It still surprises me how many seasoned email marketers analyze their email performance without knowing the formulas behind the basic metrics. For me, it has always been helpful to understand these metrics calculations, because understanding the specifics of the matter gives me a better view of the whole picture. So let’s consider these email formulas in sequence of action.

When you send out an email campaign, first you look at the delivery rate - how many email messages either made it into the inbox or junk box. This is calculated by taking the number of messages delivered divided by the number of email list members you attempted to send to.

Delivery Rate = Delivered / Attempted Sends

Next, if you want to calculate your bounce rate, take the number of bounces and divide it by the number of email list members you attempted to send to.

Bounce Rate = Bounced / Attempted Sends

Once the email is delivered, you want to know what your open percentages are. So take the number of opens and divide it by the number of messages delivered. Consider here the difference between aggregate (total) and unique opens:

• The aggregate open rate includes every instance the message is opened, even by the same person; it is possible that your aggregate open rate is larger than your delivery rate.

Aggregate Open Rate = Aggregate Opens / Delivered

• The unique open rate counts the number of unique individuals who opened your message - for example, if John Doe opened your email ten times, it would only count as one unique open.

Unique Open Rate = Unique Opens / Delivered

Click-through rates are calculated in a similar fashion to open rates, considering aggregate versus unique clicks. Take the number of aggregate or unique clicks and divide it by the total number of email messages delivered.

Aggregate Click-through Rate = Aggregate Clicks / Delivered

Unique Click-through Rate = Unique Clicks / Delivered

So now that you know how to calculate these basic email performance metrics, make sure you take them into consideration during your campaign analysis. It may help you to gain a better understanding of how these different variables affect your email marketing efforts.

For more info, check out the top ten email metrics articles here on LyrisHQ.com:

• Go Beyond the Click-Through and Boost Conversions  
• Beyond the Open Rate: Metrics that Matter 
• Average Email Click-through Rate 
• Open Rates Don't Matter
• Click-to-Open Rate: A Better Metric?  
• How to Reduce Email Bounces - 14 Quick Tips  
• The 7 Step Process to Determining ROI Metrics for Your Email Campaigns 
• Email Metrics: Lies, Damn Lies
• Why Email Click-Through Rates are So Important
• Email Open Rates: 16 Factors to Get Better Email Open Rates

###

About the Author

Ghia Espino is an account manager at Lyris. She strategizes with clients to improve their online marketing performance and works as their Lyris advocate.

Related Resources:

• Subscribe to Inside Lyris HQ our monthly online-marketing newsletter.
• Download free online-marketing guides, tools and webinars in the Lyris Online-Marketing Resource Center.

Comments (1)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Name

Email

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Add Comment