#033. Metrics that Matter – Going beyond Open Rates

Hey Smart Marketers!

Marketing is all about Data.

In and out.

Marketing efficiency measurement requires the right metrics if you really want to improve your overall marketing strategy.

When it comes to email marketing, we often talk about open rates… but is it a reliable metric?

What about mobile metrics? Better shift to Whatsapp Messages or are SMS still worth their (expensive) price?

Let’s dive in

Why Email Open Rates are unreliable!

1.    Apple Privacy Policy

Since April 2021, Apple released its new Privacy Policy. This had a significant on email marketers, particularly with regards to tracking opens and clicks.

Apple’s Mail app now blocks tracking pixels by default, which means that email open rates may not be an accurate measure of engagement.

2.    False Positives

Sometimes, email opens can be triggered even if the recipient did not actually open the email.

For example, if the recipient has a preview pane enabled in their email client, the email may register as “opened” as soon as it appears in the preview pane, even if the recipient did not actually read it.

3.    Limited Insight

Open rates provide insight into how many recipients opened an email, but it doesn’t necessarily provide information on how engaged they were or if they took any action.

A high open rate may indicate that the email subject line was effective in capturing the recipient’s attention, but does it necessarily mean that the content of the email resonated with them? That they took any action after opening it?

OK… now what should we track?

3 Metrics you should track.

1.    Click-Through Rates (CTR):

You can track CTR by creating trackable links in your email campaigns and analyzing the data using the “Click Activity” report in Marketing Cloud.

This report provides a detailed view of how many clicks each link received, now you know what your audience is interested in.

2.    Conversion Rates:

You need to track the number of subscriber that took the specific action you pushed. That may require to track purchases, a cloud page submission or else.

3.    Revenue:

Sales and marketing alignment is necessary. Integrate your Marketing Cloud instance with the e-commerce platform used by your client.

Track how many sales or conversions originated from your email campaigns and calculate the generated revenue.

Whatsapp Messages Ultimate Metric?

When it comes to mobile channels, the usual metrics to track are:

  • Delivery Rate
  • Opt-out Rate
  • Click-Through Rates
  • Conversion Rate

But with Whatsapp Messages in Salesforce Marketing Cloud, I believe the most important metric to track is Response Time.

You finally have a channel that allows for real conversational marketing.

You can now respond to your subscriber within Journey Builder and interact with them.

The thing with Whatsapp is that it’s a real-time asynchronous channel.

Unlike a real conversation, there can be few minutes between 2 interactions or there can an immediate answer. It all depends on what the subscriber is doing while chatting with your brand.

Response Time measures the time it takes for a recipient to respond to a message. It tells you if your content is engaging but you could also use this data to decide if it’s the right moment for pushing different kinds of content.

I can think of dozens of use-cases. Depending on the industry, products or customer personae.

Let me know what you think about this!

Other ways I can help you:

Stand out in SFMC's jungle

Every week, get tips about Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

Subscribe

Smarter, together