Are You Getting Email Marketing Right? Use These 4 Metrics to Find Out.Every company can afford email marketing, but no company can afford to get wrong. Here is what to measure and how to improve results..

ByDave Lavinsky

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Email marketing is an affordable marketing tool for converting prospects into buyers and buyers into repeat buyers but, unless done well, your email marketing efforts will fall flat. Here are four essential email marketing metrics and four hacks for succeeding at each.

1. Email open rates.To maximize your email marketing results, maximize your email open rate. If recipients don't open your emails, they can't take the actions you want.

Related:Six Tips for Maximizing Email Marketing Campaigns

黑客# 1:主题行引人注目的一个草案nd/or intriguing. Look through commercial emails you have opened recently. Often they have compelling words in their subject lines such as "free" or "sale." Sometimes they provoke curiosity, with phrases such as "bad news." Often they promise useful information you desire with titles starting with "how to". Study headlines on the covers of your favorite magazines. Every headline is written to draw you in. Use those headlines as templates for your email subject lines.

2. Email click-through rates.The purpose for getting the recipient to open your email is the next action. Most often, you want the recipient to click on a link to buy your product or service, schedule a time to speak, download a report or whatever moves the process forward. Measuring the click through rate is crucial to improving your email marketing.

Hack #2: To maximize click through, offer multiple links promoting the same thing. The more opportunities to click, the more likely they will click. Make your links "pretty." More people will click on "Download Your Free Report" than will click on http://www.your site.com/report/h5the.html

3. Earnings per click.Your recipient opened your email. You persuaded them to click. How much revenue or profit did you generate each time someone clicked? The next key metric to measure and improve is Earnings Per Click (EPC).

EPC is calculated by multiplying 1) the number of people who purchased and 2) the average purchase price, and then dividing this by the number of people who clicked.

Hack #3: To increase your EPC, offer numerous products and services to your email list over time. In doing so, you'll determine which offers generate the highest EPC. Then simply promote these offer more often.

Related:3 Scary Email Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

4. Email unsubscribe rates.It takes the same time to email 1,000 prospective customers as 10,000 prospective customers. When a recipient unsubscribes from your emails, you lose a potential customer you worked hard to get.

Hack #4: Your subject line is a promise. If it says "how to lose 10 pounds," the content of your email must answer or support it. If it doesn't, readers will be upset and unsubscribe.Offer readers value, not just a pitch. Don't send emails just to promote your products, services and company. Use your expertise to offer good "how to" advice and educational content. The goal is for people to WANT to receive your emails. That occurs when you give them value.

Measuring results is crucial to improving results. Increasing performance in each of these four areas will quickly grow your email marketing revenues.

For example, consider Company A who starts with a list of 5,000 subscribers, has an open rate of 15 percent, a click through rate of 10 percent, an earnings per click of $25 and a monthly unsubscribe rate of 5 percent. In their second month of email marketing, this company would generate $1,781 in revenue.

Conversely, Company B, improves each of these rates by 20 percent. Also starting with 5,000 subscribers, they would have an open rate of 18 percent, click through rate of 12 percent, earnings per click of $30 and a monthly unsubscribe rate of 4 percent. In their second month of email marketing, this company would generate $3,110 in revenue. That's 75 percent more than Company A.

Email marketing is a highly effective marketing strategy. Follow these tips to measure and maximize each of the four key metrics above and you quickly realize significant profits from your efforts.

Related:The 8-Second Challenge: Email Marketing for Our Shrinking Attention Span

Wavy Line
Dave Lavinsky

Entrepreneur Leadership Network® Contributor

Author and Co-founder of Growthink and Guiding Metrics

Dave Lavinsky is the co-founder ofGrowthink, a Los Angeles-based consulting firm that helps entrepreneurs identify and pursue new opportunities, develop business plans, raise capital and build growth strategies. He is also the founder ofGuiding Metrics, a company that tracks KPIs to help businesses grow faster and more profitably, and the author ofStart at The End(Wiley, 2012).

Editor's Pick

Related Topics

Business News

An 81-Year-Old Florida CEO Just Indicted for a $250 Million Ponzi Scheme Ran a Sprawling Senior Citizen Crime Ring

Carl Ruderman is the fifth senior citizen in the Miami-Fort-Lauderdale-Palm Beach metropolitan area to face charges in connection with the scam.

Business News

'Soul Crushing': Internet Sleuths Notice Something Is Very Off With This Condo Listing

From the grey carpets to the fluorescent lights, it's obvious that this home was not always a home.

Business News

'Awful Advice': Barbara Corcoran Slammed For 'Tone Deaf' Business Advice to Interns

The "Shark Tank" star shared tips on social media about how interns can increase their chances of getting hired full-time, but the public reaction didn't go as planned.

Money & Finance

Want to Become a Millionaire? Follow Warren Buffett's 4 Rules.

企业家是不能过度指狗万官方望太多a company exit for their eventual 'win.' Do this instead.

Green Entrepreneur

Phoenix Has Hit 110 Degrees for a Month, But This One Invention Is Cooling Things Down a Tad

For the Arizona city amid a record-breaking heat wave, cool surfaces bring a modicum of relief.