too frequently.
- 4:38Kendra Corman: Most likely it's your content and it's not that you're emailing too frequently, but it's always good to keep an eye on it.
- 4:45Kendra Corman: There are cases when unsubscribes are good and okay and that's if you're changing your business and you're involving and you're targeting new and different people.
- 4:55Kendra Corman: I love the book 10 times is easier than two times by Dan Sullivan and Dr Benjamin Hardy.
- 5:00Kendra Corman: There's not too much of Dan's stuff that Benjamin wrote that I don't love, so be sure to check them all out and I talk about all of them regularly.
- 5:10Kendra Corman: Anyway, in this book Dr Hardy talks about Linda McKissack and her journey as a real estate agent.
- 5:17Kendra Corman: So one of the things that she did after starting to grow her business is she started hiring an assistant to handle administrative tasks.
- 5:26Kendra Corman: That freed up her time to focus on more high value activities.
- 5:28Kendra Corman: Then she became a listing agent.
- 5:33Kendra Corman: Only she specialized.
- 5:35Kendra Corman: As a listing agent.
- 5:36Kendra Corman: She referred buyers to other agents.
- 5:38Kendra Corman: This shift allowed her to concentrate on her strengths and provide exceptional service to her clients, and she figured out that's where she had more leverage.
- 5:48Kendra Corman: Then she started investing in marketing.
- 5:51Kendra Corman: She wanted to be the only one in her area that people thought of when it came to real estate, so, with increased focus, she invested in marketing, which further grew her business.
- 6:02Kendra Corman: Then Linda moved brokerages and eventually became a broker herself.
- 6:08Kendra Corman: Each time she made one of these significant changes, her content and branding should have evolved to fit her new role.
- 6:15Kendra Corman: Doesn't mean that she didn't keep some of those people active things like that but it kept evolving.
- 6:21Kendra Corman: Finally, she became a partner at Keller Williams, continuing to grow her influence and success.
- 6:27Kendra Corman: It's actually a really cool story that he highlights in there.
- 6:30Kendra Corman: Now, I don't know exactly how Linda handled her email marketing if she even used it.
- 6:35Kendra Corman: I'd be surprised if she didn't at some point.
- 6:37Kendra Corman: Anyway, each transition that she made could have changed her audience and potentially led to someone's subscribes and potentially led to someone subscribes.
- 6:48Kendra Corman: So, for example, when she transitioned from an all-around real estate agent to specialized listing agent, her content could have changed a little bit, potentially excluding some of her previous audience.
- 6:57Kendra Corman: Similarly, as she moved into brokerage and partnerships.
- 7:01Kendra Corman: Her branding and content needed to align with those new roles.
- 7:05Kendra Corman: How did she probably keep some of them the same?
- 7:10Kendra Corman: She probably did.
- 7:11Kendra Corman: She probably evolved and segmented and did a few more things, maybe change the tone on a few things, but again, these changes are natural.
- 7:20Kendra Corman: It's sometimes necessary for growth to jettison off 80% of the people that we're working with to focus on that 20%.
- 7:28Kendra Corman: That's going to help us get to the next level.
- 7:30Kendra Corman: So, when you're making these changes, it's okay If you get a lot of unsubscribes or a lot more unsubscribes than you expect, and that's okay because you're going to be providing them with the most relevant content.
- 7:44Kendra Corman: Unsubscribes overall are okay.
- 7:46Kendra Corman: I just want you to take it into consideration.
- 7:49Kendra Corman: As you see unsubscribes, maybe you're not the right fit for some people.
- 7:53Kendra Corman: Maybe your content is changing.
- 7:55Kendra Corman: Again, think about that and think about whether or not there should be that level of unsubscribes.
- 8:01Kendra Corman: Finally, list growth rate.
- 8:04Kendra Corman: This measures the rate at which your email list is growing.
- 8:07Kendra Corman: A healthy list growth rate.
- 8:07Kendra Corman: This measures the rate at which your email list is growing.
- 8:08Kendra Corman: A healthy list growth rate indicates that your lead generation efforts are working.
- 8:11Kendra Corman: To me, this is a lot more important than unsubscribes.
- 8:15Kendra Corman: I want to see my list growing, even with unsubscribes.
- 8:19Kendra Corman: Now let's talk a little bit about benchmarks, because everyone's like well, is that good?
- 8:22Kendra Corman: Well, is that good, I don't know.
- 8:24Kendra Corman: It's tempting to compare your metrics to industry standards, to other businesses.
- 8:30Kendra Corman: This can be really misleading and either make you think that you're amazing or depress.
- 8:38Kendra Corman: You right, every list is different.
- 8:40Kendra Corman: Someone else's large list might have a lower engagement rate, while your smaller list could have a super high engagement rate, and this is what you should be focusing on your historical performance.
- 8:54Kendra Corman: I want you to look at your own historical data and set benchmarks.
- 8:58Kendra Corman: Compare your current campaigns to previous ones to identify any trends and areas for improvement.
- 9:04Kendra Corman: Get audience feedback.
- 9:05Kendra Corman: Pay attention to what your audience is telling you.
- 9:07Kendra Corman: If you see a spike in engagement when you send out a certain type of content, that's a hint.
- 9:12Kendra Corman: You should do more of that if you can, and then focus on the quality of your content.
- 9:17Kendra Corman: Are you providing valuable, relevant information?
- 9:21Kendra Corman: Are your emails well-designed, easy to read?
- 9:25Kendra Corman: Have you been consistent?
- 9:26Kendra Corman: Remember it's better to have a smaller, highly engaged list than a large, disengaged one.
- 9:33Kendra Corman: Quality over quantity always wins in the world of email marketing.
- 9:38Kendra Corman: So let's just say that you're a business coach.
- 9:42Kendra Corman: Over the past six months, you've noticed your emails with key studies and success stories because who doesn't love a good success story?
- 9:48Kendra Corman: Has a higher open and click-through rate compared to other types of content that you're sending.
- 9:53Kendra Corman: Use this data to set benchmarks for future campaigns.
- 9:57Kendra Corman: I want you to aim to at least match or exceed these engagement rates by continuing to provide similar high value content.
- 10:05Kendra Corman: Now let me tell you a little interesting story.
- 10:09Kendra Corman: So this one person was very disappointed in sales and what she was getting.
- 10:16Kendra Corman: She had all these people sign up to join her waitlist for this new program she was launching.
- 10:21Kendra Corman: After she spoke at a conference, 40% of the people at the conference took the step to join her waitlist.
- 10:29Kendra Corman: That's amazing.
- 10:30Kendra Corman: When it came time to buy, nobody bought, or very small percentage.
- 10:36Kendra Corman: About 2% of that.
- 10:38Kendra Corman: Of that, 40% bought.
- 10:40Kendra Corman: But what did she do to nurture the list?
- 10:44Kendra Corman: What did she do?
- 10:45Kendra Corman: How was her performance going?
- 10:47Kendra Corman: Did she see that people were falling off along the way, or was she not even talking to them at all?
- 10:52Kendra Corman: Did she see that people were falling off along the way, or was she not even talking to them at all?
- 11:01Kendra Corman: Your email list is the lifeblood of your business.
- 11:04Kendra Corman: It is the key to everything that you will do, and I want you to keep that in mind as you're continuing to grow your business and your email list.
- 11:08Kendra Corman: To sum it up, measuring the success of your email marketing campaigns is essential, because otherwise we're wasting our time if it's not doing anything.
- 11:15Kendra Corman: So I want you to focus on key metrics like open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates.
- 11:20Kendra Corman: Set your own benchmarks based on your historical performance and audience feedback.
- 11:25Kendra Corman: Figure out where you need to go with it.
- 11:29Kendra Corman: If you enjoyed today's episode, do not forget to rate and subscribe, and be sure to share with someone who might need to hear this today.
- 11:35Kendra Corman: Be sure to check out the show notes for this episode for some handy resources and tips.
- 11:41Kendra Corman: It's going to be really important for you.
- 11:42Kendra Corman: Thanks so much for tuning in to another episode of Imperfect Marketing.
- 11:46Kendra Corman: Remember, the key to success is not about being perfect, but being authentic and consistent.
- 11:51Kendra Corman: Stay fabulous, my friend, and I'll see you in the next episode.
- 11:56Kendra Corman: Until then, keep measuring and optimizing those email campaigns.
- 12:01Kendra Corman: Have a great rest of your day.