Got this question about open rates:
“Is an Open rate of 20-25% actually good? Is a Click rate of 5-10% amazing? Somehow, this seems paltry for a quality list, folks begging for more…”
The answer:
Yes, no, maybe.
(How’z that for a politician answer?)
You see, I couldn’t care less about open rates or click thru rates in most cases. Yes, there are times when the intel comes in handy. But what I mostly care about are sales.
How many sales did the email get?
Let’s put it this way:
If you did a split test and got a 50% open rate and 5 sales on test A, but a 45% open rate and 9 sales on test B, which email did better?
Which put more $$ in your hot pocket?
Which added more names to your buyer’s list?
(Where the real $$ is made.)
Clickthru rates are more useful.
But open rates?
Not so much.
Especially since, due to smart phones and a few other technical factors (a computer scientist friend has explained to me recently), your open rates are not accurate anyway.
More:
There’s a danger to tracking open rates, too.
Not a big danger.
(No need to get paranoid about it.)
But, in some cases, just tracking opens might get your email flagged as spam and wind up in the junk folder.
Again, tracking opens does have its uses.
But mostly I care only about sales.
After all…
Sales pay for your food, shelter and toys, not open rates.
Anyway, my too many cents.
To learn how to write emails that drag in lots and lots of sales, check out the “Email Players” newsletter.
The January issue mails next week.
The topic:
Making more sales by being entertaining.
Here’s where to go:
Ben Settle
