Not all email metrics are created equal. Some look impressive but tell you very little. Others are predictive, actionable, and essential to improving performance.

In 2025, with privacy changes impacting traditional tracking (like open rates), marketers need to shift focus toward engagement quality and revenue signals — not just surface-level stats.

‍

Rethink Open Rates

Thanks to Apple Mail Privacy Protection and similar tools, open rate accuracy has dropped significantly.

What to do:

• Treat open rate as a relative benchmark, not an absolute one
• Compare trends over time or between segments
• Use it directionally, not for critical decisions

Core Metrics That Still Matter

‍

1. Click-Through Rate (CTR)

Percentage of recipients who clicked any link
Useful for: measuring content engagement and CTA performance

‍

2. Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR)

Clicks ÷ Opens
This filters out deliverability bias and shows true email engagement

‍

3. Conversion Rate

Percentage of users who completed your goal (purchase, form submit, etc.)
The gold standard for email performance

‍

4. Revenue Per Email (RPE)

Total revenue divided by total sends
Use this to optimize campaigns based on actual ROI

‍

5. Bounce Rate

Helps monitor deliverability health. Watch especially for:

• High hard bounces (invalid addresses)
• Sudden soft bounce spikes (server issues)

‍

6. Unsubscribe & Complaint Rate

Spikes indicate poor audience-target fit or fatigue
Benchmarks:

• Unsubscribes < 0.5%
• Spam complaints < 0.1%

‍

Segment-Based Analysis

The best marketers now track performance by segment, not just overall. Examples:

• Welcome series vs. cart recovery
• Engaged vs. dormant list members
• Recent buyers vs. first-time visitors

‍

Actionable Use Cases

• Low CTOR? Test new email layouts and clearer CTAs
• High bounce rate? Clean your list and verify new subscribers
• Declining engagement? Trigger a reactivation campaign or refine segments
• Low RPE from a segment? Rethink offer timing or relevance

Explore next: How to Diagnose and Fix a Declining Open Rate