If you’re running cold email or outbound campaigns and you’re not tracking performance, you’re basically guessing. This guide is for anyone using Quickmail to send campaigns and actually wants to know what’s working, what’s not, and what to do about it. No fluff—just a practical walkthrough of what to track, how to do it in Quickmail, and what’s worth your attention.
1. Understand What Metrics Matter (and Which Don’t)
Before you even log in, let’s get clear on what you should care about. Email platforms throw a ton of numbers at you, but most are distractions.
The essentials: - Delivery Rate: Are your emails making it to inboxes? - Open Rate: Are people actually opening your emails? - Reply Rate: Are you getting real responses? - Bounce Rate: Are you sending to bad addresses? - Unsubscribe/Opt-out Rate: Are you pissing people off?
What to ignore (or at least, not obsess over): - Click Rate: If you’re doing cold outreach, don’t use links in your first email anyway. Click tracking can hurt deliverability. - “Positive” vs “Negative” Replies: These can be helpful, but the labels aren’t always accurate and need human review.
If you focus on delivery, opens, replies, and bounces, you’re covering 90% of what actually matters.
2. Set Up Your Campaigns for Accurate Tracking
Metrics are only as good as your setup. Before you launch, make sure you’re not sabotaging your own data.
Checklist: - Authenticate your sending domain: Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records. Quickmail will guide you, but double-check using a tool like MXToolbox. - Warm up new inboxes: Don’t blast 500 emails on Day 1. Start slow or use Quickmail’s inbox warmup feature. - Avoid link and open tracking (if possible): These features can trip spam filters. If you need open tracking, use it sparingly. - Personalize your emails: Not just to sound human, but because mail providers hate spammy templates.
Pro tip: If your bounce rate is above 5%, your list probably needs cleaning. Use a list verifier before uploading to Quickmail.
3. Where to Find Your Metrics in Quickmail
Log into Quickmail and head to the “Campaigns” tab. For each campaign, you’ll see a dashboard with the basics:
- Delivered: Number of emails that actually landed (not bounced)
- Opened: How many recipients opened
- Replied: How many replies you got
- Bounced: Bad emails that didn’t make it
- Opted Out: People who unsubscribed
You can dig deeper by clicking into a campaign for more detail, including stats per step (if you use multi-step sequences).
Quickmail’s interface is straightforward, but a few things to note: - “Replied” is based on actual replies, not out-of-office or auto-responders. They do a decent job filtering, but double-check occasionally. - Open tracking is imperfect. It relies on invisible pixels—if someone blocks images, it won’t register. Don’t treat open rates as gospel.
4. Interpreting the Numbers: What’s “Good”?
Benchmarks vary, but here’s what most cold emailers see (assuming you’ve done basic setup right):
- Delivery Rate: 95%+ (lower means list or domain issues)
- Open Rate: 40–70% (depends on your audience and subject line)
- Reply Rate: 5–15% is solid (higher is great, under 3% means you need to tweak copy or targeting)
- Bounce Rate: Under 5% is acceptable; 2% or less is ideal
- Opt-out Rate: Under 2% is normal; more than that, your targeting may be off
If your numbers are way off: - Delivery or bounce problems? Check your domain setup and list quality. - Low opens? Subject line or preview text probably needs work. - Low replies? Revisit your message and targeting.
Don’t obsess over small fluctuations. Look for trends over a week or two, not day-to-day swings.
5. Step-by-Step: Tracking and Analyzing a Quickmail Campaign
Here’s how to actually monitor your campaign in Quickmail, step by step.
Step 1: Launch Your Campaign
- Upload your cleaned list.
- Double-check sending limits and schedule.
- Hit send. (Don’t send more than 50–100 emails/day from a new inbox.)
Step 2: Let It Run—But Check Early
- After the first batch, check for immediate bounces. If you see a spike, pause and clean your list.
- Watch for early replies—Quickmail should flag these for you.
Step 3: Monitor Key Metrics
- Every day or two, log in and check:
- Delivery Rate: If you see it dip, stop the campaign and investigate.
- Bounce Rate: High bounces? Clean your list, don’t just keep sending.
- Open Rate: If it’s unusually low, try a new subject line for your next batch.
- Reply Rate: This is your real “success” metric. Track if it changes after you tweak anything.
Step 4: Adjust Based on What You See
If you’re not getting the results you want, here’s what to try:
- Low opens: Change your subject line. Make it shorter, more relevant, or less “salesy.”
- Low replies: Rewrite your email. Make it about them, not you. Cut fluff.
- High bounces: Pause, clean your list, and only restart when it’s fixed.
- High opt-outs: Check your targeting and tone. Are you reaching the right people?
Make one change at a time so you know what’s actually working.
Step 5: Test, Iterate, and Keep Notes
- Use Quickmail’s built-in A/B testing to compare subject lines or email copy.
- Keep a simple spreadsheet or doc with what you changed and the results. Don’t rely on memory.
- Over time, patterns will emerge—certain subject lines, intros, or CTAs will consistently perform better.
6. Don’t Get Fooled by Vanity Metrics
It’s tempting to chase higher open rates or obsess over “positive” reply counts. Don’t. Here’s why:
- Open rates lie: Email clients block tracking pixels, and bots can trigger opens. It’s a rough signal, not a scoreboard.
- Replies matter most: Actual conversations are what count. All the opens in the world don’t matter if nobody responds.
- Volume ≠ success: Sending more emails doesn’t fix a bad campaign—it just burns your list and reputation faster.
Stick to the basics: delivered, replied, bounced. Everything else is just context.
7. Red Flags and When to Hit Pause
Don’t just “set and forget.” If you see: - Sudden drop in delivery or spike in bounces: You might be flagged as spam or your domain is blacklisted. Pause and investigate. - Opt-out rate jumps: Your message or list is off-target. Don’t keep blasting. - No replies after 500+ sends: Something’s broken—copy, targeting, or technical setup.
Fix the root cause before resuming. Better to pause than ruin your sender reputation.
8. What About Integrations and Exports?
If you want to dig deeper, Quickmail lets you: - Export campaign data as CSV for your own analysis or reporting. - Integrate with CRMs (like HubSpot or Pipedrive) using native connectors or Zapier. Just don’t overcomplicate things unless you really need to. - Webhook notifications can alert you to replies or bounces in real time, but for most people, checking the dashboard is enough.
9. Keep It Simple—And Keep Improving
Don’t wait for “perfect data.” The basics—delivery, opens, replies, bounces—are enough to make real improvements. Track them, tweak one thing at a time, and see what moves the needle.
Most people get bogged down in dashboards and charts. The best senders? They test, learn, and adjust. Rinse and repeat.
Stay skeptical of any tool or “guru” promising magic numbers. If you can track these fundamentals in Quickmail, you’re already ahead of most.