5 Essential Email Marketing Statistics You Should Check Often

Email marketing is more than just sending out a message or two to your subscribers every week.

You’ve got to analyze data as well.

If you’re not checking the statistics, how do you measure the success of each campaign?

Look, I get it.

There are lots of numbers on the Internet, and you may not know where to start.

I’ll steer you in the right direction.

I can show you which statistics are important to check weekly.

Email yields a significantly higher return on investment than other direct marketing mediums do.

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Check your own data from each email marketing campaign.
2. Compare this information to general email marketing trends.

Doing just one or the other isn’t enough.

You need to check both if you want to analyze the information effectively.

Why?

It’s always important to know how you are doing.

You may think you’re lacking in certain aspects of your strategy based on the campaign data.

In reality, however, you may be outperforming the industry standards.

It’s impossible to know this unless you compare statistics.

If you don’t, you could end up wasting time, money, and effort in an attempt to improve certain areas of your campaign that are more than satisfactory.

And you may end up neglecting the parts that actually need improvement.

These are the top 5 email marketing statistics you should check at least once a week.

1. Unsubscribe rates

You’ve got to see how many of your subscribers are opting out of your email list each week.

If these rates are high, you have to determine why your customers are unsubscribing from your messages.

The above are the top reasons why consumers opt out of promotional emails.

Compare these reasons to those in your campaign.

Are you doing any of these things?

You have control over everything on this list.

Don’t spam your subscribers.

Emailing people too much is a huge turn off.

To prevent this, you can ask your customers how often they want to receive messages when they initially sign up.

Segment your customers based on their responses.

Do they want to receive a daily update, weekly newsletter, or monthly coupon?

Allow them to decide, and then you can avoid unsubscribes based on that top reason.

If the customer loses interest in your brand, that’s because you haven’t kept them engaged.

Ultimately this means you’re faltering in more than just your email campaigns.

You’ve got to stay relevant and avoid falling behind your competition.

Use competitor analysis tools to keep up with other players in your industry.

If your emails aren’t optimized for mobile devices, you are making an enormous mistake.

Mobile open rates are trending upward:

More people open their emails on mobile devices than desktop computers.

You’ll lose subscribers if your email marketing campaigns are not optimized for mobile phones.

Check your unsubscribe rates every week.

Understanding these numbers can help you improve your campaign and retain subscribers.

2. Open rates

Okay, so you’ve spent some time crafting the perfect email message.

It’s got a ton of quality content. You can’t wait to send it out.

But here’s the problem.

Your message is useless if your subscribers don’t open it.

Checking your open rates each week needs to be a priority.

You can compare them to the average open rates in your industry.

Aim to be better than average.

How can you increase your open rates?

Personalize your message.

If you have a personalized subject line, your email has a 22% greater chance of being opened than the one without it.

However, only 70% of businesses are personalizing their messages.

Why?

It could be for a couple of reasons:

1. they don’t know how;
2. they aren’t checking email marketing statistics on a weekly basis.

This is your time to shine.

Learning valuable information like this can help you increase your open rates, which can ultimately lead to more conversions.

Create a sense of urgency in the subject line.

You can use the words on this graph as a reference while brainstorming the subject of each campaign.

Using a word like “important” can help increase your open rates.

There are other ways you can create a sense of urgency without using those trigger words in the subject line.

You can imply urgency with a timeline or expiration of something happening.

Here’s an example from JetBlue:

It’s a highly effective strategy for getting higher open rates.

This subject line and message creates FOMO—the fear of missing out.

“The deal ends tonight.”

If the subscriber doesn’t open the message now, they will miss out on the deal that’s expiring in less than 24 hours.

Keep an eye on the number of subscribers opening emails from each campaign.

You can use some tips, like the example above, to increase your open rates.

Remember, your content may be great, but it’s useless if nobody is reading it.

Monitoring your open rates on a weekly basis is an absolute necessity.

3. Click-through rates

Once you get your subscribers to open your message, the next step is getting them to click.

Are they doing this?

Have you been tracking these statistics?

You should be.

Apparently, 15% of marketers do not track email clicks.

Only 23% of marketers track what happens after a subscriber clicks on an email message through integration analytics with their website and email software.

These numbers are very telling for a couple of reasons.

First, it seems like the majority of marketers understand the importance of tracking clicks.

Hopefully, you’re not in the bottom 15% who aren’t checking these numbers on a weekly basis.

If you are, that has to change immediately.

With that said, even though marketers understand the importance of clicks, less than 25% actually monitor what those clicks turn into on their websites.

How can you improve click-through rates?

Give your subscribers a reason to click.

What’s the goal of your email marketing campaign?

Each message may have a different goal.

For example, one week your objective may be to increase the download rates of a free PDF e-book on your website.

Another goal may be to improve social media shares of your latest blog post.

For an ecommerce company, the primary goal would be to increase sales with each marketing campaign.

Regardless of your goal, it needs to be clearly established before you create and design your message.

Now, you can create a perfect call to action (CTA).

An effective CTA will improve your click-through rates (CTR).

The majority of businesses use CTR to measure the success of the email marketing campaigns:

So, let’s take a step back for a second.

Obviously, you can’t measure the success of your CTR if you aren’t tracking it.

Making sure you check these statistics every week is the first step.

Now, let’s say these numbers are unsatisfactory or declining.

What can you do to improve this rate?

Create interactive emails.

Here’s an example.

Delta used real-time marketing to increase CTR by 132%.

How?

They gave their subscribers a reason to click within the message.

This is a perfect example of how interactivity can increase clicks.

These clicks can ultimately increase sales as well.

It gives the customer a chance to click on a seat, which may be more expensive than their initial purchase.

But it’s so easy to do.

The subscriber doesn’t need to visit a website, enter their login information, search for their flight, and select a seat.

Instead, they can upgrade to a seat with extra legroom or a first class ticket with just one click.

Interactive emails can help you boost revenue through upselling in addition to improving CTR.

All of this can be accomplished by checking your click-through rate statistics each week.

4. Length of engagement

Your email marketing software may or may not track this information.

But it’s important you understand how long your subscribers stay engaged with each message.

Here’s an excellent visual representation of these statistics:

What does this information tell you?

It looks like people have a short attention span.

If you send an email that’ll take 10 minutes to read, chances are it won’t get read.

That’s okay.

Use these engagement statistics to your advantage, and structure your campaigns accordingly.

• Keep it short.
• Make sure your CTA is clear and visible.
• Stimulating curiosity is a great psychological hack to dominate your content strategy.
• Don’t give all your information away in the subject line or message.

Here’s an example from a blog post that I wrote.

We can apply this method to your email strategy.

Let’s pretend the title is the subject line and the introduction is the message in the body of the email.

The goal of this campaign is to generate more views on this blog post.

We can generate curiosity with the email.

Don’t give out the answer right away.

I didn’t come out and say, “You should focus on SEO before PPC.”

In this case, the subscriber would have no reason to open the message.

They already know the answer.

Remember what we said earlier?

The average length of engagement is low. You only have seconds to capture the reader’s attention.

So the introduction to that blog post is perfect for the email message. It’s quick, and it still doesn’t give away the answer.

Now the subscriber is even more curious.

So they’ll click through to the blog.

Mission accomplished.

If you weren’t checking the recent statistics regarding the length of email engagement, you might not have known to apply this psychological tactic.

Stay up to date with this information on a weekly basis to see if there are any significant changes with the trend.

5. Bounce rates

Monitor your bounce rates.

Your email marketing software most likely has a feature that helps you determine the risk of a message getting filtered as spam.

Here’s an example of what it looks like on Constant Contact’s platform

Make sure you check this before you send out your message.

If you have a high risk for getting filtered as spam, you’ll end up with a higher bounce rate.

Take a look back at your past campaigns to see what the bounce rates were.

If these statistics are high, it’s time to figure out what you’re doing wrong.

Here are some possibilities.

You might have invalid addresses on your email lists.

If that’s the case, it means your new subscriber rate is also thrown off.

Why are people entering an invalid email address?

Was it an honest mistake? Did they do this intentionally?

Look back at your subscriber acquisition strategy to analyze possible flaws in your system.

Emails could also bounce if the recipient:

• has a full inbox
• is on vacation with their auto-reply turned on
• blocked your email address

Keep an eye on your bounce rate statistics each week.

If the numbers are too high, you’ll need to determine the problem.

Conclusion

You need to monitor email marketing statistics every week.

Compare your numbers to trends in the marketing industry so you can effectively measure your results.

This will help you determine how successful your campaigns are.

You’ve got to understand the tendencies of your subscribers, such as their mobile habits.

Staying up to date on these numbers will make you a better marketer.

Here are some of the top email marketing statistics you need to check each week:

• unsubscribe rates
• open rates
• click-through rates
• length of engagement
• bounce rates

If your unsubscribe rates and bounce rates are high, you’ve got a problem that needs to be addressed.

The only way to know whether you’re trending in the wrong direction is to check this data each week.

Even if your message gets delivered, it’s useless if the subscriber doesn’t open it.

Once it’s opened, you’ll need to make sure the recipient clicks on your call to action, leading to conversions.

Use some of the tactics I outlined in this post to increase open rates, lengthen engagement time, and improve click-through rates.

Which weekly email marketing statistic do you think is the most crucial to improving conversions in your business?

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How Block Scheduling Has Solved Some of My Greatest Career (and Life) Challenges to Date

For many years, I was a huge fan of the to-do list as the primary tool to keep on top of the myriad of things I had to take care of in my life. To-do lists were the backbone upon which I built The Simple Dollar.

In the last year or so, however, to-do lists have moved to being a secondary tool. The tool that has really taken center stage in the last year and has helped me figure out ways to take on some new challenges in my life is block scheduling.

So, let’s look at what block scheduling actually is. Block scheduling is where you use your daily planner as the primary organizing tool of your day. At the start of the day (or the night before), you simply schedule blocks of time for the major activities you want to do in a given day.

For example, my block schedule for today looks like this:

5:30 AM – 6:00 AM – Wake up routine
6:00 AM – 6:45 AM – Email, social media, and post outlining
6:45 AM – 7:30 AM – Breakfast and school prep with children
7:30 AM – 8:00 AM – Exercise
8:00 AM – 8:20 AM – Brush teeth, shower
8:20 AM – Noon – Writing
Noon – 12:30 – Lunch
12:30 PM – 2:00 PM – Research & deep reading
2:00 PM – 2:30 PM – Email, social media
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM – Other professional projects
3:30 PM – 4:15 PM – Kids home routine
4:15 PM – 5:15 PM – Household tasks & dinner prep & family dinner
5:15 PM – 7:30 PM – Evening activities
7:30 PM – 8:00 PM – Family reading
8:00 PM – 8:30 PM – Family free time
8:30 PM – 9:00 PM – Bedtime routine
9:00 PM – 10:00 PM – Free time
10:00 PM – Sleep

That might look exhausting, but in reality it’s not nearly as bad as it seems. Let’s dig into this and see why.

First of all, what each of those blocks represents is the default activity I should be working on during each of those timeframes. If I have an extremely urgent and important matter to attend to, then I ignore those blocks, but it has to be pretty urgent for me to drop the default activity.

So, for example, during my morning writing block (which means I’m turning post outlines or notes into actual post drafts and then editing them), that’s pretty much what I focus on. If there’s a huge emergency, I’ll change it, of course, but my mornings are almost always oriented on writing.

Second, when I get to the end of a time block, I simply stop with that activity, even if it’s not perfectly finished yet. I might bleed over for a minute or two just to tidy things up, but then I move on.

Let’s say I’m in the middle of writing an article and suddenly the timer goes off. I’ll pretty quickly tie up any loose ends, save my work, and go downstairs for lunch. It’s rare that I’m starting lunch any later than 12:05 or so.

Here’s the thing: unless there is an extremely urgent emergency reason to do so, I’m done with the “writing” portion of my day at that point. I don’t go back to it. Undone writing can wait until the next day.

Why do things that way? It’s because I’ve taken the time to understand how my energy and focus changes throughout the day. I simply don’t focus as well on the task of writing in the afternoon – the words don’t flow from my hands as well. If I “force” some writing into the early afternoon, the speed and the quality decline.

That time block is my time to write. When I’m done with it, I’m done, because pushing more leads to inevitable diminishing returns. I simply move on to the next part of my time block. I recognize that there will be more time to write tomorrow.

Part of the benefit of this strategy is that I approach a variety of tasks throughout the day with freshness. Over time, I’ve figured out that I tend to dig into a new task with a fresh mindset and most of my productivity comes earlier on in that session. My longest session of the day is my writing block, and even then, I can sense things starting to decline near the end of it (I’d probably break that up, but I tend to write more and more slowly throughout the day).

I switch to deep focused study for a while, and when my focus starts to flag there, I’m ready with another thing to do that I’m able to tackle with freshness, and so on.

I do still keep a to-do list, but it’s secondary. I actually keep several, and they just manage the things I want to do within each time block.

Another thing that this has really helped with: it’s incredibly valuable for establishing daily routines. If you want to establish a daily habit, this is the way to go about it. I have had more success with maintaining a daily exercise routine since starting with block scheduling than I ever have with any other approach.

This brings us to another issue: how is this different than a normal calendar? The difference is that I basically block out the entire day, not just important appointments. If at least some of those blocks are filled with fun things, it actually doesn’t seem overwhelming. Yes, I basically schedule blocks of free time or fun activities – and that’s fine. Within those blocks, I can do whatever I want knowing the the rest of my life is well taken care of.

What if a major crisis occurs? Well, if something urgent interrupts things, then I just skip those blocks and settle back into them as time allows. However, most days, I think through tomorrow’s block schedule the night before and review it in the morning, so it has to be a genuine emergency for that to happen. As I mentioned earlier, during normal times, I simply stop at the “edge” of blocks and move onto the next one. I keep doing that and jump right back in once a crisis passes.

It’s also worth noting that not every blocked day is identical to the last one. Each day has variations. Today is about as “vanilla” as it gets, as many days have appointments and other things going on.

That’s why a big part of block scheduling is the daily review. At the end of each day, I look back at the day that passed and ask myself to name three things that went well, three things that didn’t, and how I might improve those things that didn’t go well. I actually write those down (it takes just a couple of minutes to do it). I use that to tweak my block scheduling going forward, as I’ll often go through those notes once a week and see if there are any patterns that I can use to actually change things going forward.

For example, I used to try to exercise between 6 and 7. This worked pretty well during the summer because I could go outside and exercise, but it’s not really something that clicks in an Iowa winter where the weather is freezing at that time of the day, plus during the school year the children have left for the day if I do it later. So, what I essentially did is swap what I used to do from 6-6:45 and 7:30 to 8:15. It clicks so much better. That’s just a recent tweak, one that I figured out simply because I spent a minute or two each day thinking about what worked and what didn’t work.

At first, those daily reviews changed a lot of things. I found that I was radically altering how I did this almost on a daily basis, because there were things that clearly didn’t work too well. I almost gave up on it at one point, but it was through that daily review that I gradually began to find patterns that really worked.

Right now, I feel more on top of my life than I have in a long while, and that’s amazing to me because this time of the year is incredibly busy. I attribute it almost entirely to block scheduling my life.

So, how can you try it out? Here are my recommendations.

First, commit to trying this for more than just a few days. Agree with yourself that you’ll give it a month.

Second, use a planner of some kind. If you like digital tools, Google Calendar is a good place to start. If you are using a paper planner, use one that feels comfortable to you; I like goal-oriented planners, myself.

Third, at the end of the day before you’re going to start, sit down and block out everything you’re going to do tomorrow. Allot times for all of the day – work tasks, personal tasks, commuting, everything. I strongly recommend blocking it a little loose at first, with perhaps some half-hour “free time” blocks throughout the day so that you can deal with overflow. You won’t need these as much later on.

This might seem overwhelming or constricting, but if you’re filling all of your time with something meaningful to you, then all this is doing is making sure you have time for everything that’s meaningful in your life. Basically, you’re stepping out of the moment to think about your life from a bit broader perspective, so that you don’t wind up at the end of the day feeling completely burnt out and still feeling like you didn’t do the things you wanted to do.

The next morning, review those time blocks, first thing. Look through them, make any last minute adjustments, and then spend your day trying to match those time blocks. It won’t be perfect, trust me. Whenever you find yourself off the rails, make note of it and try to come back to the schedule. Notice when you’re flagging on tasks, or when you wish you had more time for them. Accept that some will probably be interrupted if you have a job that involves that kind of interruption, but try to block off some time for focused work where you kill distractions.

At the end of the day, look for things that went well, things that went poorly, ways you can make it better, and then pencil in tomorrow’s time blocks. Then, just rinse and repeat. (I really recommend writing down those reflections, by the way, so you can look back through them regularly and see patterns that might help you find a better way to block things out.)

For the first week or two, you’re going to feel like this isn’t working, that it’s too constraining, that you’re forgetting things or committed in ways you didn’t expect. Give it time. Keep track of when you feel that way throughout the day. Also, make note of when you find a particular time block to be really effective – put stars around it or something. Try to strive to duplicate that activity and time when possible going forward.

What you’re going to find is that day by day, the time blocking gets better. It takes time to get there, but you’ll reach a point where it starts to fit pretty smoothly, and then you’ll find yourself on a run of two or three or four days where you actually feel really on top of things in almost all aspects of your life. It is amazing, and it really only happens for me when I time block. When that happens, you’ll stick with it.

Remember, it takes time. It’s not going to happen in the first day or two or even the first week or two. You have to stick with it, and perhaps the most important part is to remember to reflect on it and then refine it a bit each night.

This is a process that I’m incredibly glad that I brought into my life. It has enabled me to be more productive in less time in my work and, outside of work, has enabled me to feel very on top of things in almost all aspects of life in a way I haven’t felt in a long time.

Give it a shot, and good luck.

The post How Block Scheduling Has Solved Some of My Greatest Career (and Life) Challenges to Date appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

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Math Got You All Mixed Up? Here’s How (and Why) to Improve Your Skills

People tend to fall into three general categories where math skills are concerned. Which one best describes you?

1. I love math and my skills are great! I’m only reading this article for ideas on new ways to practice what I know.

2. I get by with the math skills I have. I can average a set of numbers or figure out a 20% tip, but after that, I’m lost.

3. I really wish I’d paid more attention in math class.

If you identify best with number three, you’re not alone.

The American Institutes for Research says that at least 30% of the adult American population lacks basic math skills. That’s 1 in 3 high school graduates and 1 in 4 working adults.

See? There’s no reason to feel weird that you wouldn’t know a Pythagorean theorem if it bit you on the ankle. You’ve got a lot of company.

For decades — maybe even centuries — school math classes have been filled with students lamenting they don’t need to learn concepts like algebra, geometry and calculus. Kids (including me, back in the day) claim mid-level and advanced math skills have little to do with adult life unless you have a job that requires mastery of arithmetic.

And now that we all carry mini-computers in our pockets, a good grasp of even basic math seems less important.

But that’s not true.

5 Reasons Why Knowing Math Is So Important

It’s important to have a general grasp of math concepts for a number of reasons. Math skills help you:

1. Hoard Your Pennies

Basic math skills help you increase the amount of hard-earned cash that stays in your wallet.

“Basic math skills can directly impact the amount of money you are saving or wasting,” says Jennifer McDermott, communications manager and consumer advocate for the personal finance comparison website finder.com. “From quickly checking you’ve received the correct change at the grocery store to ongoing evaluation of budget limitations, those with a good grasp of math fundamentals tend to better manage their finances.”

2. Make the Most of Your Purchases

Whether you’re buying goods or services, math skills help make sure you get the most out of every dollar you spend.

If you’re buying, say, craft materials to make handmade greeting cards, it’s pretty difficult to overspend because you’ve miscalculated how much card stock you need.

It’s another matter entirely, though, when your new $900 couch won’t fit in your apartment because you’ve forgotten how to calculate the square footage of a room.

Tipping is a fundamental expectation in many service transactions. We’ve put together a tipping guide to help you figure out how much to spend on gratuities, but you’ll still need to know how to work out percentages and other calculations.

3. See the Bigger Picture

Math skills help people understand the context of important topics and how they apply to your life.

“For example, let’s investigate credit card usage. Not everyone can mentally calculate percentages and interest charges,” Joseph Ritchie from academic prep company Varsity Tutors, says. “However, understanding the logic behind APRs [annual percentage rates] can help you realize the consequences of late payments and help you avoid getting into substantial debt.

“All of the smartphone calculators in the world will not allow you to conceptually understand how APRs work, and the real impact they can have on your financial outcomes.”

4. Live Better

A fundamental grasp of basic math skills may increase your earning power. Plus, you’ll look cool.

“Having confidence with numbers means that things don’t scare you and you don’t have the embarrassment of having to get out a phone to work something out,” notes Lisa McCartney, Chief Plyter at family gaming company PLYT Games.

“There have also been studies which have shown that better math skills lead to higher wages, better health and well-being,” she adds.

5. Have More Fun

Believe it or not, math can be fun. See for yourself.

• Find the distance between two colors.

• Improve your dart game.

• Get better at pool.

• Build the perfect pizza.

• Take binge watching to the next level.

What Math Skills Should Adults Know?

Really, the sky’s the limit when it comes to what math skills you can learn, but some concepts top the list.

Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division form the basis of almost all other math concepts that follow so “once you have the basics mastered, understanding things like percentages is so much easier,” notes McCartney.

“An important concept for savings and debt is compound interest,” says Devon Hyde, Director of Business Development at Guidewell Financial Solutions. “A strong understanding of compound interest can help consumers build wealth over time and also help manage and repay debt. The math formula used to calculate compound interest includes the principal, interest rate, and the time involved.”

Once you’ve mastered those skills, let your curiosity guide what you’ll learn next.

How to Brush Up on (or Learn) Math Skills

You could always enroll in a math class at your local community college to brush up on or learn math skills, but there are also a number of free or low-cost options.

1. Online Courses

Online courses through websites like Udemy or Coursera aren’t usually free, but keep your eyes open for offers and specials that make the course fees more affordable.

2. Free College Prep Classes

Check out Khan Academy for free online college prep math classes that can help you master advanced concepts like calculus or differential equations.

3. Immerse Yourself

“Just as people looking to learn a new language completely immerse themselves in it, so too should those looking to strengthen math skills,” McDermott recommends. “Do practice exercises, pay attention to number-based stories in the news and use your smartphone only to check your calculations after doing them unassisted.”

4. YouTube Videos

YouTube has millions of videos that cover virtually every math concept you can think of — and some you didn’t.  

5. Use Your Skills Regularly

The best way to strengthen your skills is to use them, according to Ritchie.

“Challenging yourself to calculate a tip or sale price by hand or mentally will increase familiarity with basic mathematical operations,”he said. “Also, make math a game. Use algebra to solve real world problems or curiosities. The more familiar you are with an operation, the easier this recall will be in the future.”

Lisa McGreevy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. Her husband is the real math whiz of the family but she can tip 20% of a restaurant bill in the blink of an eye.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.

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