Accessing Email Metrics
After sending an email, click on it from your Emails list to view the post-send page. You’ll see three tabs:- Details - Metrics overview, opens chart, and link clicks
- Recipients - Full list of recipients with their delivery status
- Content - Preview of the email as it was sent
When Metrics Update
Email metrics are refreshed every 5 minutes.- When you first send an email, you may see dashes (—) or “Calculating…” - that’s normal
- Give it a few minutes for recipients to open, click, or respond
- The Last updated timestamp shows when metrics were last refreshed
Overview Metrics
Open Rate
The percentage of recipients who opened the email.- Green (> 25%): Excellent engagement
- Yellow (15-25%): Average engagement
- Red (< 15%): Below average
Open rates can be inflated or blocked by privacy features (like Apple Mail Privacy Protection). Use this as a general indicator, not an exact count.
Unsubscribe Rate
The percentage of recipients who clicked unsubscribe or updated their preferences.- Green (< 0.2%): Healthy
- Yellow (0.2-0.5%): Monitor closely
- Red (> 0.5%): Review your content and targeting
Bounce Rate
The percentage of emails that could not be delivered.- Green (< 0.5%): Normal
- Yellow (0.5-1%): Some list hygiene needed
- Red (> 1%): Clean your email list
Complaint Rate
The percentage of recipients who reported your email as spam.- Green (< 0.01%): Excellent
- Yellow (0.01-0.05%): Acceptable
- Red (> 0.05%): Serious concern - review your practices
Some email providers, like Gmail, do not report complaints back to senders. Your actual complaint rate may be higher than what is shown.
Opens Over Time Chart
- How quickly recipients engage with your emails
- Peak engagement times
- The “long tail” of opens over days/weeks
Link Click Tracking
Flowforth uses your sending domain for tracking links, so the URLs in your email match your from address. This helps with deliverability since email providers trust emails where the links and sender are consistent. You can toggle open and click tracking on or off per domain in your domain settings.
- Total clicks across all links in the email
- A breakdown table with:
- Each unique link URL
- Number of clicks for that link
- Percentage of total clicks
Who Clicked What
Click on any link in the table to see which recipients clicked that specific link. This modal shows:- Recipient name
- Email address
- Click timestamp
Recipients Tab
The Recipients tab shows a searchable, filterable table of all recipients. You can:- Search by name or email
- Filter by delivery status
- Export recipients to CSV (sent to your email)
Recipient Statuses
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Delivered | Email successfully delivered to recipient’s inbox |
| Opened | Recipient opened the email |
| Clicked | Recipient clicked a link in the email |
| Bounced | Email could not be delivered (invalid address, full inbox, etc.) |
| Complained | Recipient marked the email as spam |
| Unsubscribed | Recipient unsubscribed after receiving |
| Pending | Email is still in the sending queue |
| Did Not Send | Email was skipped (see below) |
Did Not Send
The “Did Not Send” status means the person was on your list but was filtered out before sending. Common reasons include:- They are unsubscribed from your organization’s emails or from the email’s category
- They don’t have a valid email address on file
- Someone else on the list has the same email address (duplicates are filtered so only one copy is sent per address)
- Their email address contains “no-reply” or “noreply”
Filtering by Status
Click on any of the four metric cards (Open Rate, Unsubscribe Rate, etc.) to automatically filter the Recipients tab to show only recipients with that status.Exporting Recipients
Click the Export button on the Recipients tab to download a CSV of all recipients. The export includes:- Name
- Email address
- Delivery status
- Timestamps
Understanding Your Metrics
What’s a Good Open Rate?
Churches and religious organizations tend to have some of the highest open rates of any industry, often averaging 40-60%. This is because church audiences are highly engaged and have actively opted in to receive communications.- 40%+ is typical for churches
- 25-40% may indicate room for improvement
- Below 25% may indicate deliverability issues or content that isn’t resonating
Apple Mail Privacy Protection can inflate open rates by automatically preloading email content, even when the recipient doesn’t actually open the email. Keep this in mind when evaluating your numbers.
Improving Your Metrics
- Write better subject lines - Keep them short, specific, and relevant. “This Sunday: Guest Speaker + Potluck” performs better than “Weekly Update.” Use the
@first-namemerge tag to personalize when it makes sense. - Send at the right time - Test different days and times. Many churches find mid-week mornings work well for newsletters, while time-sensitive announcements should go out as soon as possible.
- Send consistently - Pick a schedule and stick to it. People expect and look for emails that arrive on a regular cadence. Inconsistent sending can lead to lower engagement or higher unsubscribes when emails do arrive.
- Use categories effectively - Let people subscribe to the types of emails they care about (e.g., Kids Ministry, Students, General). Targeted emails get better engagement than sending everything to everyone.
- Keep your lists clean - Review bounced addresses periodically and make sure your Planning Center lists are up to date. Sending to invalid addresses hurts your sender reputation.
- Make it scannable - Use headings, short paragraphs, and clear calls to action. People skim emails, so put the most important information first.
- Keep it relevant - If more than half of your email doesn’t apply to the reader, they’ll stop reading your emails altogether. Send targeted emails to specific lists rather than putting everything into one email for everyone. A Kids Ministry parent doesn’t need to read about the Men’s Retreat, and vice versa.
- Include a clear call to action - Every email should have something for the reader to do, whether it’s registering for an event, watching a video, or just knowing about a schedule change.
If you have questions about interpreting your stats or want help improving performance, reach out to support@flowforth.co.