What are the most useful metrics or indicators to track in email reports?

Open rate has long been a go-to metric for email engagement. However, evolving tech and privacy concerns have diminished its reliability. For example, Apple's Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) update, introduced in 2021, allows Apple Mail users to block email senders from knowing when an email is opened. This means open rates have become even less reliable as a metric. Open rate tells you if someone opened your email, but it doesn't indicate if they read it thoroughly or engaged with the content. Open rate relies on the loading of images in an email. If recipients have images blocked, their opens won't be tracked. If someone opens an email but quickly deletes it, the message's impact is minimal, yet it still counts as open.

Open rates aren't as reliable as they once were. But if the open rate is below 30% (an approx. average "high"), then yes, work further on the strategy (who is joining your list and what do they want?) and delivery (subject line, anyone?).

- I agree. Make sure to account for apple privacy opens. Also note that open rates don't only account for how well a single email is doing but can also reflect the overall relationship the sender has with the subscriber.

Open Rate: Percentage of emails opened. Clicks (CTR): Percentage of recipients who clicked. Conversion: Percentage that completed the desired action. Bounce Rate: Percentage of undelivered emails. Unsubscribe Rate: Percentage of opt-outs. Delivery Rate: Percentage of emails successfully delivered. Response: Comprehensive metric of engagement. Social Sharing: Percentage of shares. Peak Times: Identification of most active periods. Conversion by Device: Analysis of rates on different devices. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): Estimate of total value generated per customer. Subject Line: Evaluation of subject line effectiveness.

Open rate is one of the most basic yet critical metrics in email reports. It tells you how many recipients opened your email, indicating the effectiveness of your subject line, timing, and sender name. A high open rate suggests your email grabbed attention, while a low one could point to issues such as unengaging subject lines or emails being sent at less-than-optimal times. Tracking this metric helps you refine your email strategy to increase visibility and improve initial engagement with your audience.

With open rates being less reliable due to updates like Apple's Mail Privacy Protection (MPP), Click-through rate are being seen as a more reliable metric to understand email performance

The click-through rate measures the percentage of recipients who clicked on a link within your email, showing the effectiveness of your content and call-to-action. CTR is vital for understanding how well your email prompts readers to take action, whether it’s visiting a website, making a purchase, or signing up for an event. A low CTR might indicate that your email's content isn’t resonating, while a high CTR suggests that your message and call-to-action are compelling enough to generate interaction.

Response rate tracks how many recipients replied to your email, especially useful in cases of direct inquiries, customer support, or sales follow-ups. This metric is crucial for gauging engagement, as it reveals how effective your email was in initiating a conversation. A high response rate can indicate strong interest in your message, while a low response rate might mean your email didn’t connect or didn’t clearly encourage a reply. It's a key measure of the effectiveness of relationship-building and customer communication.

Depending on the volume of email you are sending, bounce rate can be a pesky red flag that will land you on block lists and stop you from being able to send to certain email inbox providers (i.e. Gmail, Outlook, yahoo). You should absolutely be monitoring your bounce rates. A hard bounce should be a quick removal from your email list - there's likely a typo or they have directly marked a previous email as spam. Remove it.

Monitor it. It could be a hard or soft bounce. Hard bounce: meaning the email is invalid, keeps bouncing back, no matter how many attempts. Soft bounce: a temporary issue such as meaning like the mailbox is full. If you keep getting hard bounces, undeliverables, etc., just remove the email. You may look into a double opt-in to prevent this issue. (NOTE: with a double opt-in, some people may not click on it or it may go to SPAM/JUNK and a person might miss it.)

Bounce rate refers to the percentage of emails that were not delivered successfully, either due to invalid addresses (hard bounces) or temporary issues like full inboxes (soft bounces). A high bounce rate can harm your sender reputation and indicate issues with your email list’s quality. Tracking bounce rates helps you identify problems with your email list hygiene and ensure that your messages are reaching valid, active inboxes. Lowering bounce rates improves deliverability and helps you maintain a positive sender reputation.

This needs to be looked at on a case-by-case basis and if it aligns with what your overall goal is for your email list. -Engagement is key, the size of your list should be a secondary concern. -Good list hygiene involves getting email addresses off your lists that don't want to engage with what you are doing or how you want an action to be taken. -A high unsub rate can also be an indicator of your prospecting and list building programs/strategy are not in sync with your actual message. If people sign up for your list expecting one thing, then get something different, then you can't consider them the same as other unsubs. -A lot of unsubs could also be the best of a bad situation. At least they didn't report your email as spam...

A high unsubscribe rate could also mean that you have made changes in your messaging, your services and your offers. Your audience may not be interested in your new offerings. Which means you rebuild your list around your new offers. You may be cleaning up - sent a reengagement email and some don't reengage and unsubscribe instead. You may be cleaning and unsubscribe some emails yourself! If you have a high unsub rate, do more research. The obvious may not be so "obvious."

Unsubscribe rate measures the percentage of recipients who opt out of receiving future emails. While some level of unsubscribing is normal, a high rate may indicate that your content is not relevant, frequent, or valuable enough to your audience. Monitoring the unsubscribe rate helps you understand whether your content strategy is working and whether you need to adjust your approach. Keeping this rate low can ensure that your email list remains engaged and interested in your communications.

Delegation rate refers to how many of your emails are forwarded or delegated to other team members or contacts. This is an important metric for internal communications or emails that are designed to be shared, such as reports or actionable tasks. A high delegation rate shows that your email is considered useful or relevant enough to pass on, whereas a low rate may suggest that your email didn’t have enough value to be shared. Tracking this can offer insights into the wider impact of your communications.

Aside from these core metrics, consider tracking metrics such as conversion rate (especially for marketing emails), time spent on email (to measure engagement), and device usage (to optimize for mobile or desktop). The effectiveness of your email campaigns can also be enhanced by segmentation analysis, allowing you to understand which specific groups of your audience are most engaged. Understanding your metrics in context, testing different strategies, and refining your approach over time can lead to continuous improvement in your email performance.