Student Loan: What's good, what's bad and what's ugly?

How to know if you succeed at email marketing?
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	GetResponse Action Plan

Opens, bounces, complaints:
The good, the bad, the ugly.

Dear Admin,

Congratulations! You've just sent out your first newsletter! Now, the main advantage of email marketing is that it's TRACKABLE and gives you some great feedback.

Let's talk about the key email metrics and see what open rate is "good" and how many spam complaints can make it "ugly"!


	The Good

OPEN RATE. It's the number of emails that were opened vs. the volume you sent. The average open ratio is about 15-16%, so everything above that is a success.

	Tip: Opens can only be registered when people click on the "Display images" link in the newsletter. If they open your email without downloading images, it can't be counted as an open email. Your actual open ratio will therefore always be higher than the one you see in the reports.

CLICK-THRU RATE. It's the number of clicks on the links vs. the amount of emails that were opened. Contrary to open ratio, this metric is 100% accurate. The average CTR for the email industry is around 4%.

CONVERSION RATE. It measures the final action you want the recipients to perform: clicks on the "Buy now!" button, number of times your ebook was downloaded, etc. It varies for every sender, depending on the aim of their emails.


	The Ugly

		SPAM COMPLAINTS. It's the number of people that click on the "This is spam" button vs. the amount of emails you sent. It shouldn't exceed 0.1 - 0.2%. If higher, your newsletters might stop hitting the inbox and get blocked by providers such as Yahoo! or Gmail.

		BOUNCES. It's the number of emails undelivered vs. the amount of emails you sent. Especially keep an eye on the bounces generated by addresses that do not exist. The ratio for such bounces shouldn't exceed 5%.

		UNSUBSCRIBES. It's the number of people that click on the resignation link vs. the amount of emails you sent. The industry average is 2% opt out ratio per a newsletter. List churn is a natural thing and although it's not a positive experience, it's better to let people resign this way than make them mark your emails as spam.