Email benchmarks reports compare popular email performance metrics over a large dataset of email sends – when one is released, I don’t hesitate one moment to take a peek.
Marketers are keen to get a reference point in order to monitor how their campaigns are performing against competitors in the same market.
The Campaign Monitor ‘Ultimate Email Marketing Benchmarks’ report is hot off the press, providing results from “millions” of datapoints – 30 billion emails sent across 4.2 million campaigns sent, to be exact.
I’ll reveal what the top 3 industries are for the two most popular email KPIs – open rate and click-through rate – then, I will show you how you can find email reporting in Pardot, to uncover how both Pardot list emails and Engagement Studio sends are performing for you. Plus, an extra goodie: I’ll dive into Engagement Metrics on Salesforce Connected Campaigns, that combine the performance of multiple campaigns for more efficient reporting.
The Big Reveal
Here is the table of email marketing metrics by industry to sink your teeth into:
Source: Ultimate Email Marketing Benchmarks for 2019: By Industry & Day
Open Rate – Winning Industries
- Nonprofit (20.39%)
- Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting (20.13%)
- Government (19.79%)
Open rate is the % of prospects that opened your email, out of the whole send list. A good open rate shows that the content of your emails are relevant and appealing, especially with the subject lines you choose. Industries sending essential, legislative information, for instance Government, can expect higher open rates.
Open rate can be misleading, and often derided as a ‘vanity metric’. Dig deeper into your open rate by taking a look into read rate too.
Click-through Rate – Winning Industries
- Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting (3.66%)
- Real Estate, Design & Construction Activities (3.06%)
- Government (3.04%)
Click-through rate is the % of prospects that clicked within your email, out of the whole send list. This is a popular metrics, because it proves that prospects are taking the account you intended, whether that be downloading a file, or visiting a landing page.
What is the secret of the Agriculture industry? We can only wonder…
How to find List Email Reporting
Now on to how you can find email reporting in Pardot, to uncover how email sends are performing for you.
List emails are the one-off email shots you send to a list of Prospects (clue is in the name!).
In Pardot Lightning, go to the Pardot Reports tab. Then select Emails → List Emails in the sidebar.
Use the filter icon to select which columns to display – there are many to choose from!
How to find Engagement Studio Email Reporting
The key email metrics can be viewed in the tooltips on the Engagement Studio steps itself. Ensure the canvas is in ‘Report’ mode, not ‘Build’ or ‘Test’.
Tip: use the date filters at the top right-hand corner of the Engagement Studio canvas to see how your email performance has changed over time.
Use Connected Campaigns
Thanks to Salesforce Connected Campaigns, you can see these metrics from within Salesforce – gathering metrics more efficiently, while also increasing visibility across the organisation.
By adding the Engagement Metrics component to your Salesforce Lightning Record Pages, you can get a snapshot of email performance, and even ‘roll-up’ multiple related campaigns (known as child campaigns) into one single view (highlighted in the image below):
Summary
No doubt you have been cross-checking your email campaigns against the industry benchmarks, or you are itching to log in!
It’s good to get a reference point in order to monitor how campaigns are performing against competitors in your respective market. The top industries may have surprised you, too – I am curious what you will find when you lift the lid on your Pardot list email and Engagement Studio reports!
Link to the Full Report – which covers trends for days of the week too: Ultimate Email Marketing Benchmarks for 2019: By Industry & Day