Over the years, email marketing has become one of the most popular digital marketing channels with an estimated ROI of $44 to $1. Such returns illustrate an apparent and obvious effectiveness in email marketing. The question is, how do you measure this effectiveness? Most people rely on click-through rates and open rates, but research has shown these parameters are not as dependable.

So, which techniques are reliable? Let’s take a look.

1. Website Traffic

The website traffic coming from your email marketing campaigns should give you a good idea whether your efforts are bearing fruit or not. You will need to integrate your web analytics and email campaign.

This will help you measure the amount of traffic derived from your unique email campaigns. Through the data collected, you’ll get to see the percentage of website traffic that your emails generate.

1. Email Conversion Rate

The conversion rate is another reliable metric. Measuring how many people clicked an email link is the conversion rate. Measuring this rate entails identifying the number of people who completed a desirable action, dividing that total with the number of emails sent, and then multiplying the result by 100.

The resulting percentage should be a steadfast illustration of whether email marketing is working or it’s a dud.

1. The Bounce Rate

Basically, the bounce rate measures the number of inactive visitors to your website. The visitors that leave instantaneously without any activity are said to have “bounced”. In effect, if readers are landing on your page and bouncing immediately, then there’s a problem with your email marketing campaign.

The problem may also be with your landing page content. The content should be properly aligned with your email to get the reader hooked the moment they land on your page.

1. Spam Complaints

Some people just won’t like your emails or the content. The usefulness or the relevance of the content will be lost to them and as such, they might mark your emails as ‘spam’. The percentage of spam complaints measured against the number of emails sent is indicative of the success derived from your email campaign.

Measuring this rate entails identifying the number of people who marked your email as spam, dividing that number with the number of emails sent, and then multiplying the result by 100. A high spam complaint percentage should act as a warning that a change is needed, and fast.

1. Measure the ROI

At the end of the day, your Return on Investment (ROI) is the only measure that really counts. In essence, the efficiency of an investment will determine whether your email campaigns are profitable or just a drain on your resources.

Measuring ROI is quite simple, you take the revenue gotten from email campaign-related sales, subtract the money invested in the email campaigns, and then multiply by 100. The resultant amount will be a clear indicator of whether your email marketing strategies are working or not. Stacked against the other determinants, ROI should ultimately be the measure that determines whether you need to stick or twist.