If you’re running B2B email outreach, you know the drill: send, hope, and then—what? If you’re not tracking what happens next, you’re basically flying blind. This guide is for marketers, founders, and anyone who needs their emails to actually do something, not just disappear into the void. We’ll walk through how to track and analyze your results with Scaledmail, so you can figure out what’s working, fix what isn’t, and stop wasting time on guesswork.
1. Know What to Track—And What to Ignore
Let’s get real: not every metric is worth your attention. Lots of tools, including Scaledmail, toss a ton of numbers at you. Here’s what actually matters for B2B outreach:
- Deliverability: Did your email even make it to the inbox?
- Open Rate: Did anyone bother to look?
- Click Rate: Did they care enough to take action?
- Reply Rate: Did you get an actual response?
- Bounce Rate: Are you sending to a bunch of dead addresses?
- Unsubscribe/Spam Complaints: Are you annoying people?
What you can mostly ignore: - “Best time to send” — it’s often so minor it’s not worth obsessing over. - Generic engagement “scores” — unless you know exactly how they’re calculated. - Vanity metrics like “estimated reads” — if they don’t tie to real-world actions, skip them.
2. Set Up Tracking in Scaledmail
Before you can analyze anything, you need your tracking set up correctly. Scaledmail does most of the heavy lifting, but double-check these basics:
a. Enable Tracking Features
- Open tracking: This adds a tiny invisible image to emails. When someone loads the email, it counts as an open.
- Caveat: Some email clients block images. Open rates are helpful, but never 100% accurate.
- Click tracking: Scaledmail will turn your links into tracked links. You’ll see who clicks what.
- Pro tip: Don’t use too many links, or you’ll look spammy—and might hurt deliverability.
- Reply tracking: Most platforms, including Scaledmail, monitor replies automatically. Make sure your sending address is properly connected.
b. Warm Up Your Sending Domain
If you’re sending a lot of cold emails from a brand-new domain, you’ll get flagged as spam. Scaledmail has tools for gradual “warming up” of your sending reputation. Use them. Don’t skip this step.
c. Test Before Going Live
Send test campaigns to yourself and a few colleagues using different email providers (Gmail, Outlook, etc.). Make sure: - Emails land in the inbox, not spam. - Tracking shows up as expected in Scaledmail’s dashboard.
3. Launch Your Campaigns (But Don’t Set and Forget)
Once you’ve set up your campaigns, it’s tempting to sit back. Don’t. The first few sends are when you’ll catch most mistakes.
- Monitor early results: Is your bounce rate higher than 5%? Stop and check your list quality.
- Are you getting spam complaints? Rethink your subject lines and targeting.
- No opens at all? Your emails might be getting blocked.
4. Dig Into the Data: What to Look For
Here’s how to get actual value from Scaledmail’s reports:
a. Deliverability
- High bounce rate (>5%) means your list is outdated or poorly sourced.
- Low open rate (<20%) could mean:
- Bad subject lines
- You’re landing in spam
- You’re emailing the wrong people
b. Engagement
- Good open rates but low clicks?
- Your message is interesting, but your call-to-action (CTA) is weak or unclear.
- Try reworking your CTA or simplifying your email.
- Good clicks but low replies?
- Are you making it easy for recipients to respond?
- Is your ask too big or vague?
c. Negative Signals
- Unsubscribes and spam complaints: If you’re getting more than 0.5% per send, something’s off.
- Maybe your list isn’t as targeted as you thought.
- Maybe your emails sound like generic spam.
Ignore: Tiny swings in daily metrics. Look for trends over a 1-2 week period, not day-to-day noise.
5. Analyze and Iterate—Don’t Just Stare at Numbers
It’s easy to get stuck just watching numbers tick up and down. The real work is in figuring out why.
a. A/B Test, But Don’t Get Cute
- Test one thing at a time: subject line, sender name, CTA, or copy.
- Don’t bother with “micro-optimizing” colors or weird personalization tricks — they rarely matter for B2B.
b. Segment Your Results
- Break down by industry, company size, or whatever matters most to your business.
- Is one segment tanking your average? Focus your fixes there.
c. Look for Outliers
- Did one campaign flop? Look for obvious mistakes (wrong list, broken links, bad timing).
- Did one campaign crush it? Revisit what you did differently.
d. Don’t Chase Perfection
- In B2B, even “good” campaigns might have reply rates under 10%.
- Focus on steady improvements, not miracle jumps.
6. Reporting: Show Results Without the Fluff
If you need to share performance with your team or boss, keep it simple:
- Show trends over time: “Open rates went from 15% to 22% after we changed the subject line.”
- Highlight real business outcomes: Number of demos booked, replies from target accounts, etc.
- Skip the “look how many emails we sent!” stats. Nobody cares if nothing happened.
7. Common Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)
- Sending too many emails, too fast: Triggers spam filters. Ramp up slowly.
- Ignoring negative signals: If people keep marking you as spam, stop and regroup.
- Over-personalizing: Using first names is fine. Weird “I saw your dog on LinkedIn”-style intros? Don’t.
- Using huge images or attachments: These kill deliverability. Keep emails short and simple.
- Relying on open rates alone: Opens are just a hint. Replies and real engagement matter more.
8. What Scaledmail Does Well (and Where It’s Just Okay)
What’s solid: - Easy setup and tracking for basic metrics. - Clean reporting—no digging through menus to find reply rates or bounces. - Automation tools for follow-ups.
Where you’ll need to do some of the work: - List quality is on you. Scaledmail can’t fix a bad list. - Deliverability tools help, but you still need to write non-spammy emails. - Advanced segmentation and reporting are basic. If you want deep custom analytics, export your data and use your own tools.
Keep It Simple, Tweak, Repeat
Tracking and analyzing B2B outreach isn’t magic. Scaledmail gives you the basics you need, but the real gains come from acting on what you see. Stick to the key metrics, keep your emails human, and make one change at a time. Review, tweak, repeat. Don’t overthink it—just keep moving forward.