Email marketing has never been more powerful—or essential to growing a business, with research showing that in the past year, more consumers made a purchase from an email (54%) than from any other marketing channel. Coupling this with an average ROI of 36:1 and
72% of people preferring to receive promotional content through email, it’s safe to say it’s not going anywhere. In fact, these stats prove that email marketing is not only essential to achieving your business goals but also to reaching your audience on a deeper level.
However, as inboxes become increasingly crowded and expectations rise, marketers face growing pressure to increase ROI and refine their strategies.
To meet that challenge, you need more than data—you need direction. That’s where Campaign Monitor by Marigold’s Campaign Score* comes in. This in-app dashboard provides a campaign-level performance indicator by leveraging five key metrics, measuring them against industry best practices and our expert insights. And, to help you level up your email performance even further, the Campaign Score provides strategic, personalized recommendations, so you can assess your program, identify areas for improvement, and feel confident to make changes.
Let’s take a closer look at each of these five essential metrics, why they matter, and simple tips to help you optimize results and grow your email marketing impact.
1. Open rate
An email open rate is the percentage of subscribers who open a specific email out of your total number of subscribers.
Why it matters: The open rate helps you assess the effectiveness of your subject line and the trustworthiness of your sender. But with Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection and similar updates, it's no longer a fully reliable measure.
On average, you can expect your open rate to range from 15% to 25%. However, several factors can influence this metric. For instance, sending your email on a specific day or at a particular time of the day can impact the likelihood of recipients opening it.
Let’s take a look at three best practices to help boost your open rate:
Tip #1: Personalize your subject lines.
Personalized subject lines help make the email feel relevant to your recipient. For example, using their first name or making the subject line location-specific can encourage them to open your message.
Tip #2: Keep subject lines short.
Keep your subject line concise and impactful. Keep it to 40 characters or less to ensure visibility on mobile and tablet devices.
Tip #3: A/B test subject lines.
Experiment with different subject lines to see which works best with your audience. Track the results of A/B testing to understand what works and what doesn’t.
2. Click rate
Your click-through rate (CTR) measures how many people clicked a link within your email out of the total number of emails delivered.
Why it matters: With your email marketing aiming to create engagement and encourage recipients to take the next step, your CTR helps indicate the success of your email marketing campaign alongside your open rate.
However, before you look to improve your click rates, it’s essential to understand the difference between CTR and CTOR.
Click-Through Rate (CTR) = Clicks ÷ Emails Delivered
Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR) = Clicks ÷ Opens (This shows how compelling your email content is after someone opens.)
Benchmark to aim for: A CTR between 2% and 3% typically indicates a successful campaign, demonstrating that your audience is eager to engage with your content.
Let’s take a look at some best practices to help improve your click rate:
Tip #1: Use strong call-to-actions (CTAs).
Use clear, compelling, and persuasive CTAs to boost your click rate. Ensure CTAs are prominently placed, easy to understand, and aligned with the content of your email. Be clear and action-oriented (for example, use phrases such as “Download Now,” “Shop the Sale,” or “Book Your Spot” to convey the exact action you want the reader to take).
Tip #2: Ensure content is personalized, compelling, and relevant.
Tailor emails by segment, behavior, or purchase history. Make it relevant by using customer segmentation to create targeted campaigns for people within different demographics and locations, and leverage dynamic content to truly engage your audience. And, with research indicating that 40% of respondents felt frustrated by irrelevant content, personalization is now considered table stakes for email marketing.
Tip #3: Add images or videos to create visual interest.
No one enjoys reading a wall of text, especially in their inbox. Adding visuals like photos, illustrations, GIFs, or videos doesn’t just break up content—it draws the eye, reinforces your message, and makes your emails easier to scan and digest.
Emails that include visuals can boost click-through rates by up to 300%. Just make sure your images complement your content rather than compete with it—every graphic should serve a purpose and support the story you're telling.
3. Delivery rate
Ensuring your emails land in your audience’s inboxes is the best way to help your CTR and open rates thrive. This is where your delivery rate comes into play. The delivery rate reflects the percentage of emails that successfully reach subscribers’ inboxes (not spam or undelivered).
Why it matters: If your emails don’t make it to the inbox, nothing else can happen (i.e., opens, clicks, or most importantly, conversions).
Benchmark to aim for: Campaign Monitor leads the industry with a 99% delivery rate, well above the typical standard.
Utilize these best practices to help improve your click rate:
Tip #1: Authenticate your sending domain.
As of 2024, email authentication is no longer optional—both Gmail and Yahoo now require domain authentication for bulk senders. Without it, your emails are more likely to be flagged as spam or blocked entirely.
Authentication involves setting up SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) records. These protocols verify that you are a legitimate sender authorized to send from your domain.
Why authentication matters:
Builds trust with mailbox providers like Gmail and Yahoo
Improves deliverability, helping your emails reach the inbox
Protects your brand from spoofing and phishing attempts
Tip #2: Clean and maintain your list regularly.
Regularly maintain your subscriber lists by removing inactive and invalid email addresses to avoid high bounce rates.
Tip #3: Maintain a consistent send cadence.
Sending emails on an irregular schedule can negatively impact your sender reputation. A consistent, predictable cadence helps build trust with both subscribers and inbox providers. It also keeps your audience engaged and your performance metrics steady. Tracking how many emails bounce or land in spam folders lets you know you’re on the right path to campaign success.
By utilizing an industry-proven Email Service Provider (ESP), such as Campaign Monitor, you will increase the likelihood of your emails reaching the inbox.
It’s important to note that high deliverability is a shared responsibility. While Campaign Monitor’s powerful platform works behind the scenes to optimize inbox placement, your role—maintaining list health, sending valuable content, and sticking to a regular schedule—is just as important for long-term success.
Deliverability can be complex, with many factors influencing whether your emails reach the inbox. For a deeper dive into how to improve it—and avoid common pitfalls—check out our guide “4 Steps to Improve Email Deliverability” here.
4. Unsubscribe rate
The unsubscribe rate tracks the number of recipients who have opted out of future emails. A certain level of churn is natural in email marketing, and as a marketer, you should expect some subscribers to inevitably opt out.
Why it matters: Some list churn is natural, but a high or rising rate may indicate issues with content relevance, frequency, or targeting.
Benchmark to aim for: On average, unsubscribe rates under 2% are within industry norms according to Campaign Monitor’s industry data.
To minimize churn and keep your emails welcome in the inbox, we recommend applying these tried-and-true techniques:
Tip #1: Segment your audience.
Tailor messages to specific groups based on interest, behavior, or demographics. Sending content that resonates with different subscribers based on their interests, behaviors, and location can help reduce the number of recipients opting out.
Tip #2: Personalize your content.
Show your subscribers that you understand them. Small personalization touches can go a long way in keeping a captive audience. Sending messages that speak directly to each subscriber helps make them feel seen, listened to, and valued by your organization. Use their first name to personalize the content and use segmentation to reach out with specific offers to different demographics to help keep unsubscribes to a minimum.
Tip #3: Allow email preferences.
Give your subscribers control over the types of emails they receive and how often they are sent through a “preference center”. This can be achieved by providing a customizable page that enables your audience to control the types of emails they receive and the frequency with which they receive them. Rather than unsubscribing entirely, a subscriber might opt to receive content more relevant to their role or interests, such as product updates or promotional offers, in addition to the straightforward monthly emails. This “opt-down” approach helps reduce unsubscribe rates by aligning your communication with each subscriber’s interests and comfort level.
5. Bounce rate
Bounce rate measures the percentage of emails that couldn’t be delivered to recipients' inboxes. Keeping your bounce rate as low as possible helps ensure the success of future campaigns. There are two types of bounces:
Soft bounce: A temporary issue, such as a full inbox or server error.
Hard bounce: A permanent issue, like an invalid or non-existent email address
Hopefully, all your subscriber email addresses are up-to-date and active. However, the likelihood is that as your subscriber list grows, your bounce rate will also increase. As a best practice, you should aim for a bounce rate of below 2%.
Here are some ways to keep your bounce rates to a minimum:
Tip #1: Remove hard bounces.
If an email returns to your inbox undelivered, remove that address from your list to maintain its hygiene.
Tip #2: Use double opt-in.
Double opt-in is essential to reduce the risk of spam traps and invalid addresses subscribing to your list.
Tip #3: Segmentation.
Segmentation helps identify any email address issues as you sort your list into groupings, which can lead to fewer bounces.
Improve your email marketing with data that matters
Tracking five key email metrics—open rate, click rate, delivery rate, unsubscribe rate, and bounce rate—is crucial for maintaining a healthy and high-performing email program. These metrics provide measurable insight into how well your emails are reaching, engaging, and retaining your audience.
But tracking alone isn’t enough. To make meaningful improvements, you need to understand what the numbers mean—and what to do next.
To support that, Campaign Monitor now includes Campaign Score, an in-app feature designed to help you evaluate and optimize your email performance. Campaign Score provides a clear rating for your campaign, backed by data, focusing on four key areas:
Engagement
Deliverability
List Health
Overall Performance
It also includes practical recommendations to help you act on the results, so you can improve campaign by campaign, with full visibility into what’s working and where to adjust.
New to Campaign Monitor? Get started today. Already a customer? Log in now to get a better understanding of your email performance and improve your efforts, with the Campaign Score.
Other email marketing tips to improve your scores
Email marketing continues to evolve rapidly, so reviewing and refining your approach is essential to keep your email marketing campaigns optimized and on point.
Here are a few other best practices and resources to follow to give yourself the best chance of success:
Check out our 101 videos:
Our short, on-demand training videos offer insight into email marketing best practices in bite-sized chunks. Learn how to make the most of Campaign Monitor’s powerful features from the comfort of your home or your office.
Enroll in Marigold Academy:
Enroll in our free online marketing course to help elevate your skills to the next level.
Explore other courses:
Check out your local educational institutions for courses in Digital Marketing, or explore online providers like LinkedIn Learning to enhance your marketing expertise.
* Campaign Score is only available for Direct accounts.
