Email metrics are broken.
For years, marketers have fixated on open rates as the north star of email performance. It’s the metric that gets reported in board meetings, celebrated in Slack channels, and celebrated when it ticks up—even if the rest of the campaign is a black box. But here’s the hard truth: open rates are a vanity metric disguised as a leading indicator. They tell you something happened, but not what matters most—what your audience did after that click.
At MisarMail, we’ve spent years helping teams move beyond surface-level numbers to track what actually drives revenue, engagement, and long-term customer value. Open rates are just the beginning. What comes after—the clicks, the replies, the conversions, the revenue—is where the real story lives. And that’s where MisarMail’s analytics shine. Let’s dig into the metrics that actually move the needle, why they matter, and how to use them to build campaigns that perform.
Open rates are seductive because they’re simple to understand and easy to game. A high open rate feels like success, but it’s often just a reflection of:
The worst part? Open rates don’t tell you if the click was meaningful. Did the reader skim the email and close it? Did they tap the link by accident on their phone? Did they forward it to a colleague who then unsubscribed? You don’t know. And that’s the problem.
Open rates create a false sense of engagement. Here’s a real-world example from a MisarMail client in e-commerce:
Which campaign performed better? If you judged solely by open rate, Campaign A wins. But Campaign B generated 3x the revenue. The open rate lied because it didn’t account for what happened after the open.
Actionable takeaway: Stop optimizing for opens. Instead, focus on metrics that prove your email delivered value to the reader—and to your business.If open rates are the past, these metrics are the future. They tell you whether your emails are resonating with the right people and driving real action.
CTR measures the percentage of recipients who clicked at least one link in your email. Unlike open rates, CTR reflects intentional engagement. A high CTR means your content, offers, or calls-to-action (CTAs) struck a chord.
Why it matters:A SaaS company using MisarMail ran a campaign with two versions of their email:
The early CTA won because it aligned with how people read emails (scanning top-down). The team now A/B tests CTA placement in every campaign.
Practical tip: Segment your CTR by audience to spot trends. For example, you might find that enterprise customers click more on case studies, while SMBs prefer discount offers.CTOR is the ratio of unique clicks to unique opens. It answers the critical question: Once someone opened the email, did they care enough to engage?
How to calculate it:``
CTOR = (Unique Clicks / Unique Opens) × 100
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Why it matters:
- Filters out accidental opens (e.g., someone who opened but immediately closed the email).
- Reveals whether your email’s content delivers on the promise of the subject line.
- Identifies weak offers or poorly written copy that fail to convert curiosity into action.
Benchmark:
- Average CTOR across industries: 20-30%
- High-performing emails: 35%+
Example:
A MisarMail user in the travel industry sent a promotional email with a 22% open rate and 5% CTR. Their CTOR was 22.7%—right at the industry average. But when they revised the email to highlight a limited-time offer, their CTOR jumped to 38%, while the open rate stayed flat. The content, not the subject line, drove the improvement.
Actionable takeaway: If your CTOR is low (under 20%), your email’s value proposition isn’t clear. Test stronger CTAs, more scannable layouts, or personalized offers.
3. Conversion Rate: The Revenue Driver
Conversion rate is the percentage of recipients who completed a desired action (e.g., made a purchase, signed up for a demo, downloaded a resource). It’s the metric that directly ties email marketing to business outcomes.
Why it matters:
- Proves that your emails aren’t just being read—they’re doing something.
- Helps you calculate ROI by linking email performance to revenue.
- Identifies which segments or campaigns justify your spend.
Example:
An online retailer used MisarMail to track conversions from their welcome series. They found:
- Email 1 (Discount offer): 8% conversion rate
- Email 2 (Product recommendations): 12% conversion rate
- Email 3 (Upsell): 5% conversion rate
The team doubled down on product recommendations in their welcome flow, increasing overall revenue by 18% without changing their open rates.
Practical tip: Tie conversions to revenue by calculating revenue per email sent or revenue per subscriber. For example:
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Revenue per email = (Total revenue from campaign) / (Number of emails sent)
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This helps you prioritize campaigns that drive the most value, not just the most opens.
4. Reply Rate: The Overlooked Goldmine
Reply rate measures how many recipients directly responded to your email. It’s a signal of genuine engagement—someone took the time to type a response.
Why it matters:
- Indicates that your email sparked a conversation (critical for B2B, customer support, or high-touch sales).
- Helps identify advocates or detractors in your audience.
- Can reveal pain points or objections you can address in future campaigns.
Example:
A MisarMail customer in the fintech space noticed a 3% reply rate on their "We miss you" emails to churned users. Digging into the replies, they found common themes:
- "I didn’t understand the fees."
- "The onboarding was confusing."
The team created a new nurture series addressing these issues, reducing churn by 12%.
Actionable takeaway: Monitor reply rates by segment. High reply rates in your VIP list? Double down on personalized outreach. Low replies in your cold leads? Test more conversational CTAs (e.g., "What questions do you have about [product]?").
5. Unsubscribe Rate: The Canary in the Coal Mine
Unsubscribe rate is the percentage of recipients who opt out of your emails. While it’s often seen as a negative metric, it’s actually a valuable signal—if you know how to interpret it.
Why it matters:
- Reveals audience misalignment (e.g., sending to the wrong personas).
- Highlights poor content quality or over-messaging.
- Helps you refine segmentation and frequency.
Benchmark:
- Healthy unsubscribe rate: 0.1%–0.5% (varies by industry and list size).
- Warning sign: >1% consistently.
Example:
A MisarMail user noticed their unsubscribe rate spiked to 1.8% after sending a "big announcement" email. Upon investigation, they found:
- The email went to their entire list, including inactive subscribers.
- The subject line ("URGENT: Big News!") overpromised and underdelivered.
They segmented the list, tightened their messaging, and saw unsubscribe rates drop to 0.3%.
Practical tip: Track unsubscribe rates by segment. A high rate in your top customers? Investigate immediately. A high rate in your cold leads? It might just mean they were never a good fit.
Make sharing easy by including social sharing buttons and a clear CTA (e.g., "Know someone who’d love this? Share it!").
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RPE = (Total revenue from campaign) / (Number of emails sent)
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A MisarMail customer in retail ran a Black Friday campaign:
They used this data to justify increasing their email budget, knowing each dollar spent generated $2.50 in return.
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Bounce rate measures the percentage of emails that couldn’t be delivered (either hard bounces, like invalid addresses, or soft bounces, like full inboxes). While not directly tied to engagement, it’s critical for email health.
A MisarMail client migrated their email list from an old ESP to MisarMail. Their bounce rate dropped from 3.2% to 0.8% after cleaning the list with MisarMail’s email verification tool.
Forward/share rate tracks how often recipients share your email with others. It’s a proxy for viral potential—readers who found your content so valuable they wanted others to see it.
A MisarMail user in the education space sent a newsletter with a "Forward to a colleague" CTA. Their forward rate was 2.1%, and 18% of those forwarded emails resulted in new signups.
Revenue per email (RPE) calculates how much money each email generates. It’s the ultimate metric because it ties all the others to your bottom line.
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