The Missed Opportunity Marketers Shouldn’t Ignore

Meet Sarah—an experienced email marketer who felt like she hit the jackpot with a 25% open rate on her latest campaign. It exceeded benchmarks, looked impressive on reports, and she moved on with confidence.

But here’s the twist: a week later, sales didn’t budge.

Curious and concerned, she dug into the data only to find that while people were opening her emails, very few were clicking. Even fewer converted. The impressive open rate? It turned out to be a vanity metric that masked what was really going on.

If you’ve ever celebrated open rates without digging deeper, you’re not alone. But if you want your emails to actually work—to sell, convert, and build loyalty—you’ve got to track the metrics that tell the real story.

Let’s unpack the key email metrics that reveal true performance and how to act on them. 

1. Conversion Rate: Where Real Success Begins

What it tells you: The percentage of email recipients who complete your desired action—whether it’s buying a product, booking a demo, or signing up.

Industry Avg: 3.42% (Campaign Monitor, 2023)

How to improve it:

• Stick to one clear call-to-action per email. Too many options lead to decision fatigue.

• Ensure your email’s message aligns with the landing page. Don’t bait-and-switch.

Pro Insight: If you’re getting opens but no conversions, your message might be out of sync with the user’s expectations post-click.

2. Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR): The Engagement Snapshot

What it tells you: Of those who opened your email, how many actually clicked? CTOR is a better quality indicator than click rate alone.

Healthy Range: 20–30% (Mailchimp, 2023)

How to improve it:

• Use segmentation to make content hyper-relevant.

• Replace text-heavy designs with buttons, visuals, or even polls.

Real-World Fix: One SaaS brand boosted CTOR from 15% to 28% just by switching to scannable bullet points and a prominent CTA.

Tracking your Activation Rate is one thing; systematically improving it is another. This is where a dedicated SaaS strategy comes in. ‘The SaaS Email Marketing Playbook’ provides the exact email sequences, templates, and plays designed to convert trial users into activated, paying customers. Get the plays that move your key metrics.

3. Revenue Per Email (RPE): Your True Profit Pulse

Formula: Total revenue ÷ Total emails sent

How to improve it:

• Trigger abandoned cart emails—they convert 3x better than regular promotions.

• Use dynamic content based on user behavior or purchase history.

Research Says: Segmented campaigns can generate 760% more revenue than one-size-fits-all emails (Campaign Monitor).

4. List Growth vs. Churn: Are You Growing or Draining Your Audience?

What it tells you: Your list isn’t just numbers—it’s your community. Are more people joining or leaving?

Healthy Growth: 2–5% per month (HubSpot, 2023)

How to improve it:

• Offer lead magnets like cheat sheets, discount codes, or webinars.

• Let subscribers set preferences—send frequency, topics, etc.

Red Flag: Unsubscribe rate over 0.5%? It’s time to rethink your email frequency or value proposition.

5. Share/Forward Rate: The Viral Factor

What it tells you: People love your content so much, they want others to see it too.

Reality Check: Only 0.02% of marketing emails get shared (Litmus, 2023)

How to improve it:

• Add a “Forward to a Friend” or “Share This” button.

• Include referral perks like “Get 15% off for every friend you refer.”

Smart Move: A travel brand used a CTA like “Send to Your Travel Buddy,” and their shares went up by 42% in 90 days.

6. Time-of-Day Engagement: Timing Is Personal

What it tells you: There’s no universal “best time” to send. Your list’s habits matter more than general advice.

Key Stat: 23% of emails are opened within the first hour of delivery (GetResponse, 2023)

How to improve it:

• Use engagement heatmaps to track activity over time.

• Test sending during different hours or days based on past behavior.

Example: If most of your clicks come post-6 PM, try scheduling emails later in the day.

7. Device & Client Breakdown: Mobile Matters

What it tells you: If your email design isn’t mobile-first, you’re missing out—big time.

Stat: 60%+ of emails are opened on mobile (Litmus, 2023)

How to improve it:

• Use responsive, single-column layouts.

• Check rendering on Gmail, Apple Mail, and Outlook—don’t assume it looks right everywhere.

Common Mistake: One brand lost 40% of mobile conversions due to a tiny CTA button. They fixed it and saw a 22% bump.

8. Spam Complaint Rate: Silent But Deadly

What it tells you: If recipients mark you as spam, it signals poor trust—and it kills deliverability.

Threshold: Stay under 0.1% (Mailchimp)

How to improve it:

• Avoid clickbait subject lines—people hate feeling misled.

• Regularly remove unengaged or dormant users from your list.

Quick Tip: Ask users during sign-up what content they want. Permission-based preferences reduce complaints dramatically.

9. Overall ROI: The Bottom-Line Metric

What it tells you: The clearest signal of success—how much money you’re making compared to what you spend.

Formula: (Total Revenue – Campaign Costs) ÷ Campaign Costs × 100

Data Point: Email marketing delivers an average return of $42 for every $1 spent (DMA, 2023)

How to improve it:

• Invest in lifecycle campaigns like welcome series, upsells, and re-engagement.

• Retarget users who clicked but didn’t convert—email + social works well here.

From Opens to Outcomes: Final Thoughts

If your dashboard still celebrates high open rates, it’s time to recalibrate. The real winners in email marketing track metrics that map directly to revenue, relevance, and retention.

By focusing on conversions, revenue per email, and list engagement—not just opens—you’ll turn your inbox into a serious sales engine.

So, What Will You Track Next?

Is it time to ditch vanity metrics? Which of these underrated metrics will you focus on for your next campaign?

You now know which metrics drive SaaS ROI. The next step is implementing the proven system that optimizes them. This isn’t about generic email tips; it’s about a specialized playbook for converting leads, preventing churn, and closing more recurring revenue. Stop measuring and start performing. Implement the complete system with ‘The SaaS Email Marketing Playbook.