Email marketing ROI – What does it deliver?

Introduction

ROI (Return on Investment) shows how much revenue your email marketing generates compared to your costs. Measuring = knowing: this allows you to optimize campaigns for results.

What is ROI?

• Formula: ROI (%) = (Revenue – Costs) ÷ Costs × 100.
• Example: €10,000 revenue – €2,000 costs = €8,000 profit → (8,000 ÷ 2,000) × 100 = 400%.

Where can you see this in Xendy?

• Dashboard: total generated revenue, number of sent emails, number of opened emails, number of clicks (revenue visible with active webshop integration).
• Sent newsletters: revenue and performance per newsletter.
• Email automations: revenue and performance per automation and per step.

Key metrics for ROI

• Revenue: look at both total revenue and revenue per email (RPE) to compare campaigns fairly.
• Costs: include not only Xendy but also design, time spent, and creation costs.
• CTR & conversion: track how many people click and purchase via email, as this directly determines your return.
• Unsubscribes & bounces: high unsubscribe or bounce rates reduce future revenue and harm your deliverability.
• CLV: look beyond individual campaigns: long-term customer lifetime value shows how email contributes to loyal and returning customers.

How to improve your ROI

• Segment & personalise: don’t send the same email to everyone. Use behaviour, past purchases, or interests to make content and offers more relevant. The more personalised, the better your click and conversion rates.
• Strong offers: provide a clear benefit: discount, exclusive access, or bonus. Where appropriate, add urgency or scarcity, such as “Valid for 24 hours only” or “Limited stock available”.
• Always-on automations: set up campaigns that run continuously: a welcome email automation for new subscribers, abandoned cart reminders, post-purchase tips or upsells, and reactivation campaigns for inactive customers.
• Optimise landing pages:make sure visitors don’t drop off after clicking. Pages must load quickly, be mobile-friendly, and feature a single clear call to action.
• Test & learn continuously: test subject lines, content, send times, and offers to improve performance. Small improvements add up quickly.
• Keep your list clean: use double opt-in for quality and regularly remove inactive contacts. This improves deliverability, reduces costs, and increases engagement.

Common mistakes

• Only focusing on opens: open rates reveal little due to Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection (MPP). They only provide a general indication of reach. Instead, focus on clicks, conversions, and revenue—those are the metrics that truly reflect return.
• Sending the same content to everyone: a general newsletter rarely yields the best results. Segment your list (e.g. customers vs. leads, purchasers of product X vs. Y) and send targeted offers. The more relevant the message, the higher your CTR and revenue.
• Mailing too often: daily or irregular sending frustrates recipients. This leads to unsubscribes and spam complaints. Offer a preference centre where subscribers can choose how often they receive emails, and monitor unsubscribe rates.
• Ignoring hidden costs: only counting tool costs gives a distorted picture. Also include time (strategy, design, analysis), external creation costs (copy, design), and plug-ins. This gives you a true view of ROI.
• No webshop integration: without integration, you won’t see email revenue. Connect your shop to Xendy so you can track revenue, RPE (Revenue per Email), and conversions. This shows which campaigns truly generate profit.

Quick ROI check (step by step)

1. Connect your webshop to Xendy: go to Settings → Webshop in Xendy, choose your platform, and complete the integration. Once active, you’ll see revenue reflected on the Dashboard, under Sent (newsletters), and Email automations.
2. Review campaign metrics in Xendy:
   1. Newsletters: go to ‘Sent’ in the left menu. Open your campaign to view Revenue and RPE (revenue per email), plus sent emails, opens, clicks, bounces, and unsubscribes.
   2. Automations: go to ‘Email automations’ in the left menu. Open your email automation to view sent emails, opens, clicks, bounces, and unsubscribes.
3. Add up your costs: include the cost of email marketing software, time spent on design, copy, setup, segmentation, and analysis. Include media/creation costs if they apply specifically to this campaign.
4. Calculate your ROI: use the formula ROI (%) = (Revenue – Costs) ÷ Costs × 100. You can also compare using RPE (Revenue ÷ Emails sent) or CPA (Costs ÷ number of orders via email).

Frequently asked questions