8 metrics you need to track in every campaign

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” These timeless words were first spoken decades ago, but they’re as relevant today are they were then, especially in the context of the measurable and highly monitored digital realm. In the past, things were much simpler: A marketing campaign was considered successful only if the cash registers were ringing. The situation today is markedly different: many new metrics provide us with a totally new, and often confusing snapshot of how our campaign is doing. Add to that the deluge of reports coming in separately from each marketing channel, and you might end up in an expensive and wasteful topspin.

Our digitized world demands that each campaign meet fixed performance metrics so that we can understand, in real-time, how marketing messages come across to our customers. It’s not just a matter of content or design. Keyword research, our strategy, target audience selection, and mapping out customer journeys – all these have a massive impact on a campaign’s final results. Until recently, collecting such data was thought to be cumbersome and boring work. Now, however, measuring a digital campaign and getting the most up to date reports, requires no more than clicking on the Reports icon in ActiveTrail’s email and newsletter system.

What are we measuring? Well, just about everything. But a moment before we dive into the most common campaign measurement tools, a reminder that our responsibilities as marketers don’t end when we send off our marketing messages. You’ve invested in design? In copy? In developing strategy? Great! Now watch the data stream in and make better, more accurate decisions for your business, and mostly, ask the right questions.

The most important metrices for every campaign

1. Opening Rate

An essential metric that refers to the number of customers in your mailing list that received and opened your marketing message. Whether it’s because you have loyal customers or killed it with a super subject line, evidence shows that high opening rates reflect a healthy, trust-based relationship between your audience and your brand.

2. Clickthrough Rate

Clickthrough rate is a vital metric, because it indicates who amongst your distribution list clicked on one or more links in your message. Favorable clickthrough rates generally imply a positive conversion rate and elevated engagement.

3. Conversion Rate

The most important metric for most campaigns, conversion rates denote whether customers in your mailing list are showing interest in your marketing messages and took the exact action you planned and wanted them to – leaving lead information, redeeming a purchase coupon, or signing up to your brand’s website and then buying your product or service.

4. Share Rate

This metric reflects the number of customers in your mailing list that have shared your messages with others. They don’t need to clickthrough or convert – it’s enough if they opened your email and “recommended” it to their friends to get the ball rolling.

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Until recently, collecting such data was thought to be cumbersome and boring work

5. Actual Sales

Actual sales are the, in practice, the end goal of every hard sale campaign, and this metric tells us the number of actual transactions made in every campaign. You want this number to be as high as possible – trust us.

6. Unsubscribe Rate

After the 5 “positive” metrics, comes the measurement that conveys how many customers have decided to remove themselves from your mailing list. Whether they lost interest in your brand, in your marketing messages, or something else, you should do everything you can to make sure this number is as low as possible.

7. Bounce Rate

What percentage of your marketing messages weren’t received or were never delivered to your clients, for whatever reason? That’s what bounce rates tell us. The most common reasons mails bounce are incorrect email addresses and being blocked by an internet service provider (ISP). If you’ve identified both problems with your mailing list, you’ve got good reason to worry.

8. SPAM Placement Rate

You get the idea. Just don’t’ end up there.

Viewing, analyzing, and learning these metrics is absolutely critical to each campaign you run, and requires that you have an appropriate decision making process in place. Through these metrics, you can learn about your customers’ behavior, how they perceive your brand, what their purchasing habits are, and how you can adjust the customer journey you created especially for them.