Email marketing is an essential part of any business’s marketing strategy. But how do you know if your email campaigns are performing well? The answer lies in benchmarking.
Benchmarking is the process of comparing your email campaign metrics to industry standards and your own past performance. It helps you measure the success of your marketing efforts and identify areas where you can improve. In this article, we’ll explore how to benchmark your email marketing and what metrics to focus on.
1. Start with your goals
Before you can benchmark your email marketing performance, you need to define your goals. What do you want to achieve with your email campaigns? Is it to increase sales, generate leads, or build brand awareness? Once you have a clear understanding of your goals, you can identify the metrics that matter most to your business.
2. Identify the metrics to benchmark
There are several metrics you can use to benchmark your email marketing performance. Here are some of the most important ones:
– Open rate: The percentage of recipients who opened your email.
– Click-through rate (CTR): The percentage of recipients who clicked on a link in your email.
– Conversion rate: The percentage of recipients who completed a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a form.
– Bounce rate: The percentage of emails that could not be delivered to the recipient’s inbox.
– Unsubscribe rate: The percentage of recipients who opted out of receiving future emails from you.
3. Find industry benchmarks
Once you know which metrics to focus on, you can compare your performance to industry benchmarks. This will help you understand how your email campaigns stack up against other businesses in your industry.
There are several sources you can use to find industry benchmarks for email marketing. For example, Mailchimp publishes industry benchmarks for email marketing on a quarterly basis. You can also use benchmarking tools like Benchmark Email or Campaign Monitor to compare your metrics to industry averages.
4. Track your own performance over time
Benchmarking isn’t just about comparing yourself to others. It’s also about tracking your own performance over time. By measuring your email campaign metrics over time, you can identify trends and see whether your campaigns are improving or declining.
To track your own performance, create a spreadsheet or use a tool like Google Analytics to record your metrics over time. Set benchmarks for yourself based on your goals and industry standards, and track your progress against those benchmarks.