Email Marketing
How to Measure Email Marketing ROI (The Metrics That Matter)
Email is famous for its ROI—around $36 for every $1 spent—but only if you measure the right things. Many businesses obsess over open rates, which became unreliable after privacy changes. Here are the metrics that actually tell you whether your program makes money.
Why open rate is no longer enough
Apple Mail Privacy Protection pre-loads tracking pixels, registering “opens” that never happened. Open rate is now a directional signal at best. Judge performance by what people do after opening—clicking and buying—not by an inflated open number.
The metrics that matter
- Click-through rate (CTR): clicks divided by delivered—measures whether content drives action.
- Conversion rate: how many recipients completed the goal (purchase, booking, signup).
- Revenue per email (or per recipient): total revenue attributed to a send divided by recipients.
- List growth rate: net new subscribers over time—an asset that compounds.
- Unsubscribe and complaint rates: early warnings of irrelevance or over-sending.
- Bounce rate: a proxy for list quality and deliverability health.
How to calculate email ROI
ROI = (revenue from email − cost of email) ÷ cost of email. Costs include your platform subscription and the time spent creating content. Attribute revenue using your platform’s tracking or UTM parameters into your analytics. Track it monthly so you can see trends, not just snapshots.
Attribute revenue correctly
Use UTM tags on every link and connect your email platform to your store or analytics so purchases tie back to the email that drove them. Decide on an attribution window (e.g., conversions within five days of a click) and apply it consistently so comparisons are fair.
Benchmark against yourself
Industry benchmarks are useful context, but your own trend line is the real scoreboard. Watch whether revenue per email, CTR, and list growth are improving over time, and run experiments to push them up. Steady month-over-month gains beat chasing someone else’s averages.
Key takeaways
- ✓Open rate is unreliable—focus on clicks, conversions, and revenue.
- ✓Track CTR, conversion rate, revenue per email, and list growth.
- ✓Watch unsubscribe, complaint, and bounce rates as warning signs.
- ✓Calculate ROI as (revenue − cost) ÷ cost, including your time.
- ✓Use UTMs and a consistent attribution window, and benchmark against your own trend.
Valter Brandt
Email & Lifecycle Marketing Lead
Valter Brandt leads email and lifecycle marketing at ThisCom, helping small and medium businesses build automated, high-deliverability email programs that drive revenue.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good email click-through rate?+
It varies by industry, but a CTR in the low single digits is typical, with strong campaigns higher. More important than the absolute number is whether your CTR is improving over time and how it converts to revenue.
Why shouldn’t I rely on open rates anymore?+
Apple Mail Privacy Protection pre-loads tracking pixels, inflating open counts with opens that did not happen. Use open rate only as a directional signal and judge performance by clicks, conversions, and revenue.
How do I calculate the ROI of email marketing?+
Divide your net profit from email (revenue attributed to email minus the cost of your platform and content time) by the cost. Use UTM tracking and your platform’s analytics to attribute revenue accurately.
What is revenue per email?+
It is the total revenue attributed to a send divided by the number of recipients (or delivered emails). It normalizes performance across sends of different sizes and is one of the clearest indicators of program health.
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