Get out of the numbers rut

Latest posts | Feed | By Mark Brownlow on April 28, 2008

calculatorThe trouble with ruts is you never know you're in one. Here's a question to ask yourself:

Do you evaluate your email campaigns based on the numbers available to you? Or do you decide what you want to evaluate and look for numbers that will support that process?

Think about it. The two are not the same.

When 95% of us login to our service or software's reporting interface, the only "big" numbers we see are:
  • Emails sent (= list size)
  • Opens
  • Clicks or clickthrough rate
Are we perhaps lulled by tradition and convenience into putting too much emphasis on those numbers?

I'm guilty as charged myself and was only awoken from my reverie by this full-frontal assault on open rates by Loren McDonald. So here's the "simple" solution:

Be very clear about what your emails should achieve and then determine ways to measure whether you're successful.

In many cases, it's not hard. If you want sales, clearly you need to tie email clicks to concrete purchases at your website. A task that is easier with the growing availability of suitable web tracking packages that you can use with email.

But there are two other challenges that need more thought.

First, there are the indirect benefits of email. You may get your immediate sales, but how do you measure the impact of email on future sales? Or offline sales?

Second, some goals are more intangible. Relevancy? Engagement? Awareness? We're just starting to think of ways to measure these. I was much enthused by Joshua Baer's Relevance Score post. You can argue about his formula, but it's the attempt that matters.

How are you measuring your email's success?

(P.S. Please tell me what content you want on this blog - take the poll)

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[This post brought to you by Campaigner Email Marketing]
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