How to Track and Improve Email Marketing Performance

Every email you send generates valuable data about subscriber behavior. Understanding this performance data helps you make smarter decisions about future campaigns – which subject lines catch attention, what content drives clicks, and when your audience engages most.

AWeber’s Quickstats gives you everything you need to measure and improve your email performance metrics. Here’s how to track each key metric and use what you learn.

How to Access Your Campaign Stats

Navigate to any sent campaign in your AWeber account and click “View Stats.” Quickstats opens with your complete performance data – email preview on the left, key metrics at the top, and detailed engagement data below.

What Does Each Key Metric Tell You

Open Rate

What it measures: The percentage of subscribers who opened your email.

What it tells you:



Whether your subject line caught their attention – A compelling subject line creates curiosity or promises value that makes people want to open


Were they expecting an email from you – Consistent sending schedules and recognizable sender names build trust and improve opens


Was it received at the right time – Sending when subscribers check email increases the likelihood they’ll see and open your message

How to Track Open Rate in AWeber

Navigate to any sent campaign and click “View Stats.” Your open rate appears at the top of Quickstats. Click the “Unique Opens” tab to see detailed data: email address, name, and total opens.

How to Improve Your Open Rate

Open Quickstats for your last 10 campaigns and compare open rates. Look for patterns:



Do questions perform better than statements?


Do specific numbers work well (“3 ways to…” vs. “Ways to…”)?


Does personalization increase opens?


Are shorter subject lines outperforming longer ones?


Do certain words or phrases consistently drive higher opens?

Optimize based on what your open rate reveals:

Low open rates (below your average):



Test more specific, benefit-focused subject lines


Verify your sender name is recognizable


Check if you’re sending when your audience isn’t checking email


Reduce frequency if subscribers are tuning out

Declining open rates over time:



Reduce send frequency to combat email fatigue


Introduce variety in subject line formats


Run a re-engagement campaign to clean your list

Strong open rates but low clicks:



Your subject lines work—keep that approach


Focus improvement efforts on content quality instead

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

What it measures: The percentage of subscribers who clicked a link in your email.

What it tells you:



Whether your content motivated action Strong CTR means your message created enough interest or urgency to click


If your offers or topics resonated – High clicks on specific links show what your audience cares about


How effective your call-to-action was – Clear, compelling CTAs drive more clicks than vague ones

How to Track CTR in AWeber

Your click rate appears in the top metrics section of Quickstats. Click the “Unique Clicks” tab to see each link URL and the total unique clicks per link. You can also create a segment for people who clicked specific links, allowing you to send them more targeted content in the future.

How to Improve Your Click-Through Rate

Optimize based on what your CTR reveals:

Low CTR despite good opens:



Ensure your email delivers on the subject line promise


Use specific action language in CTAs (“Download the guide” vs. “Click here”)


Break up text with headers, bullets, and white space


Make buttons stand out and ensure mobile formatting works

One link dramatically outperforms others:



Create more content around that high-performing topic


Lead with your best-performing content type in future emails

Product links outperform educational content:



Your audience wants offers more than information


Adjust your content mix to include more promotions

Total Sales

What it measures: Revenue generated directly from your email campaign when integrated with e-commerce tracking.

What it tells you:



Which campaigns drive actual revenue – Not just clicks, but purchases


ROI of your email marketing – How much money each campaign generates


Which products or offers convert best – What your audience actually buys after clicking

How to Track Total Sales in AWeber

Total sales appears in the top metrics section of Quickstats when you have e-commerce tracking enabled. This metric shows the dollar amount generated from purchases made after clicking links in your campaign.

How to Improve Your Sales Performance

Optimize based on what your sales data reveals:

High clicks but low sales:



Your email drives traffic but your landing page or offer isn’t converting


Check if pricing, shipping costs, or checkout friction are causing drop-off


Ensure the offer in your email matches what’s on the landing page

Certain products consistently generate more sales:



Feature your best-selling products more prominently in emails


Create dedicated campaigns around high-converting items


Use social proof and urgency around products that sell well

Sales vary significantly between campaigns:



Identify what’s different about high-revenue campaigns—subject line, send time, offer type, or audience segment


Replicate the approach of your best-performing sales campaigns

Unsubscribes

What it measures: The number and percentage of subscribers who opted out after receiving your campaign.

What it tells you:



Whether your content matched subscriber expectations – High unsubscribes mean you’re sending content people didn’t sign up for


If you’re sending too frequently – Sudden unsubscribe spikes often follow frequency increases


How relevant your offers are – Irrelevant or overly promotional content drives opt-outs

How to Track Unsubscribes in AWeber

Your unsubscribe count and rate appear in the top metrics section of Quickstats. The percentage shows how many people opted out relative to total emails delivered.

A normal unsubscribe rate is typically under 0.5% per campaign. Anything above 1% signals a problem.

How to Improve Your Unsubscribe Rate

Optimize based on what your unsubscribe rate reveals:

Sudden spike in unsubscribes (2-3x your normal rate):



Review what was different about this campaign—subject line, content, offer, or tone


Check if you increased send frequency recently


Ensure your content aligns with what subscribers originally signed up for

Consistently high unsubscribe rate (above 0.5%):



Survey remaining subscribers about content preferences


Reduce send frequency


Segment your list so people only receive relevant content


Review your signup process—are you setting accurate expectations about what you’ll send?

Unsubscribes concentrated around specific content types:



Some subscribers want educational content, others want promotions—segment based on preferences


Offer a preference center where subscribers can choose what they receive instead of unsubscribing completely

Low unsubscribes but also low engagement:



While low unsubscribes seem positive, subscribers may be ignoring you instead of opting out


This can hurt deliverability more than unsubscribes


Run a re-engagement campaign to clean inactive subscribers

How Quickstats Makes Email Performance Easy to Track

AWeber’s Quickstats puts all your campaign data in one place – no switching between multiple reports or clicking through pages of information.

Everything you need at a glance:



Email preview alongside your data – See exactly what subscribers received while reviewing performance


Key metrics at the top – Total sends, opens, clicks, bounces, and unsubscribes display immediately


Infinite scroll – Review all subscriber activity without pagination—just keep scrolling through opens and clicks


Message Actions menu – Export data or copy campaigns to drafts in two clicks from the top of the page


Full-screen charts – Expand any engagement chart to see detailed trends over time

Navigate to any sent campaign and click “View Stats.” Quickstats opens with your complete performance report ready to analyze.

Start Improving Today

Open Quickstats for your three most recent campaigns. Compare their performance metrics side by side. What patterns emerge?

Identify one clear difference between your best and worst performer – subject line format, send time, or content approach. Apply the winning element to your next campaign.

Measure results in Quickstats. Iterate based on what you learn.

Improving email marketing performance is a continuous process of measuring, testing, and refining. Start with one metric, track the results, and build from there.

The post How to Track and Improve Email Marketing Performance appeared first on AWeber.

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