Email can be your most powerful marketing tool.
That’s because email has over 4 billion users plus some of the highest ROIs of any marketing channel. ✉️ 🔥
But unless you know what metrics to track, it’s impossible to achieve email success. 👀
EcoSend is here to lend a hand, as we share the 12 most important email metrics you should be monitoring in 2025.
Open Rate
Open rate is one of the most important email metrics. It measures the percentage of users who open the emails you send.
Lots of things can influence email open rates. If your email domain isn’t verified, or has been associated with spam, your emails may not make it into the inbox of your recipients. This will then impact the open rate of the campaign.
Poor subject lines or even sending too many emails can all reduce your email open rate.
Industry average open rate: 20%-25%
Good open rate: 25%+
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Click-through-rate measures the percentage of users who opened your email and also clicked a link within that email.
Naturally, you want to aim for the highest CTR possible since opening your emails online isn’t enough to equal a conversion. Instead, your email content should be compelling enough to encourage users to head to the next action.
Industry average click-through rate: 2%-4%
Good click-through rate: 4%-6%+
Click-To-Open Rate (CTOR)
Once users have opened your email, the click-to-open rate measures how well users go on to engage with the email content. Specifically, the number of users who click on a link in the campaign.
A high CTOR suggests your email has been well written and designed. Likewise, it has a strategic use of call-to-actions (CTAs).
However, a poor click-to-open rate may mean your email is being opened, but users aren’t interacting with the content. This will need addressing as it will reduce your email ROI.
Industry average click-to-open rate: 10%-15%
Good click-to-open rate: 15%-20%+
Link Clicks
Link clicks are the number of clicks generated by an email campaign. Unlike other email link metrics, link clicks are given as a number rather than as a percentage.
It is challenging to determine what makes a ‘good’ number of clicks from an email, since you may also include external links to other websites within your content. Plus, the number of links you include in a campaign can vary.
However, for important content (i.e. links where users can sign up or make a purchase), the higher the number of clicks the better!
Top Links
In EcoSend Insights, top links allows you to view all of the links that were clicked in an email including the number of clicks each link received.
It’s important to understand the origins of your web traffic, including users who were sent to your website by clicking on your email campaign.
However, top links can also be useful to understand the email anchor text which results in the most or least clicks.
Bounce Rate
An email bounce rate calculates the percentage of emails which were not able to be delivered to recipients’ inboxes.
Hard bounces are the result of permanent failures due to invalid email addresses or blocked sender domains.
Soft bounces are temporary failures which can happen if the recipient's inbox is full, the message is too large, the server is having technical issues or if your emails have been greylisted.
Industry average bounce rate: <1%
Good bounce rate: 0.2%-0.5% (as low as possible)
List Growth Rate
List growth rate tracks if your subscriber list is growing or shrinking. Ideally, your list will continue to grow over time.
However, if your list count has stalled, this could indicate your email subscriber form isn’t working. Or, you may have exceeded your limits on your email plan.
If your subscriber rate starts declining, you should also investigate. It could indicate the quality of your campaigns requires improvement.
💡Hint: Use EcoSend Forms to grow your email list and plant trees!
Industry average list growth rate: 1%-3% per month
Good list growth rate: As many new subscribers as possible, so long as they are genuine contacts and have consented to join your list.
Unsubscribe Rate
The percentage of users who have unsubscribed from your campaigns. All marketers will experience a drop in subscribers from time to time.
However, sharp rises in the number of users unsubscribing is a cause for concern. That’s because for users to unsubscribe from your list, there is a good chance they don’t find your emails useful, or you are sending too many emails.
Industry average unsubscribe rate: 0.2%
Good unsubscribe rate: As close to zero as possible.
Complaint Rate
If users mark your email as spam, this will contribute towards your complaint rate. The percentage is based on the number of users who marked your campaigns as spam in the last 30 days.
The email complaint rate is critical to keep an eye on as it can lead to your email domain being blacklisted by your email service provider. At EcoSend, expect all customers to maintain a complaint rate below 0.1%.
Industry average complaint rate: 0.1%
Good complaint rate: As close to zero as possible.
Email Recipient Location
In EcoSend Insights, you can see information about your list including the countries that users are based in.
As an email marketer, it’s really important to know if the location of your subscribers aligns with the demographics of your business. This is especially the case if your products or services are only available to those in a specific region.
For everyone else, knowing where your subscribers are based can be useful to tailor the content of your campaigns accordingly.
CO2 Reduced (EcoSend Insights Only)
As an EcoSend user, you’ll get access to even more metrics about your email campaigns than you’ll find elsewhere. That’s because we also track the environmental benefits of your emails that are sent via EcoSend, including the CO2 reductions.
If you do any environmental reporting on behalf of your business (i.e. ESG or CSRD), you might find your email CO2 reduction stats helpful to include. Or, you might just want to share your efforts with your customers.
Trees Planted (EcoSend Insights Only)
If you send emails via EcoSend, you’ll also get to see how many trees have been planted on your behalf.
Through our tree planting partners TreeApp and Tree-Nation, you can even see where your trees have been planted and the species!
Email Marketing Metrics FAQs
We’ve answered some common questions about email marketing metrics below so that you can continue your learning.
How To Improve Email Marketing Metrics
Simply put, you need to study the data in your email analytics platform very regularly. Similar to SEO, PPC or other forms of marketing, unless you keep an eye on your campaigns, it’s impossible to know what’s working and what’s not.
Crucially, you should be noting any actions which result in negative actions by users (i.e. low open rates, high subscribe rates or an increase in complaints).
What Are Important Email Marketing Metrics Benchmarks?
In terms of what is considered good (AKA above average), these are some email benchmarks to know as an email marketer: Open rate (20%-35%), click-through rate (4%-6%), bounce rate (0.2%-0.5% or less) and unsubscribe rate (below 0.1%).
What Is A Good Open Rate For Email?
Truthfully, email open rates are subjective. While industry experts suggest an open rate of between 20% and 35% is good, it can depend on a few factors. For instance, the number of subscribers you have, plus the overall quality of your list.
Naturally, you should always look to improve open rates with every campaign you send. Carefully studying your metrics can help you develop a success formula that’s unique to your business.
How To Improve Email Open Rate?
First, ensure everyone on your list has agreed to receive emails from you. A double opt-in is crucial here. As is sending relevant campaigns which match user expectations.
Around every 6 months or so, we also recommend cleaning your list by removing inactive contacts. This can not only work to improve your open rates, but also your email ROI.
What Is A Good Complaint Rate For Email?
It is widely considered that your email complaint rate should remain below 0.1%. Otherwise, your email service provider may cancel your plan and likewise email servers could also filter your campaigns as spam. Either of these scenarios will mean your emails don’t land in your subscribers’ inboxes and ultimately, your email ROI will be lower than it should be.
There are several things that can push up your email complaint rate. This includes sending emails without user consent, irrelevant content, misleading subject lines, a high send frequency and not including an option to unsubscribe within the email.
Do Emails Have A Carbon Footprint?
Yes. Like all our online activity, it takes energy to send, receive and store emails. That’s why all email marketers should be tracking their email carbon footprint as part of their email campaign metrics.
At EcoSend, our servers are powered by renewable energy sources to reduce the carbon footprint of your email campaigns. If you sign up for EcoSend, we’ll let you know how much CO2 has been reduced, plus the number of trees that have been planted on your behalf. You can view this information at any time on your user dashboard.
EcoSend - Join Our Email Marketing Platform With In-Built Analytics Tools
EcoSend is the world’s first sustainable email marketing platform. Sending your campaigns using EcoSend can lower the carbon footprint of your emails.
But that’s not all, as you’ll also get everything you need to win at email, including EcoSend Insights which will give you a full rundown of your email analytics and overall campaign performance.
Sign up for EcoSend today and we’ll give you a free 7 day trial on your plan!
Or, if you have any questions about using EcoSend for your email campaigns please get in touch.
