Email Automation Metrics: What to Measure and Why

Why Metrics Matter

Email automation without measurement is flying blind. Metrics tell you what's working, what's failing, and where to focus optimization efforts. The challenge isn't collecting data - modern platforms track everything - it's knowing which metrics actually matter for your goals.

Different metrics matter at different stages: delivery metrics ensure emails reach inboxes, engagement metrics show if content resonates, and conversion metrics reveal business impact. Understanding this hierarchy helps you diagnose problems systematically.

Delivery Metrics

Delivery Rate

What it is: Percentage of emails that reach the recipient's mail server (not necessarily inbox)

Why it matters: If emails aren't delivered, nothing else matters. Low delivery rates indicate sender reputation problems, list quality issues, or technical configuration problems.

Benchmark: Should be 95%+ for healthy lists

How to improve: Authenticate your domain (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), maintain list hygiene, remove bounces promptly

Bounce Rate

What it is: Percentage of emails that couldn't be delivered

Types:

• Hard bounces: Permanent delivery failures (invalid address, domain doesn't exist)
• Soft bounces: Temporary failures (mailbox full, server down)

Benchmark: Hard bounces should be under 2%; soft bounces under 5%

How to improve: Use double opt-in, clean your list regularly, remove hard bounces immediately

Spam Complaint Rate

What it is: Percentage of recipients who mark your email as spam

Why it matters: Spam complaints directly impact sender reputation. High rates lead to inbox placement problems across your entire list.

Benchmark: Should be under 0.1% (1 per 1,000)

How to improve: Only email people who opted in, make unsubscribe easy, send relevant content, respect frequency expectations

Engagement Metrics

Open Rate

What it is: Percentage of delivered emails that are opened

Caveats: Apple's Mail Privacy Protection inflates open rates by pre-loading tracking pixels. Open rates are becoming less reliable as a metric.

Benchmark: 20-25% for marketing emails; 40-50%+ for transactional and triggered

What affects it: Subject line, sender name, send time, relationship with subscriber

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

What it is: Percentage of delivered emails where a link is clicked

Why it matters: Clicks indicate active engagement - someone took action. This is often more reliable than opens.

Benchmark: 2-3% for marketing emails; 5-10%+ for triggered

What affects it: Email content, CTA clarity, value proposition, link placement

Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR)

What it is: Clicks divided by opens - measures how compelling your email content is to those who opened

Why it matters: Separates subject line performance from content performance. Low CTOR with good open rate = content problem.

Benchmark: 10-15% is typical; 20%+ is strong

Unsubscribe Rate

What it is: Percentage who unsubscribe from a given email

Why it matters: Unsubscribes indicate content/frequency misalignment with subscriber expectations

Benchmark: Under 0.5% per email; under 2% for re-engagement campaigns

Conversion Metrics

Conversion Rate

What it is: Percentage who complete your desired action (purchase, signup, download, etc.)

Why it matters: This is the metric that ties email to business outcomes. Everything else leads here.

Benchmark: Varies wildly by goal - e-commerce might be 1-2%, free resource download might be 20%+

Revenue Per Email (RPE)

What it is: Total revenue attributed to an email divided by emails sent

Why it matters: Normalizes revenue comparison across campaigns of different sizes

How to use: Compare RPE across campaigns to identify what drives the most value

Revenue Attribution

What it is: Revenue credited to email within an attribution window (typically 24-72 hours)

Why it matters: Shows the true business impact of email automation

Considerations: Attribution models vary - understand how your platform counts revenue

Automation-Specific Metrics

Automation Enrollment

What it is: Number of contacts entering each automation

Why it matters: Validates triggers are firing and qualifying contacts correctly

Completion Rate

What it is: Percentage who complete an entire sequence versus exiting early

Why it matters: Shows where people drop off - useful for identifying weak points

Goal Achievement Rate

What it is: Percentage who achieve the automation's goal (purchase, activation, etc.)

Why it matters: The ultimate measure of automation success

Time to Goal

What it is: Average time from automation entry to goal completion

Why it matters: Shorter time to goal often indicates better automation design

List Health Metrics

List Growth Rate

What it is: Net change in list size (new subscribers minus unsubscribes and cleans)

Why it matters: Indicates whether your list is growing or shrinking over time

Engagement Over Time

What it is: Track of engagement metrics trending up or down

Why it matters: Declining engagement indicates list fatigue or content problems

Active Subscriber Percentage

What it is: Percentage of list that engaged in last 30/60/90 days

Why it matters: Shows true engaged audience size versus vanity list size

Building a Metrics Dashboard

Create a dashboard that answers key questions at a glance:

Daily/Weekly View

• Emails sent and delivered
• Open and click rates by campaign/automation
• Revenue attributed to email
• Unsubscribes and complaints

Monthly View

• List growth and health trends
• Automation performance summary
• Total email revenue and attribution
• Engagement trends over time

Automation-Specific

• Enrollment numbers
• Conversion rates by step
• Goal achievement rates
• Revenue per automation

Acting on Metrics

Metrics are only valuable if they drive action:

• Low open rates: Test subject lines, sender names, send times
• Low click rates: Improve content, CTAs, email design
• High unsubscribes: Review frequency, relevance, expectations
• Low conversions: Optimize landing pages, offers, targeting
• Dropping engagement: Re-engagement campaign, list cleaning

Platforms like Sequenzy provide built-in analytics with MRR tracking and revenue attribution specifically designed for SaaS businesses, making it easier to connect email automation to business outcomes.