There are four metrics I use to assess how well an email is performing. In this four-part series, we are looking at each of those metrics. In the first post, we reviewed Open Rates. In the last post, we covered your Email Click Rates.
Today, we are assessing emails by looking beyond the actual email.
We could stop assessing an email's effectiveness at the click, but rarely, and I mean rarely are we sending an email to get someone to only click. 
We send emails to prospective students in hopes they take that next step. And that usually requires some type of action on their part after they click your email.
So I like to assess if your prospective students are doing just that, because if they aren't your email's potentially high click rate is useless.
Now depending on your technology, assessing how many of your prospects took the next step after clicking your email may or may not be easy to do. That doesn't mean you don't assess it, though.
Here is how I would go about it:
Let's use a common and easy example: Getting an inquiry to RSVP for an Info Session coming up in the next month.
I will use a list stored in my email/CRM tool and invite the targeted group. (As a reference point, I use Hubspot for my CRM and marketing automation support. My landing pages are actually built within the tool (even though they look identical to my regular website pages check out this page to see one).
Once a prospect receives my email and clicks to the landing page, their information is stored within the CRM - meaning it actually stores which pages a prospect in my database visits. It also tracks the source for getting to the page. Therefore I can keep a live list of all prospects that have met the following criteria:
- Clicked on my Info Session email invitation
- Visited the Info Session Event page
- NOT submitted my Info Session RSVP form
Now I can send specialized emails to that group - maybe an email from each prospect's admissions/enrollment counselor. Specifically, I would send an email that mimics a forward of the initial email to the prospect with text from the admissions counselor that reads something like:
Tina,
Hey - last week our director of admissions sent out invites for our information session next week. I'm not sure if you recall that email, but I wanted to be sure you saw it. I'd like for you to join us.
I will be there and can introduce you to a few other Business Administration students so you can chat with them about their experience and know more about what the courses are like.
Want to RSVP?
Mickey
Simple, right? Notice how we merged in the major? Yeah, I know that most schools merge that type of information into emails, but do they merge them into personally written messages like this that are automated? From our experience, absolutely not.
WHAT DOES A LOW POST-CLICK MEAN?
It could mean a few things, actually. Many times the first place marketers will look is at the landing page itself. Was it optimized correctly? Did you have compelling text? Did you offer enough information, or not enough information?
In this example, did you send an email about an event that was too far out for a commitment? I actually like to email prospects 2-3 weeks out. And I wouldn't send an initial invite to anyone if the event is within 4 days, unless it was a brand new inquiry that just came in to your pipeline.
Another thing I like to consider is how connected the information in your email was to the information on your event page. Maybe you didn't include the date or time in the email, but after the prospect saw it on the event page, she realized it conflicted. Note this may be an approach you do not change.
But you may find that you described the event very differently in your email than the landing page, and the prospect was confused or not interested when she got to the landing page. Therefore she abandoned the process.
So, an alternate approach to an email for this group may be:
Tina,
I saw you clicked on our invitation to the upcoming info session, but didn't submit your RSVP.
I just wondered if there was a particular reason you didn't want to join. I realize there may be a time conflict, or a multitude of other options, but I would greatly appreciate if you would help me understand so that we can improve the invitations for future events.
Can you just reply and let me know in a simple sentence or two why the event didn't work for you?
Mickey
Again a short email that gives your inquiry a link and second attempt to RSVP as well as a request for a reply to help you know more about her.
Remember that your email campaigns are created with a bigger picture in mind. They aren't simply created to get a recipient to open, red and click; they are designed to engage and help prospective students continue through your enrollment. If you keep that in mind, and use the post click action as a means to assess your email (a metric that isn't found inside the email itself), you can help your team recruit and convert prospects more effectively.