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There are many misconceptions about email marketing software data. The following article will help clear the air. Knowing more about your email marketing statistics, will ensure that you start reaching the potential that a powerful marketing tool like email marketing software can provide for your business.

If you have become accustomed to attributing your email marketing software success by the amount of 'delivered' emails your campaigns produce, it's time to take a closer look at what a 'delivered' email actually means.  Your statistics on 'delivered' emails do not take into account emails that get deleted without being opened or emails that get sent to 'junk' or 'spam' folders.

The only way to get real statistics on the delivery of your emails you'll need to look for some of the services offered that monitor in detail the delivery of your emails.

Another reason it is so important to look deeper into the percentages is that you might miss an important reason why some of your emails might not be successful.

Most of the reports that your email marketing software statistics tell you are averages and percentages based on your entire contact list. Unless you dig deeper, these averages can mask some important differences in contacts' reaction to your emails. You might realize that one portion of your list is largely from a certain domain, like roadrunner.com or hotmail.com. If this is the case you know you are having deliverability issues to that domain. This is extremely helpful in finding a solution to the problem and therefore can improve your overall success in your email marketing software campaigns.

It is also important to review your open rates with a fine toothed comb in order to get a more accurate measure of how many active readers you have.
By looking back to see the trend in your open rates you will probably see that they tend to look similar with some small variation as time goes on: 25%, 24%, 26%, 22%, 25%, 27%, 26%...etc.

It safe to say from just 'eye-balling' the numbers, that the average readership is 25%. This is possible, but more often than not it's not the same people opening each email. Instead of just looking at open rates by each campaign that you send out, look for how many people opened at least one email in the past month; Or, input another period of time that makes sense for your sending schedule. You may be surprised by what you unearth. You might discover that your average open rate is much greater.

The reason is that your contacts might not open your email EVERY time you send it.  They can be busy, on vacation, short of time one week - but not the next.
 
It can also pertain to the variation in your contact's wants and needs, and can give you vital clues as to how you might split up your list to better target this audience. If one bunch of addresses only ever opens when your promotions about a certain product and another only when you promote a different one, then it's time to separate the lists and only send them the content you know generates a response.

Understanding your email marketing software data is mostly about taking a closer look at the metrics to determine what the context of your response is. Once you put in that extra effort, it'll be much easier to find how to better target your audience and achieve greater email marketing software success.

Rudy Barell is a Senior Business Development Executive with Elite Email, the #1 <a href="http://www.eliteemail.com">email marketing software< /a> used by businesses around the globe. Experience how easy it is to build your mailing list, create eye-catching emails and track your success using detailed reports with the complete <a href="http://www.eliteemail.com/email-marketing/">email marketing program</a>. Try it free! free!