What are the most effective email engagement tracking methods?

1 Open rate

Open rate is the percentage of recipients who opened your email out of the total number of delivered emails. It is a basic but important indicator of how interested your audience is in your subject line and sender name. To track open rate, you need to embed a small image or a pixel in your email that sends a signal when it is loaded by the recipient's email client. However, open rate is not always accurate, as some email clients block images by default, or some recipients may open your email without loading the images. Therefore, you should use open rate as a relative measure rather than an absolute one, and compare it with other metrics and benchmarks.

2 Click-through rate

Click-through rate (CTR) is the percentage of recipients who clicked on one or more links in your email out of the total number of delivered emails. It is a more reliable and meaningful measure of email engagement, as it shows how your content and call to action motivate your audience to take action. To track CTR, you need to use unique URLs for each link in your email that redirect to your destination page and record the click data. You can also use UTM parameters to track the source, medium, and campaign of your email traffic in your analytics tool. CTR can help you evaluate the effectiveness of your email design, copy, and offer, and identify the most engaging elements.

3 Conversion rate

Conversion rate is the percentage of recipients who completed a desired action on your website or landing page after clicking on a link in your email out of the total number of delivered emails. It is the ultimate goal of email engagement, as it reflects how your email drives your audience to take the next step in your customer journey. To track conversion rate, you need to define a clear and measurable conversion goal, such as filling out a form, downloading a resource, making a purchase, or registering for an event. You also need to set up a conversion tracking code or a pixel on your thank you page or confirmation page that fires when the goal is completed. Conversion rate can help you calculate the return on investment (ROI) of your email campaigns, and optimize them for higher conversions.

4 Bounce rate

Bounce rate is the percentage of emails that were not delivered to the recipient's inbox out of the total number of sent emails. It is a negative indicator of email engagement, as it means that your email was rejected by the recipient's email server for various reasons. There are two types of bounces: hard and soft. Hard bounces occur when the email address is invalid, non-existent, or blocked, and they are permanent. Soft bounces occur when the email address is valid, but the email cannot be delivered due to temporary issues, such as a full inbox, a server outage, or a large file size, and they are temporary. To track bounce rate, you need to monitor the delivery status and error codes of your emails, and remove hard bounces from your email list. Bounce rate can help you improve your email deliverability, reputation, and hygiene.

5 Unsubscribe rate

Unsubscribe rate is the percentage of recipients who opted out of receiving your emails out of the total number of delivered emails. It is another negative indicator of email engagement, as it means that your email did not meet the expectations, preferences, or needs of your audience. To track unsubscribe rate, you need to provide an easy and visible way for your recipients to unsubscribe from your email list, and comply with the anti-spam laws and regulations. You also need to record and analyze the reasons why your recipients unsubscribe, and segment your email list based on their interests, behavior, and feedback. Unsubscribe rate can help you reduce your email churn, and increase your email relevance and loyalty.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?