Can you pick the most successful email?

In my never-ending pursuit to expose vanity metrics for exactly what they are—vanity metrics—I’ve concocted yet another game of “pick the email that generated the most revenue.”

I sent the past six emails in question here last week.

Email #1: 43.5% open, 1.26% click 

Email #2: 43.9% open, 1.09% click 

Email #3: 41.2% open, 1.16% click 

Email #4: 50.9% open, 1.07% click 

Email #5: 34.9% open, 1.01% click 

Email #6: 40.7% open, 1.90% click 

From the vanity metrics above, which email do you think generated the most revenue? 

If you were to guess the fourth email, the one with the highest open rates by far, then, well, you’d be wrong. 

Same story for the sixth email, or the email with the highest click rate, again, by far. In fact, this email was the one of the six that generated the least revenue. 

But what if you take the second highest open or click rate? 

The second most opened email is also the second email in this game. And, by a stroke of luck, you would’ve successfully picked the email with the highest revenue generated. But you probably wouldn't have picked that email if you also added click rates to your criteria because, for some reason, this email had one of the lower click rates.

The second most clicked email here is the first email. This email also led to the second most sales.

But if you were to pick the best open and click rates together, then you’d probably select the first, third, or sixth email. Problem here is, none of them are the second email, which actually generated the most revenue. 

And you know what?

The one email that probably nobody would select is the fifth email. It had a combination of the lowest open and click rate. And yet… This email was actually the third most successful email, and only a few hundreds behind the first email. 

Moral of the story? 

Vanity metrics are nothing more than vanity metrics. 

I’m hardly reinventing the wheel here, but you’d be shocked by how many brands focus on vanity metrics to the detriment to sales. 

Just because an email has a good subject line (and results in a bunch of opens) doesn’t mean it leads to the most sales. Same is true when emails have a strong CTA and result in a bunch of clicks. Those clicks don’t always result in higher sales. 

And as is true with any marketing medium, the only number that really matters is the sales and revenue stats. 

Anywho:

If you need help making more cashola from your email marketing strategy, hit reply, and let’s set up a quick call. 

John