Email Marketing Software Truths about Stats

There are many 'untruths' floating about in regards to your email marketing solutions. Will shrink the 'wooden nose' on some of those not-so-truthful ideas, as they pertain to your email marketing solutions data. Being aware of these common errors will help you be a successful email marketer.

The term 'delivered' is not as simple as it seems, so looking to those numbers to determine your success is a fallacy. Taking a deeper look at what 'delivered' means will help you understand why this is. Emails that get caught up in spam/junk folders or are deleted as soon as they hit the inbox do not get factored into the stats that determine delivered emails. The reports you are getting are likely a little lower than you expected.

These statistics are available; however they require a search for a service that provides these numbers.

As strange as it sounds, your data has a lot of hidden meanings. Taking a magnifying glass to them will certainly show you how your emails can be even more successful.

The averages and percentages that get returned to you from the emails that you send out are for the most part amassed from your entire contact list. Therefore, by not looking any closer you'll be glossing over some of the different reasons your contacts have opposing reactions to your emails. By zooming in on those percentages you might discover that a chunk of your contacts are all under a certain domain (like att.com or comcast.com). If these portions of email addresses are generally not opening your email, you now can determine that there is something 'off' with the deliverability of emails to those domains. What is more important, you can understand how to fix the issue and therefore have better results from your campaigns.

Another essential element in this game is scrutinizing your 'open' percentages as they will help you determine the consistency of your readership. Taking a look back at the open rates of previous campaigns should just about show you a line of numbers that are close to the same: 25%, 24%, 26%, 22%, 25%, 27%, 26%…etc.

It safe to say from just 'eye-balling' the numbers, that the average readership is 25%. This is possible, but more often than not it's not the same people opening each email. Instead of just looking at open rates by each campaign that you send out, look for how many people opened at least one email in the past month; Or, input another period of time that makes sense for your sending schedule. You may be surprised by what you unearth. You might discover that your average open rate is much greater.

The reason is that your contacts might not open your email EVERY time you send it. They can be busy, on vacation, short of time one week – but not the next.

Variations also happen because of the differences in your contacts' wants and needs. As a result, this is key information to use to send them emails that speak to their interests. Here's an example to better illustrate the point: If contact 'A' only opens your emails when you offer a dessert special at your restaurant; and contact 'B' only opens your email when you offer family dining promotions then you now have a better understanding on how to target these contacts' wants.

Paying attention to email marketing data is easy, but takes a bit of time. It will help you determine how to find greater success with your email marketing solutions by targeting the needs of your contacts with more efficacy.

Rudy Barell is a Senior Business Development Executive with Elite Email, the #1 email marketing software used by businesses around the globe. Experience how easy it is to build your mailing list, create eye-catching emails and track your success using detailed reports with the complete email marketing program. Try it free!