RE:markable is the weekly email about emails. Dropping the latest email marketing news, updates, insights, free resources, upcoming masterclasses, webinars, and of course, a little inbox mischief.
Email as a channel is misconstrued, from the way it’s used to the way it’s measured.
Let’s be real - if you’re still obsessing over open rates and click-throughs as your golden success metrics, you’re measuring the wrong thing entirely.
That’s because a lot of marketers will immediately view email as a conversion engine, or a last-click miracle worker to drive action.
In reality, email is an influence channel that builds trust through reminders, nudges, vibes, and moments.
When conversion occurs, it’s a nice bonus.
But if you want to make email work, and we mean work at its absolute best, you’ve got to flip the script.
We’ve built up email as a tactical performance tool when really, it’s a strategic experience driver.
But what do we mean by that, and how does that play into your wider email marketing strategy?
Well, email:
In both B2B and B2C, email should exist to do one (or preferably, all) of the following:
All of that = impact.
You don’t need to go into panic mode when you check your engagement metrics and see a drop.
Think of it this way - do you open every single email you receive? Probably not. So why should you expect someone to open every email you send?
Realistically, they’re not supposed to open every single email, and this line of thinking can have us falling into one of the biggest email marketing traps of expecting constant engagement.
Rather than giving yourself a headache and spiralling over what caused a drop in engagement, ask, “Did we show up at the right time for this person?”.
Vanity metrics will always fuel a feeling of something being wrong. True email impact lives in that above question!
Forget ROI for a sec (no, we’re not trying to sabotage you, we promise!).
Focus on Return on Impact. That’s the value your email delivers across the journey, even when you can’t directly track it.
That could be momentum in the sales pipeline, a life in brand searches, direct traffic after campaigns, and even reply sentiment and emotional engagement.
It might also look like long-term LTV increases linked to retention or a correlation between your CRM strategy and business growth.
The point is, these aren’t UTM trackable results, but they’re clear signs of the impact that your emails are having, and the difference is tangible.
Ask any brand that paused email and watched everything crash and burn - that’s impact.
Here comes that age-old marketing reply… “It depends!”.
It does depend on your strategy, though, but here’s how to get started.
Start with your goal, then map signals that show it’s working, like so:
Really, you’re looking for patterns and correlations to show that email is doing its job (not just chasing a click).
If you can take away anything from this blog, let it be this:
Email is not a conversion tool. It’s a brand, relationship, and impact driver.
It’s normal to experience some disengagement with your audience, but it’s important to remember that your presence still counts.
By focusing on Return on Impact (not Return on Investment) and having clearly defined goals to build your strategy around, you can start to measure what matters and use email to show up consistently - with meaning, not just messages.
RE:markable is the weekly email about emails. Dropping the latest email marketing news, updates, insights, free resources, upcoming masterclasses, webinars, and of course, a little inbox mischief.