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Understanding ROI Conversion Metrics for Tracking Email Campaigns

Learn how conversion metrics work for tracking email campaigns and how to customize these settings in Stack. With each campaign you send, you can track purchases made as a result within a specified timeframe. This helps you evaluate the performance of your email campaigns and make informed adjustments. Additionally, Shopify orders are included in the attribution report.

Table of Contents​

What is Email Conversion Tracking?​

Email conversion tracking allows you to see when an email recipient takes a specific action, such as purchasing a product, after opening your email. This action must occur within the conversion period, known as the attribution window.

How Does Email Conversion Tracking Work?​

Stack uses a "last touched" campaign logic to attribute purchases to the most recent email campaign sent to the recipient. By default, the attribution window is set to 5 days. This means the last opened or clicked email campaign within this period gets credit for any conversion or sale.

You can adjust the number of days in this window through your campaign settings.

Example Scenario​

  • Day 1: You send an email to your subscriber, and they open it to view the offer.
  • Day 4: The subscriber returns to make a purchase.

In this example, the revenue is attributed to the initial email since the purchase falls within the 5-day attribution window. However, if the purchase occurs 12 days later, it would not be attributed to the original email.

How to Use Conversion Tracking​

  1. Navigate to Marketing > Emails > Campaigns in Stack.
  2. Locate your email campaign and click the three dots icon to the right.
  3. Select Statistics and then click Load more Statistics.
  4. In the Conversion section, you will find an overview of Total Revenue Generated and Revenue per receipt from the email campaign.
  5. The Ordered Tab provides a detailed breakdown of contacts who made purchases and their spending amounts.

Attribution Settings​

The conversion metric is crucial for assessing how effectively your marketing campaigns generate revenue. A key aspect is the attribution window, which defines the period when a customer's action is linked to a specific marketing touchpoint.

Attribution Window Customization​

  • Default: Stack uses a 5-day attribution window for email campaigns.
  • Customize: You can adjust this window in your account's email settings to suit your business needs.

Steps to Customize:

  1. Go to Marketing > Emails > Campaigns.
  2. Click the gear icon to access settings.
  3. Adjust the attribution window value as desired.

Why 5 Days?

Research indicates that subscribers often forget emails after 5 days, making this timeframe a more accurate reflection of a campaign's performance according to industry insights.

Understanding Email Attribution​

Let's explore another example using the default 5-day attribution window:

  • Day 1: An email is sent to your subscriber.
  • Day 3: The subscriber opens the email with a product offering.
  • Day 4: The subscriber revisits and makes a purchase.

In this case, the revenue is attributed to the email campaign because the purchase occurred within the 5-day attribution window. Purchases made after this period, such as on day 10, would not be attributed to the original email.

Additionally, all orders shown under the Payment section, including Shopify orders, are considered for attribution.

Customizing Your Analysis​

  • All Campaigns (Default): Track all campaigns for a comprehensive overview.
  • Product Element Specific: Attribute conversions exclusively to product-centric campaigns.

By customizing the attribution window and "Attributed To" settings, you can gain insights tailored to your business. This flexibility in duration and focus empowers data-driven decisions, enabling you to optimize your campaign performance over time.