You send an email to a subscriber, and then…nothing. No response. No confirmation that the email was even opened or read.
Not only is this frustrating, but you can’t tell how effective your email campaign is without knowing the stats. Luckily, the AWeber interface provides you with all the information you need to track email performance. In this blog post, we will show you how to find out when an AWeber email was last opened, so you can determine if the email campaign you crafted is working or not.
The Definitive Guide to Tracking Email Opens and Clicks
Every marketer and brand manager swears by the power of analytics, and with good reason. Without it, you simply can’t tell what’s working and what’s not. Think about it: you interact with consumers via email all the time, whether you’re promoting a product or service, trying to convince them to buy your latest album, or sharing an exciting news article about your company. So why not take advantage of this channel and begin tracking email opens and clicks within the AWeber dashboard?
Let’s explore the steps to get started.
Step one: Set up a direct marketing email account
Did you know that every company and brand has a direct marketing email address? This is the email address that you send campaign-specific emails to, such as a welcome email or a follow-up to a potential customer. Having a direct marketing email allows you to send your emails to individual recipients, which is more effective than sending to a group of people (such as “all subscribers”).
If you already have an AWeber account, click the Gear icon in the upper-right corner of the dashboard. Then click Settings at the top of the page. You will see a field where you can enter your email address. Click the Save Changes button to continue.
Step two: Launch your email campaign, and begin collecting opens and clicks
Now that you have a direct marketing email address, you can send out your first email pitch. Keep in mind that although you’re using a tool to send and track your emails, you still need to monitor their performance. To do this, you need to set up a special tracking link or code in each email you send out. When a recipient clicks this link or code, they’re taken to a page that shows you which parts of the email they opened and which parts they ignored. This feature is called the “Open & Clicks Tracker.”
When you first set this up, you’ll be asked to provide a unique link or code for your email. Enter this into the field, and then save the email.
You can use the special link or code in each subsequent email you send out to track the performance of your campaign. When a recipient clicks that link or code, they’re taken to a page that shows you which parts of the email they opened and which they ignored. This feature is called the “Open & Clicks Tracker.”
Step three: Use the ‘open’ and ‘clicks’ pages to analyze campaign performance
When you’ve received enough data from your email opens and clicks, you can start to analyze it. The “open” page shows you the percentage of people who opened each email in your campaign. The “clicks” page shows you the percentage of people who clicked on each link or code in your email.
These pages give you a general idea of how effective your email campaign is. However, there are several reasons why this info isn’t enough. First, this is all the info you have about the individual recipient; you don’t know anything about the person on the other end of the email. To get more info about the effectiveness of your campaign, you need to look at the demographics and psychographics of your target audience. How do they find your site? What do they like about your blog posts? What are their interests? By answering these questions, you will be able to craft more targeted emails that will have a greater effect on your bottom line.
In addition, although you can’t monitor the effects of your email campaign on a individual basis, you can monitor the effect of your campaign as a whole. To do this, visit the ‘open’ and ‘clicks’ pages, and take note of the overall performance of your campaign. Are people opening your emails more than they are signing up for spam? Are they more or less likely to open emails from you versus other companies? What are their general habits and online behaviors?
You can use the answers to these questions to craft a much more effective email marketing strategy, which will result in more opens and clicks, and therefore, greater ROI.
Finding Out When an Email Was Last Opened
Did you know that you can find out when an email was last opened within the Dashboard? The “Sent Mailbox” displays all the emails you’ve sent to the same recipient. Did you forget to follow up on a previous pitch, or did the email get lost in their inbox? All you need to do is hover over the email in the Sent Mailbox, and you will see a small calendar pop up next to the email. If you don’t see a calendar next to the email, click the gear icon in the upper-right corner of the dashboard, and select Settings.
From here, you can select the “Show Calendar” option, and the calendar will display all the dates when you’ve sent emails to that particular recipient. You can click on any date to see the exact time the email was opened.
Why Should You Send Multiple Email Campaigns?
Sending out multiple email campaigns is important for many reasons. First, you can segment your audience. Just because an individual opened your email, it doesn’t mean that they’ll necessarily be interested in your next email. By sending out multiple campaigns, you give the individual the chance to open your emails, and therefore become exposed to your other content.
If you’ve ever tried to sell something to a company that already owns a product that you think will be beneficial to their business, you know how challenging it can be to get that individual’s attention. If you’ve ever tried to get a specific individual to attend a conference or webinar, you know how challenging it can be to achieve that result based on an email campaign.
However, segmenting your audience can be challenging, especially when you’re starting out. When you segment your audience, you have to consider the size of your list. If you have 500,000 subscribers, you can’t just send out a tweet with your email address in it, you need to have a whole strategy.
Segmentation Issues
If you’re sending out a general email about a product or service, you don’t need to worry about breaking down your audience into specific segments. However, as we mentioned above, if you are sending out multiple campaigns, you need to be careful about segmenting your audience. Although your first email might not seem like it, the recipient will see it as part of a larger series, and they might get confused.
For example, you are emailing about a product that will make their lives easier, and you include a pitch for the product in the email. However, in your next email, you are comparing that product to something else, and you include a pitch for the other thing in the email.
If you don’t have the attention of your audience, no matter how important you think your message is, you will never get the chance to share it. As a brand manager, it’s your job to ensure that your audience knows you and your company, and that you’re the best option for the job. When you begin your email campaign, it’s most important to follow the science of getting readers to open your emails. After you’ve done that, you can begin to add personal touches that will make your emails more memorable and hopefully result in greater engagement. To start, make sure that your email is addressed to the individual, and that it’s a nice, simple email.