In the world of marketing, there is a LOT of data that is coming at you every day.
Enough that some days, you’re in a rut and it’s just easier to stick with the data you understand.
But often, that can be the wrong data.
I heard a phrase yesterday and I’d like to share it with you.
Measure the metrics that matter.
Here’s the truth. Not all metrics are created equally.
But there are a few metrics that I use to make qualified, informed business decisions.
They are the metrics that tell me if a campaign is working.
How do I measure this?
If when I deliver a campaign, the call to action I want is happening.
So, ya, sure. You want an email to land in an inbox. You want an email to get opened.
But that’s not what I REALLY want.
Can you guess what I REALLY want?
It’s the same thing you want.
I want someone to click on a link and buy my book.
Let’s have a look at an example.
You have a list that has 1,000 people on it and you send an email out announcing the release of a book. It has a killer subject line and gets an open rate of 38%. That’s 380 people who have opened the email.
It has 6 buttons sending people in various directions and the majority of people are clicking on the Amazon US button. So, let’s say you’re coming in hot with the average of 2%. That’s 20 people who clicked and potentially bought your book.
You can only see that 38% open rate. And yes, it is spectacular.
You send out another email the next week to the same 1,000 people and the open rate is slightly less at 28%. So, again, 280 people opened your email and this time you basically duplicated the cover, blurb and buttons and your click rate is now lower because they’ve ‘been there, done that’ and now your click rate is around 1.8% so, 18 people.
But, your open rate is still well above industry average and that’s the metric we all watch. It’s the automatic first question I get.
“How do I get my open rates to grow?”
But what if instead we started by asking, “How do I get my click-through rates to grow?”
Do you feel the shift in focus?
Suddenly you’re thinking about ratios, design, content, structure, alt text, backlinks.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO THINK ABOUT IN ORDER TO GET MORE PEOPLE BUYING BOOKS.
So in the above example, great, 380 people saw the email but only 20 did what you wanted them to do.
The metric you need to measure and strategize on is the click rate. (Not to mention the open rate metric is highly unreliable!)
I’m gonna say the same holds true for me in all ad spends.
I don’t care about cost per click. I care about conversions.
Are readers clicking and buying?
Because ultimately, your metrics need to tell the story of revenue, not who’s following you and doing nothing. Not who’s opening but not clicking.
But what marketing are you creating that is achieving the ultimate metric? A sale.
If you’re looking to up your click-through game with Mailerlite, Mailerlite For Authors is for you!
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