Total opens, unique opens, and open rate. Click-through rate (CTR) and click-to-open rate (CTOR). Read rate, false clicks, and audience identity data.
Pharma email marketing is swimming in metrics.
Most of us are familiar with the basic concepts, but we may not always be sure how to interpret their subtle differences. And interpreting them correctly is essential to email marketing success.
Email Delivers High Marketing ROI
Recent research from Smart Insights and GetResponse indicates marketers still consider email marketing the most effective digital channel. In 2018, it far outperforms direct mail and display advertising, and even beats social media marketing and SEO.
Source: SmartInsights
Still, to get the most from pharma email campaigns, it’s important to develop a nuanced understanding of key metrics. Let’s take a closer look at two of the more complex examples.
Ratio of Clicks to Opens
Every email marketer strives for high open and click rates, and the ratio of clicks to opens says a lot about the effectiveness of an email message.
We generally expect a 10:1 ratio of opens to clicks, or a 1 percent click-through rate. When that ratio skews in favor of the click (e.g., 2:1), it indicates a problem with generating opens. This is usually due to a poor subject line or pre-header.
We generally expect a 10:1 ratio of opens to clicks
On the other hand, a ratio that skews in favor of opens (for example, 20:1), indicates the email caught the attention of healthcare professionals. The subject line and preheader were strong, but there was a problem with the call to action, placement of the links, or technical rendering of the links.
Read Rate
Read rate is the percent of email recipients who spent eight seconds or more looking at an email.
When interpreted correctly, it provides an accurate measure of your audience’s interest in your content. Though a read rate over 25 percent indicates significant interest in your product, we encourage our clients to strive for content that drives a 50 percent read rate.
Read rate also can be used to isolate what’s wrong with an email. For example, suppose 90 percent of healthcare professionals (HCPs) who opened your email spent only two seconds viewing it. This would suggest your value proposition was not clear. In this case, it would be wise to refine your creative and CTA before your next deployment.
Making Email Even More Effective
Because email strategy varies as you move throughout the brand lifecycle, the metrics you choose to prioritize may change from one stage to the next. The most successful email campaigns recognize this relationship and focus on analyzing the right metrics for specific brand goals.
