Creating long-lasting and positive customer experiences requires more than just gut feelings and hunches. For optimal marketing results, you need data-driven customer engagement analytics to gauge your customers’ interest in your brand.
These metrics unlock a treasure trove of insights, revealing patterns, preferences, and pain points in the customer journey. This provides a clear sense of whether your campaigns are effective.
Armed with these insights, you can make data-backed decisions, fine-tune your campaigns, and craft personalized experiences that truly resonate with customers. The outcome? Higher conversions, better retention, and significant business growth.
In this blog, we’ve identified the key metrics essential for executing strategies across various channels. These metrics will deepen your understanding of customers and highlight which channels work best for your campaigns.
Let’s dive in.
Customer Engagement Analytics: Top Metrics You Should Track
Tracking the right customer engagement metrics is crucial for understanding the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. They provide valuable insights into customer behavior, helping you refine strategies and drive better results. We’ve listed down the top metrics you should keep an eye on to ensure your campaigns are on track.
Push Notifications
Push notifications have carved a niche for themselves solidifying their standing across mobile and web. They are a powerful marketing channel that deliver real-time updates directly to users’ devices, driving engagement and prompt responses. They are highly effective for timely promotions, personalized messages, and re-engagement strategies, ensuring your brand stays top-of-mind.
1. Number of Notifications Published to a Customer
This is how many notifications you’ve sent to each user. Also commonly referred to as delivery rate.
It helps you keep track of your communication volume. If you notice many users unsubscribing or not clicking, it might be because they get too many notifications. Finding that sweet spot is key.
2. Opt-in Rate
This metric shows the percentage of visitors who opt-in to receive your notifications.
A high acceptance rate means your opt-in prompts are compelling. If it’s low, you should rethink your approach or messaging to entice more users to opt in.
The industry range varies from 0.5% to 15%. Notably, mobile devices account for 60% of subscribed users.
3. Click-Through Rate (CTR)
This is the percentage of delivered notifications that users clicked on.
A high CTR means your messages are hitting the mark and luring users to take action. If it’s low, you might need to work on your headlines and call-to-action messages.
If your click-through rate hovers around 12%, you’re performing excellently. This rate might be even higher if you’re utilizing rich push notifications.
4. Conversion Rate
The percentage of notifications that lead users to take the desired action is crucial. It’s great to know that users clicked on your push notification and are engaged, but the ultimate goal is for them to complete the desired action.
Your conversion rate will tell you how successfully your push notifications are helping you meet your campaigns’ central goals. Ensure your central goals are clear and how push notifications can help you achieve them.
5. Push Notification Revenue
Similar to the conversion rate, this metric tracks the number of users who complete a desired action, like making a purchase, after clicking your notification. Having clear goals and objectives that tie to your business goals is crucial here.
High conversion rates indicate that your notifications effectively drive users to take the desired actions, directly impacting your ROI.
SMS
SMS marketing is a really popular channel marketers leverage. 52% of marketers like it because it allows them to reach a large mobile audience. It also drives customer engagement, boosting communication and information exchange. Here are some key customer engagement analytics to track.
1. Delivery Rate
This metric shows how many of your messages actually made it to your subscribers’ phones.
High delivery rates mean your contact list is up-to-date and your SMS provider is solid. If they’re low, there might be issues with the phone numbers or network problems, or the receiver may have subscribed to a DND service.
2. Click-Through Rate (CTR)
The percentage of people who clicked on a link in your SMS.
A high CTR indicates that your message and call-to-action are compelling and effective in capturing your audience’s attention. This metric is a more accurate measure of your SMS marketing success than open rates. Monitoring CTR closely will provide better insights into the effectiveness of your campaigns.
Industry-wise, ecommerce businesses see the highest CTR at 36%. This is because they enjoy reading when good deals come to them directly through a message rather than sifting through websites, apps, or social media for the best deals.
3. Open Rate
As the name suggests, open rates tell us the number of people who opened an SMS. To get the open rate, divide the total number of opens by the total number of SMS sent.
A good open rate shows how effective your messaging and call-to-actions are and gives you a sense of your audience’s interest and engagement. The average open rate is an astounding 98%, with 90% of messages read within just 3 minutes.
4. Conversion Rate
The conversion rate shows how many people took the desired action, like purchasing or filling out a form, after receiving your SMS campaign.
Monitoring this rate lets you gauge how compelling and effective your SMS content is in driving action. It’s essential for understanding what resonates with your audience and refining your messaging strategy.
Recognized as the most cost-effective marketing channel, email is an indispensable tool in every marketer’s arsenal. With email marketing revenue projected to exceed $12 billion by the end of 2024, it remains a crucial channel for customer engagement.
1. Bounce Rate
This metric shows the percentage of emails that couldn’t be delivered to your subscribers’ inboxes. There are two types of bounces: soft bounces (temporary issues) and hard bounces (permanent issues).
Examples of soft bounce can be:
- The recipient’s mailbox is full and cannot accept new messages at the time of sending.
- The recipient’s email server is temporarily down or offline, preventing email delivery.
- The email exceeds the recipient’s mailbox size limit.
- The recipient’s server temporarily blocks the email due to suspected spam, which might be resolved later.
Examples of hard bounce can be:
- The email address does not exist or is incorrectly formatted.
- The domain part of the email address does not exist.
- The recipient’s server permanently blocks your email, often due to security policies or blacklisting.
- The email address has been permanently blacklisted by the recipient’s server.
If your bounce rate is high (greater than 1%), it means you either have a lot of invalid email addresses or your server has issues. Keeping your email list clean and up-to-date can help reduce this rate.
Tips to reduce email bounce rate:
- Don’t use old or purchased lists
- Remove invalid email addresses
- Follow opt-in practice
- Implement sunset policy to reduce unengaged users
Also Read: 8 ways to reduce email bounce rate
2. Delivery Rate
This is the percentage of emails successfully delivered to your subscribers.
A high delivery rate means your email list is well-maintained and your email service provider is performing effectively. If your delivery rate is low, you should examine the quality of your email list or ensure you meet the necessary email quality standards.
3. Deliverability Rate
This metric tells you how many of your emails actually made it to the inbox instead of getting stuck in the spam folder.
A high deliverability rate (generally 95% or greater) means your emails are well-received and trustworthy. If this rate is low, it might be time to improve your email content and ensure you follow best practices to avoid spam filters.
Note: Email delivery and deliverability are often confused. The major difference is that deliverability ensures that your email lands in the inbox, while email delivery tells you whether the email can be received by the recipient, irrespective of the folder it lands in.
Email delivery is counted even if the mail lands in other folders, such as spam or the promotion tab. Email deliverability ensures that your email reaches the inbox and is not marked as spam.
Tips to increase email deliverability
- Implement SPF, DKIM, and DMARC protocols.
- Follow a double opt-in practice when collecting emails
- Maintain a good email sending frequency
- Warm up your IP reputation
Also Read: Email deliverability best practices and trends
4. Spam Rate
The percentage of your emails marked as spam by recipients. A very crucial and often overlooked metric in email marketing.
A high spam rate can hurt your sender’s reputation and lead to more of your emails ending up in the spam folder.
Tips to reduce spam rate
- Keep your content relevant, and not overwhelm your subscribers with too many emails.
- Allow an easy 1-click unsubscribe option. Show it in a prominent position.
- Ensure you’re sending emails from the same domain contacts signed up for.
Also Read: 10 Tips to Prevent Your Emails Landing in Spam
5. Open Rate
This is the percentage of recipients who opened your email. This metric helps gauge the effectiveness of your subject lines. If your open rates are low, consider testing various subject lines to see which ones resonate better with your audience.
Note: While this metric is useful, it’s best to complement it with additional metrics like CTR to gain a more accurate understanding of your email marketing campaigns.
Typically, open rates are measured when a tracking pixel loads or external content like images is downloaded in an email. If the recipient’s provider blocks images or disables external content, their email might not be marked as “opened.” Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) complicates this further by stopping the automatic loading of images in emails, making it harder to track opens accurately. Hence, it’s better to look at other important metrics along with this to get a better idea of your campaigns.
6. Click-Through Rate (CTR)
This refers to the percentage of recipients who clicked on a link in your email. A high CTR indicates that your email content and call-to-action are compelling and engaging. If your CTR is low, consider refining your content and making your CTAs more enticing.
This is a better metric to gauge the success of your email marketing campaigns. It indicates that your content and message are effectively resonating with your audience.
The average click-through rate across industries is 2.91%.
Tips to improve your CTR
- Ad Copy: Can it be shorter, more personable, and easier to understand? Use language that resonates with your audience, even if it deviates from industry jargon.
- Design: Are your emails visually appealing and inviting? Ensure the next step for the reader is clear.
- Call-to-Action: How clear is your CTA? Experiment with placement and language to find what works best for your audience. Limit CTAs and links to one or two per email to avoid overwhelming or confusing readers.
7. Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR)
This metric shows the percentage of opened emails that resulted in a click. It measures the percentage of people who clicked on a link within an email out of those who opened the email.
CTOR helps you see how effective your email content is after getting the initial open. If your CTOR is high, it means your email content is compelling and drives action.
8. Conversion Rate
This metric is the percentage of recipients who completed a desired action, such as making a purchase, after clicking a link in your email. This metric is crucial for measuring the success of your email campaigns.
High conversion rates mean your emails are effectively driving your subscribers to take the actions you want. These actions depend on the campaign you’re driving, such as completing purchases, signing up for events, and lots more.
Tips to increase conversion rates
- Segment your audience based on their likelihood to convert. Then, send personalized emails accordingly.
- Include clear and compelling CTAs in your emails.
- Consider using interactive emails (AMP Emails) over static emails.
9. Unsubscribe Rate
This refers to the percentage of recipients who unsubscribed after opening your email, also known as those who marked your email as spam.
A high unsubscribe rate can indicate that your content isn’t hitting the mark or you’re emailing too often. Monitoring this rate helps you keep your list healthy and engaged.
The average unsubscribed/marked as spam rate across industries is 0.56%. Remember this number as you strive to maintain a healthy, engaged email list and avoid those dreaded spam reports.
10. List Growth Rate
This measures the growth rate of your email list. A positive growth indicates that your list-building strategies are effective and that new people are interested in your content.
Growing your email list is essential for boosting conversion rates and keeping it fresh. Continuously adding new subscribers improves your chances of conversions and helps manage and reduce email list degradation.
11. Return on Investment (ROI)
This metric refers to the revenue generated from your email campaigns compared to the cost of running them. A high ROI indicates that your email marketing is both cost-effective and profitable. This metric is essential to justify your email marketing efforts and budget allocation.
ROI = [($ additional sales made – $ invested in the campaign) / $ invested in the campaign] X 100
Download Our Latest Email Benchmark Report to Unlock Email Marketing Success & ROI
App Engagement
App engagement as a marketing channel focuses on creating interactive and personalized experiences within your app to retain users and boost loyalty. By leveraging in-app messages, personalized content, and gamification, you can drive higher user satisfaction and long-term engagement. Here are the top metrics you should track.
1. Retention Rate
The retention rate measures the percentage of users who return to the app after their first use over a specific period (daily, weekly, monthly).
High retention rates indicate that users find value in your app and keep returning. This helps identify the app’s stickiness and highlights areas that may need improvement to keep users engaged over time.
2. Churn Rate
This is the percentage of users who stop using the app over a specific period. Tracking this metric helps identify user experience or functionality issues, guiding necessary improvements to reduce churn.
A high churn rate indicates that users aren’t finding the app useful or engaging enough to continue using it.
Pro tip: Create targeted win-back campaigns for customers on the verge of churning. Offer enticing incentives like exclusive discounts, create urgency with limited-time offers, gamify the experience with reward-based campaigns, and more to re-engage these customers.
3. Daily Active Users (DAU)
DAU measures the number of unique users who engage with the app daily.
A high DAU indicates strong daily engagement, showing that users find the app valuable daily. This metric is crucial for assessing the app’s relevance and daily utility to its users.
4. Monthly Active Users (MAU)
MAU measures the number of unique users who engage with the app at least once a month.
A high MAU indicates that the app maintains its relevance over time and retains user interest. It provides a broader view of the app’s user base and overall engagement.
Note: MAU and DAU give strong indications of a brand’s app stickiness. It indicates how often users come back to the app. For some industries, these two metrics are the most important KPIs for measuring growth. For example, if you’re an ecommerce or quick commerce brand with an app, these metrics determine your revenue model.
5. Average Session Length
This metric tells us how involved your customers are with your app.
This metric measures the average number of sessions each active user spends engaged with the app from the time they open it to the time they close it.
A high number of daily sessions per DAU suggests that your customers are finding multiple reasons to interact with the app throughout the day, indicating strong engagement and value.
6. Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV)
CLTV estimates the total revenue a user will generate during their entire time using the app. Knowing your CLTV tells you about your long-term relationships with your customers.
A high LTV shows that users bring in substantial revenue, validating acquisition and retention costs. This metric helps you make crucial decisions on marketing spend, customer retention strategies, and crafting personalized engagement plans to keep your top customers loyal.
With a presence in over 180 countries, WhatsApp is an ideal platform for businesses to scale their marketing efforts. Modern enterprises leverage WhatsApp marketing to engage and update both current and potential customers. In fact, 85% of consumers express interest in receiving timely and proactive communications from brands. Below are the metrics to track.
1. Opt-in Rate
When it comes to campaign goals, one key metric is how many people opt into your WhatsApp channel.
The opt-in rate refers to the percentage of users agreeing to receive your business’s messages. It’s calculated by dividing the number of users who opt-in by the total number of users asked to opt-in, then multiplying by 100. A high opt-in rate indicates that your initial engagement strategies are effective and that users are interested in your content, laying the foundation for successful marketing campaigns.
This is a crucial number when you’re starting with WhatsApp marketing. You need a large subscriber base to make a significant impact.
2. Opt-out Rate
This works just like the email unsubscribe rate. It shows how many people leave your WhatsApp channel after you send a campaign.
A low opt-out rate means you’re hitting the mark with relevant, engaging content at the right frequency. A high rate? You better relook at your current WhatsApp marketing strategy like your content, frequency, automated flows, and overall strategy to keep your audience hooked!
Pro tip: Make sure your customers can opt out easily. They can do this by responding to the chat or clicking an opt-out button.
3. Open Rate
Open rates refer to the percentage of recipients who open your messages. This metric indicates how compelling your message previews or notifications are. WhatsApp boasts an average open rate of 98%.
The open rate is a great indicator of how compelling and relevant your content is. A high open rate means your message subject or preview is so enticing that recipients can’t help but view the full message. It’s a strong sign that your content is grabbing attention right from the start.
4. Conversion Rate
Like other channels, WhatsApp conversion rates vary based on the campaign’s goal. Whether it’s clicking a link in your message, making a purchase, or another action, conversion rates can tell the full story.
For example, did someone take action after you sent a message? Did they simply click the link you provided? Each campaign objective has its own measure of success. WhatsApp conversion rates provide crucial insights to optimize your campaigns and ensure you achieve your desired outcomes.
The key here is to keep the end goal clear and have compelling content and CTAs to create curiosity and compel your customers to click.
5. Click-through Rate
It’s just like the CTR you’re used to in email marketing. It shows how many people tapped a link in your WhatsApp message out of those who opened it.
CTR is a fantastic measure of your campaign’s engagement. Our clients measure this while A/B testing, comparing CTRs with and without images, headers and CTAs.
Whatsapp marketing messages have seen an average CTR of around 15%. While this is a decent benchmark to begin with, the top-performing campaigns have exceeded this, showcasing the potential it holds.
Conclusion
These customer engagement analytics open the doors to deep, insightful actionables. With these metrics, you can:
- Use your digital marketing budget efficiently
- Make sales activity more effective by improving your conversion rates
- Choose the right channels to reach your target audience
- Make more effective campaign decisions
- Improve your ROI.
Imagine harnessing all your channels to gain a unified view of your customers. You can create hyper-personalized messages and send them at just the right moment to skyrocket conversions and smash your goals. This is the power of an integrated customer engagement platform—turning every interaction into a meaningful connection.
Book a demo to see how Netcore can improve your customer engagement and retention to achieve higher ROI.
