What are the best alternative metrics to email open rates for measuring engagement?

Key findings

• Click rate is paramount: Clicks within an email are now considered the most direct and reliable indicator of engagement, as they demonstrate an active interest in the content beyond just opening the message. This metric reveals whether your calls to action resonate with your audience.
• Time spent with email: Metrics like 'read' and 'skimmed' rates, which track how long a user engages with an email, offer deeper insights into content consumption. Some platforms categorize these into time buckets, such as less than 2 seconds, 2-8 seconds, or more than 8 seconds.
• Web and social media engagement: Connecting email campaigns to website visits, conversions, and social media interactions provides a holistic view of how email influences broader marketing goals. This goes beyond the email client to measure true impact.
• Open rates still provide context: While no longer a definitive standalone metric, open rates can still offer 'color to the picture' when combined with other data points. They may indicate subject line effectiveness or initial interest, but their accuracy is limited.
• Premium tracking services: Some ESPs and third-party tools offer advanced tracking capabilities, including read and skim rates, often as part of higher-tier services. These tools typically embed tracking links or pixels to capture engagement time without requiring a click.

Key considerations

• Focus on actionable metrics: Prioritize metrics that directly reflect subscriber intent and interaction, such as click-through rates and conversion rates, over those easily inflated by privacy features.
• Understand tracking limitations: Be aware that even advanced engagement metrics might have limitations. For example, some 'read' rates might still be influenced by pre-fetching. Our guide on accurately measuring open rates offers more insight.
• Integrate data sources: Combine email platform data with analytics from your website, CRM, and other marketing channels to form a comprehensive view of customer journeys and engagement.
• Consider your audience and goals: The 'best' metrics depend on your specific campaign objectives. For example, a newsletter might prioritize 'read' time, while a sales email focuses on conversions. For more on what constitutes good email engagement thresholds, see our detailed article.
• Monitor deliverability impact: Even with alternative metrics, continuous monitoring of deliverability is crucial. Factors like spam complaints and bounce rates are direct signals of poor engagement or list hygiene. Microsoft's blog discusses rethinking email marketing metrics in detail.

Key opinions

• Clicks are the primary alternative: Many marketers now consider the click-through rate (CTR) the most important engagement metric. It indicates direct interest in the content and a willingness to engage further with the brand.
• Read and skim rates provide depth: Some marketers are exploring or already using metrics that measure the duration of engagement, differentiating between 'read' (longer engagement) and 'skimmed' (shorter engagement). This offers a nuanced view of how content is consumed.
• Opens as secondary data: While still tracked, open rates are now seen as supplementary data, providing context rather than being the sole measure of success. They can help inform subject line optimization but are not indicative of full engagement.
• Holistic engagement approach: Forward-thinking marketers integrate email metrics with web analytics and social media engagement to create a comprehensive understanding of subscriber behavior across different channels.

Key considerations

• ESP capabilities: Not all ESPs offer advanced metrics like read/skim rates, and these may be premium features. Marketers should evaluate their platform's capabilities and consider third-party tools if needed. Our guide on paying for email engagement metrics might offer further insights.
• Accessibility for small businesses: The cost and complexity of implementing advanced tracking can be a barrier for small businesses. Simpler, yet effective, strategies focusing on core clicks and conversions are often more practical.
• Defining true engagement: Marketers must internally define what constitutes meaningful engagement for their specific goals, moving beyond vanity metrics to those that drive business outcomes. Consider how Gmail tracks email engagement.
• Adapting to privacy changes: Ongoing privacy developments like MPP will continue to shape email tracking. Marketers need to stay informed and adapt their measurement strategies accordingly. AgencyAnalytics provides a list of vital email engagement metrics to track.

Key opinions

• Engagement defines deliverability: Experts consistently emphasize that positive engagement signals, particularly clicks and conversions, are crucial for maintaining good sender reputation and ensuring emails reach the inbox rather than the spam folder.
• Focus on recipient actions: Beyond traditional metrics, experts look at implicit signals like replies, forwards, adding to address book, and moving emails to primary inbox as strong indicators of engagement and user satisfaction.
• Segmenting by engagement: Identifying and segmenting engaged versus unengaged subscribers based on actions (not just opens) is critical for list hygiene and optimizing sending practices. This prevents sending to unresponsive users that could negatively impact reputation.
• Advanced analytics are key: Leveraging analytics beyond what basic ESP dashboards provide, including data from web analytics and CRM systems, offers a more complete view of the customer journey and email's role within it.

Key considerations

• ISP-specific tracking: ISPs (Internet Service Providers) like Gmail and Outlook use their own proprietary algorithms to assess engagement, often beyond what marketers can directly track. This emphasizes the need for consistent positive user interaction. Our article on Google Postmaster Tools domain reputation provides more detail.
• Beyond campaign metrics: Deliverability experts recommend utilizing tools that specifically measure inbox placement and overall deliverability rates, as these provide an independent assessment of how well emails are reaching their intended destination, regardless of specific campaign engagement metrics.
• Reputation is built on consistent engagement: A good sender reputation is not achieved overnight but through consistent delivery of relevant content that garners positive user responses over time. This involves monitoring email engagement metrics that affect reputation.
• Spam complaints and unsubscribes: These negative signals are direct indicators of disengagement and can severely impact sender reputation and deliverability. Experts advise close monitoring and rapid response to mitigate their effects. Mailchimp's resources on email marketing benchmarks provide useful context.

Key findings

• Privacy impacts open rates: Official documentation frequently acknowledges that privacy features, particularly Apple's Mail Privacy Protection, have skewed open rate data, making it an unreliable metric for engagement.
• Click-through rate is a strong indicator: Documentation consistently points to click-through rate (CTR) as a robust metric because it requires a deliberate action from the recipient, indicating genuine interest and engagement with the email's content or call to action.
• Conversion metrics are ultimate: Beyond email metrics, documentation often emphasizes that conversion rates (e.g., purchases, sign-ups, downloads) are the ultimate measure of email marketing success, linking email efforts directly to business outcomes.
• Beyond the email client: Official sources suggest integrating email performance data with website analytics to track the full user journey and attribute engagement that extends beyond the email itself.
• Unsubscribes and spam complaints: These negative engagement metrics are highlighted as critical indicators of list health and content relevance, directly impacting sender reputation and future deliverability.

Key considerations

• Adapt reporting: Documentation advises marketing teams to adjust their reporting and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to prioritize active engagement metrics over potentially inflated open rates. Our guide on how MPP impacts open rates gives more context.
• Content relevance: Ensuring email content is highly relevant and valuable to segmented audiences is critical for driving authentic engagement beyond just clicks, leading to conversions and positive long-term relationships. See iContact's key email marketing metrics.
• Utilize feedback loops: Leveraging ISP feedback loops for spam complaints provides direct insight into negative user sentiment, which is vital for maintaining a healthy sender reputation. You can read more about why emails fail.
• Long-term trends vs. single campaigns: Documentation often stresses the importance of monitoring engagement metrics over time to identify trends and inform strategic adjustments, rather than reacting to single campaign performance fluctuations. Salesforce provides email marketing benchmarks.