Email campaign tracking
Open rate, click rate, bounce, unsubscribe, optimization
Email campaign tracking
Email marketing's strength is detailed measurability. Open rate, click rate, bounce, unsubscribe, all tracked back.
Where to find it
Marketing → Campaigns → campaign row → Stats tab.
The 5 main metrics
1. Delivery rate
Delivered / Sent × 100 – how much arrived (95%+ good)
2. Open rate
Opened / Delivered × 100 – how many opened
- 15-25% normal (industry avg)
- 30%+ excellent
3. Click rate
Clicked / Delivered × 100 – click ratio
- 2-5% normal
- 8%+ excellent
4. Bounce rate
Bounced / Sent × 100 – returned
- 2-5% normal
- 10%+ issue (list cleanup needed)
5. Unsubscribe rate
Unsubscribed / Delivered × 100
- 0-1% good
- 3%+ content or frequency problematic
Per-recipient tracking
For each customer:
- Sent
- Delivered
- Opened (via image-tracking pixel)
- Clicked (link clicked)
- Bounced (hard / soft bounce)
- Unsubscribed
- Marked as spam
How tracking works
Open tracking (1×1 pixel)
Email HTML has invisible 1×1 image. If customer opens and loads images, request shows: opened.
Limitation: customer with image-blocker (e.g., Gmail proxy) isn't measured. Real open rate is higher than displayed.
Click tracking
Every link auto-rewritten with tracking redirect:
- Original:
https://salon.com/book - Tracked:
https://bookinda.hu/r/abc123→ redirect → original
Redirect logs the click.
Bounce detection
Feedback from SMTP server:
- Hard bounce: permanent (address doesn't exist). Auto-unsubscribe.
- Soft bounce: temporary (mailbox full). Retry.
Unsubscribe handling
- Mandatory link in footer
- One click → unsubscribe
- Opt-out stored, future campaigns skip
Error handling
High bounce rate
- Email list outdated
- Fix: manually deactivate hard bounces on customer list
High unsubscribe rate
- Content not relevant
- Frequency too high (weekly vs monthly)
- Fix: better segmentation, less mass-mail
Low open rate
- Subject line weak
- Sender name unknown
- Inbox loss (spam)
- Fix: A/B test subject, verify sender name
Low click rate
- Content didn't convince
- CTA button not prominent
- Fix: stronger deal block, better design
A/B test on email
Two versions:
- A: subject "Black Friday promo"
- B: subject "30% off, today only!"
Split 50/50. After 24h compare:
- Open rate A vs B
- Click rate A vs B
- Winner for next campaign
A/B in builder too (button color, deal block variant).
Compliance
GDPR
- Marketing email only to opt-in customers
- Unsubscribe link mandatory
- Unsubscribed list protected
CAN-SPAM (US)
- Postal address in footer
- Sender name matches salon
- Subject not misleading
When to use it
Scenario 1, post-campaign analysis 3 days later, campaign stats. 95% delivery, 22% open, 4% click. Not bad, A/B can improve.
Scenario 2, high bounce Black Friday campaign: 1000 sent, 80 bounce. List cleanup needed.
Scenario 3, high unsubscribe Weekly newsletter, 5% unsubscribe. Too frequent. Switch to monthly or more segmented.
Scenario 4, A/B test A subject "Promo" → 18% open. B subject "24 hours only: 30% off" → 28% open. → B wins.
Scenario 5, dispute over email reach "I didn't get the email." Stat → search customer → Sent + Delivered? If yes, check spam.
Tips
- Delivery + open + click priority order: delivery is base, open is interest, click is action.
- 24-hour view is good: most opens + clicks happen day 1.
- NEVER send marketing email to unsubscribed customer, GDPR.
- Spam markings are serious: above 0.1% your Gmail / Outlook deliverability drops.
- A/B test makes sense from 100-200 person target, smaller sample isn't significant.
- Subject-line iteration is the most effective open-rate boost.