Email campaigns are essential part of B2B marketing, but tracking the right metrics is key if we want to truly stand out. After all, they serve as a compass that shows whether we're on the right track. Let's take a look at seven of the most important metrics to help you better engage and reach your audience.
Open rate is a key indicator of the success of B2B campaigns. It tracks how many recipients actually open the message, which tells you how well you can engage on first contact - i.e. through the subject line. The average open rate for B2B emails is around 15.14%, but varies across industries. If your open rate isn't approaching this threshold, it's a signal that it's time to change your strategy.
How to increase open rate? An engaging and precisely targeted subject line is important. Personalisation is essential in B2B emailing - including the recipient's name or their company name increases relevance and attracts attention. Furthermore, effective audience segmentation plays a significant role. If you send emails to specific groups based on their industry, needs or roles, a personalized message to a segmented audience has a higher chance of resonating and being opened. So find out as much information as you can about your audience, including which company employees are most often delivered emails, their job titles, responsibilities and authority.
The optimal timing of sending emails can significantly impact open rates. It is recommended to test different times and days using A/B testing to see when recipients interact with your emails the most. Seasonality also has an impact in B2B emailing - during holidays or vacation periods, open rates may be lower. Precise timing combined with personalization and segmentation will allow you to effectively increase open rates and thus the overall impact of your campaigns.
If you're targeting the B2B sector, it's a good idea to time active collaboration offers to business signals such as hiring, company mergers, management turnover, major structural or organizational changes, or rebranding.
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Click-through rate (CTR), is a key metric in B2B emailing that measures the effectiveness of content and calls-to-action (CTAs) within an email campaign. CTR indicates the percentage of recipients who clicked on each link in an email and, from this perspective, is an accurate indicator of whether the content was sufficiently attractive and motivating to take action. Calculating CTR is simple: divide the number of recipients who clicked on the link by the number of recipients who opened the email and multiply the result by 100.
Formula for CTR: (Number of recipients who clicked on the link / Number of recipients who opened the email) * 100.
A high CTR usually indicates that both the email content and the CTA are of value to the recipient and directly encourage a response. To achieve a high CTR, a clearly defined and distinct call to action, placed in a prominent location - ideally at the top of the email or after important sections of text - is essential. Visuals are just as important: use relevant images, structured text with bullet points and a concise message. Also make sure emails are optimized for mobile devices, as most professionals check emails on mobile.
Thoroughly tracking, testing and optimizing CTR can give you valuable insights into audience preferences and the effectiveness of individual campaigns.
Conversion rate is a metric that shows how many recipients completed a desired action - for example, filled out a form, made an appointment, or contacted a sales representative. This metric is key to evaluating whether an email actually met its goal. The calculation is simple: divide the number of successful conversions by the total number of emails sent and multiply the result by 100.
Formula for conversion rate: (Number of successful conversions / Total number of emails sent) * 100.
How to increase conversion rate? The first step is to align the CTA with the main message of the email and ensure that you are providing your recipients with real value. Tailoring content to the specific needs of the recipient increases the chances that the email will be perceived as relevant. Personalisation therefore plays a big part - recipients feel addressed directly and are more likely to respond.
Equally important is optimizing the landing pages that CTAs link to. Once the recipient clicks on the CTA, the subsequent page should be clear, fast and consistent with the content of the email. The page should immediately respond to what the recipient was interested in in the email and encourage completion of the action.
The bounce rate is the percentage of emails that fail to reach their recipients and is a vital indicator of the state of your database and your sender's reputation. There are 2 types of bounces: hard and soft bounces. Hard bounces are permanent non-deliveries caused by a non-existent or invalid email address. Soft bounces indicate temporary problems, such as a full inbox or an oversized attachment, and can often be resolved by retrying delivery.
In B2B emailing, the average bounce rate is between 2% and 5%. Values above 5% indicate the need for intervention. Maintaining a low bounce rate requires regular maintenance of the contact list - it is important to identify and remove invalid or inactive addresses.
Why is bounce rate monitoring important? A high bounce rate negatively affects your reputation with email service providers (ISPs). They closely monitor sender behavior, and campaigns with high bounce rates can gradually reduce the deliverability of your emails, or even move them to junk mail. Therefore, bounce rate optimization not only improves the technical performance of your campaigns, but also strengthens your brand's credibility and ensures that your messages reach your audience effectively.
Unsubscribe rate udává procento příjemců, kteří se po obdržení e-mailu odhlásí z odběru. V B2B je průměr kolem 0,24 %, přičemž cílem je udržet ji pod 1-2 %. Snížit míru odhlášení pomůže doručování cíleného a hodnotného obsahu, který odpovídá potřebám publika. Segmentujte své seznamy, abyste zasílali relevantní sdělení, a nabídněte příjemcům možnost správy preferencí – například výběr témat nebo frekvence e-mailů. Tím posílíte jejich zapojení a minimalizujete odhlášení.
Unsubscribe rate indicates the percentage of recipients who unsubscribe after receiving an email. In B2B, the average is around 0.24%, and the goal is to keep it below 1-2%. Delivering targeted and valuable content that meets the needs of the audience will help reduce the unsubscribe rate. Segment your lists to send relevant messages, and offer recipients the ability to manage preferences - for example, choosing topics or email frequency. This will boost their engagement and minimize unsubscribes.
Deliverability rate indicates the proportion of emails that were successfully delivered to recipients' inboxes. In B2B, the average is around 98.16%, and a range of 90-98% indicates a healthy list and deliverability-friendly content. To improve deliverability, maintain an up-to-date database, regularly remove inactive addresses, and follow authentication best practices. High deliverability also strengthens the sender's reputation with email service providers, which increases the chances of reliable campaign delivery in the future.
Spam rate tracks the percentage of emails that recipients have marked as spam. This metric is important because if too many recipients mark your emails as spam, it will negatively impact the deliverability of your future campaigns. Spam rate should not exceed 1%, if you exceed this value it's time to purge your database of inactive contacts and start sending emails primarily to active segments.
How to reduce spam rate? Only send emails to those who have agreed to subscribe and avoid words that could be considered spam such as: buy, free, bonus or urgent. The ideal tool for reducing spam rates is double opt-in, i.e. double confirmation of interest to receive your newsletters. It consists in sending an automated email to a contact who signs up to receive your materials, confirming their email address and their interest in subscribing. People who actively confirm their interest then rarely mark newsletters as spam.
Properly set and monitored metrics are essential for B2B email marketing. If you understand your open rate, CTR, conversion rate, and other key metrics, you'll know where your campaigns are performing well and which aspects of your campaigns need improvement. Optimize your strategy based on data and you'll be able to maximize the potential of your email campaigns. If you're looking for specialists to help you with your company's email marketing, contact the email marketing specialists at Autoarti.
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