Five Simple Ways to Boost Your Email Metrics in 2023

Intro

For the longest time “open rates” were on the mind of email marketers. Since the release of Apple’s MPP, open rates have been considered unreliable, but email marketers still need to track essential metrics. Is your email engagement in a slump? There are several common reasons why this can happen. However, there are simple methods you can use to improve the health of your email list, make your emails more compelling, and boost your email metrics. 

Boosting email metrics means you’re meeting goals

If you’re only focusing on the revenue generated from your email marketing efforts, you’ll have a rockier road to improvement. Instead, look at all of the essential email analytics to get as much information as you can. 

Although open rates aren’t what they used to be, you can still use them to make comparisons. You also need to be aware of your email click-through rate (CTR) and email conversion rate. It’s just as important to track your email bounce rate and the email spam rate because they are a clear indicator when things have gone awry.

Boosting your email metrics correlates to an increase in your ROI. If people are engaging with your emails, your chances to convert them are higher. In this article, we’ll show you five simple ways to boost your email metrics so you can enjoy better results.

Check the quality of your email list

One thing will certainly cause low clicks: when your email deliverability plummets. 

Email deliverability is not to be confused with email delivery, which is whether or not your emails are being delivered. Email deliverability is the metric that measures how many reach the inbox. 

Without good email deliverability, you won’t get results because it’s unlikely your customers will fish your emails out of the junk folder. Most customers will forget about you and quickly move on to a competitor.   

So how can you boost email deliverability? Nothing is more vital to landing in the inbox than the health of your email list. And here’s the issue: email lists deteriorate quickly. On average, 22.71% of your email database turns sour within a year. 

ZeroBounce verified more than six billion emails in 2022 and only 57.21% of them were valid and safe to keep.

The good news is that routine maintenance will improve your email list health and help you preserve it longer. Using an email validator is key.

Email validation is a system that detects invalid or harmful emails in your list. Once you find those bad emails, getting rid of them increases your email deliverability. Keeping all of that bad data in your email database is a waste of expense and time. It will undermine the very reason you are sending emails. 

One of the worst problems you’ll face is internet service providers (ISPs) assuming that because you are sending emails to these low-quality addresses, then you must be a spammer. Anything you can do to improve the quality of your email list will lead to a boost in your email metrics. Don’t cling to substandard email addresses just because the size of your list will shrink. Instead, welcome their departure so you can replace them with contacts that can make a difference to your campaigns.

Make sure your IP or domain aren’t blacklisted

Email blacklists are tools that ISPs and anti-spam organizations use to combat the prevalence of spam. They benefit everyone. Why? Blacklists have a useful function in keeping spam out of the inbox. There is a downside, though: sometimes people who follow the rules and don’t spam still end up on blacklists. This issue occurs, for instance, when your email list is outdated or you’re not abiding by email marketing rules.

Can your IP or domain end up on a blacklist? Yes. The real nightmare is when an email marketer ends up on a blacklist and is completely unaware. This is why you need to use a blacklist monitor. It can check whether your IP or domain are present on any blacklists. Should that happen, there is a process to remove your IP and/or domain. A reputable provider of blacklist monitoring services can provide you with those instructions.

Much like a backlink monitor, which lets you know who linked to your website, a blacklist monitor alerts you in real time if your domain or IP are ever added to an email blacklist.

If you haven’t checked your blacklist status, do it without delay. There are few things that will cause more deliverability problems than this. As mentioned earlier, you should be validating your list regularly. It’s also a good idea to connect an email validation API on all of your forms to prevent bad data from getting on your email list in the first place. 

Segment your email list

We are at a time when customization and personalization are increasingly considered standard rather than special. This is true with email newsletters, too. Have you ever gotten an email that felt like it was tailor made for you? It’s likely that the team behind it was using list segmentation. 

Marketers will see a significant boost in metrics when they segment their email list and create emails relevant to each group. You get better results because the emails resonate and offer something useful to that particular group of people.

The more information you have about your subscribers, the better your emails will perform. That’s why it’s beneficial to choose an email service provider that allows for segmentation. Allow your readers to choose the type of emails they’d like to get and the frequency they’d like to hear from you. Some people who would otherwise be annoyed by frequent emails will stay on your list if given the choice of a lower email volume.

List segmentation does take more work and a little more organization, but once you get the hang of it, it’s simple. The extra effort can make all the difference. You’ll ensure that you aren’t barking up the wrong tree. 

Fine-tune your subject lines

Most people decide whether to open an email by looking at the subject line. The subject line is a promise of what the email offers. One of the biggest sins is to not make good on what the subject line promises. Your readers won’t tolerate this. So if you want to boost email metrics, really put some thought into coming up with compelling subject lines. 

Remember that the subject line is the first thing your reader will see. You should ask trusted advisors what they think about a clever subject line that you come up with. You don’t want to risk your audience not getting the joke or creativity. It’s a cliche, but you only have one chance to make a first impression. That’s never been truer than with subject lines!

This headline analyzer from The Advanced Marketing Institute may come in handy if you’d like to see how people will perceive your subject lines.

Want to really boost email metrics? Improve your content

Few  people like scrutinizing their own content. However, if you can’t look honestly at your emails, how will you get better? Monotony is never good. When you try a new approach, you may invigorate your audience. This, of course, assumes that any new direction is a positive one. 

A valuable move is to get help from a copywriter. With the right skills, a copywriter can help you improve your emails, which will result in a boost in clicks. Consult with the copywriter about what you write and also the length that will best suit your audience and what you offer. For some industries, a longer email is preferred. Others prefer brevity.

Another reason emails sometimes crash and burn is that they look bad. If you don’t have a knack for design, it’s worth watching tutorials and getting some basics down. There are some great templates on Canva and other graphic platforms. Most people get more than 100 emails a day and some get a few hundred. Don’t turn them off with an ugly email. 

I recall getting a business email that was white letters on a cream background. Not many of your subscribers have that level of patience, so make sure the color schemes and font choices make for an email that’s easy to look at.

Always have your eyes and ears open

As with any kind of writing, you can get inspiration from the most unexpected of places. If you’re feeling stale, try taking a walk. I find that watching a movie can be one of the richest sources of ideas. Taking my attention away from the subject at hand allows me to relax a little and then inevitably a thought pops into my head. Even if your emails are about the most sterile of topics, remember that your audience is human. There’s always an idea just waiting to be uncovered.

If you want to create emails that get good engagement, think about the emails you’ve received that you enjoyed, both personal and business. What made them enjoyable? Nothing wrong with being inspired, just be sure and put your own personal touches on every email you send. You have every possibility to write awesome emails that get clicks. Everything you need is right at your fingertips.