How to track and optimize cold email campaign performance using Mailstand analytics

If you’re sending cold emails and not sure what works—or you’re drowning in stats that don’t mean much—this is for you. Tracking and improving your campaigns shouldn’t be a guessing game or a full-time job. This guide is for founders, marketers, and sales folks who want to get real results from cold email, not just open rates to brag about. We’ll focus on clear steps and honest advice for using Mailstand analytics to actually make your campaigns better.

1. Get Your Baseline: Set Up Mailstand and Your First Campaign

Before you start tweaking anything, you need a baseline. If you’re not already using Mailstand, set it up:

  • Connect your sending email accounts (use separate domains if you’re serious about cold outreach).
  • Build a test campaign—don’t overthink it, just get something out the door.
  • Import a list of leads. Clean it! (Dirty lists = bounces = deliverability nightmares.)

Why start simple? Because you need to see what “normal” looks like for your business. You can’t optimize what you don’t measure.

Pro tip: Don’t dump your whole lead list in at once. Start small so you can catch issues early and avoid getting your domain flagged.

2. Understand the Numbers That Actually Matter

Mailstand gives you a lot of data, but not all metrics are useful. Here’s what’s worth your attention—and what’s mostly noise.

The Must-Haves

  • Delivery Rate: If your emails aren’t landing, nothing else matters. Watch out for high bounce rates—clean your list, and don’t buy sketchy data.
  • Open Rate: Useful, but not gospel. Apple Mail privacy updates and other changes can inflate these numbers. Use as a rough barometer, not the whole story.
  • Reply Rate: The gold standard for cold email. If people aren’t replying, you’re not starting conversations.
  • Positive Response Rate: Some tools (including Mailstand) let you tag replies as positive, negative, or neutral. This helps you see if you’re getting real leads or just angry unsubscribes.

The Meh Metrics

  • Click Rate: Not always relevant for cold email. Unless your call to action is a link (like booking a call), don’t obsess over clicks.
  • Unsubscribe Rate: Useful if it spikes, but most prospects just ignore you. Low unsubscribes don’t mean you’re winning.

Ignore the rest: Open time, device type, and all that jazz won’t help you write better emails or land more meetings.

3. Track Campaign Performance in Mailstand

Once your campaign is live, Mailstand starts collecting data automatically. Here’s how to use it without getting lost:

  • Head to the Analytics or Dashboard section. You’ll see an overview of all your campaigns.
  • Drill down into a specific campaign to see:
  • Delivery, open, and reply rates
  • How each email in your sequence performs (not just the first one)
  • Which leads are engaging (and which aren’t)

Look for patterns, not one-off spikes. One great day or one angry reply doesn’t mean much. Trends over a week or two tell you if you’re on the right track.

Pro tip: Set up daily or weekly email reports in Mailstand to keep tabs without living in dashboards.

4. Diagnose Weak Points: Where Are You Losing People?

Cold email is a funnel. Use Mailstand’s analytics to find the leaks:

  • Low Delivery Rate: Your emails are bouncing or ending up in spam.
  • Check your sending domain reputation (use free tools like Google Postmaster).
  • Make sure your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are set up. No idea what those are? Google them and fix ASAP.

  • Warm up your sending accounts—don’t blast 500 emails on day one.

  • Low Open Rate: Your subject lines or sender name aren’t cutting it.

  • Test different subject lines. Short and specific beats clever.

  • Try using a real person’s name as the sender, not “Sales Team.”

  • Low Reply Rate: Your message is missing the mark.

  • Is your pitch too generic? Personalization matters, but don’t fake it.
  • Are you making a clear ask, or just “touching base”? Be direct.
  • Sequence too long? If people don’t respond by email 3 or 4, they probably won’t.

Don’t get stuck tweaking tiny details. If you’re under 10% open rates or 1% reply rates, something big needs fixing—list quality, messaging, or deliverability.

5. Run Smart Experiments (Not Endless Tinkering)

Here’s where most people go wrong: They change too much, too fast, or chase vanity metrics. Instead, use Mailstand’s built-in tools to run real tests:

  • A/B Testing: Most cold email tools (Mailstand included) let you send different versions of your email. Only test one thing at a time—subject line, intro sentence, etc.
  • Test Small, Scale What Works: Send each version to 50-100 leads, then look at reply rates. Don’t declare a “winner” after 10 sends.
  • Log Everything: Jot down what you changed and when. You’ll forget otherwise.

What’s worth testing? - Subject line vs. body copy: Both matter, but the opener gets you in the door. - Time of day/day of week: Worth a look, but don’t obsess. If your list is global, this is a rabbit hole. - Sequence length: Sometimes fewer, better emails outperform long sequences.

What to skip: Emojis in subject lines, weird fonts, or “sent from my iPhone” tricks. People see right through gimmicks.

6. Use Lead-Level Analytics to Prioritize Follow-Up

Mailstand lets you see how each lead interacts with your emails. This isn’t just for curiosity—it’s for action.

  • Filter for leads who opened multiple times, clicked, or replied. These are your hottest prospects.
  • Ignore the “never opened” crowd, especially after a few follow-ups. Don’t waste time chasing ghosts.
  • Export or tag engaged leads for faster manual follow-up or handoff to sales.

Pro tip: If someone opens your email six times but doesn’t reply, send a short, personal follow-up. Don’t automate this—just be human.

7. Don’t Get Sucked Into Over-Optimization

Here’s the honest truth: No amount of analytics will save a bad list or a weak offer. Mailstand’s data helps you find what’s broken and what’s working, but it’s not magic.

  • Focus on real improvements: better lists, clearer offers, more direct copy.
  • Don’t stress over getting from 36% to 38% open rates. A small jump in replies is worth way more.
  • Set aside regular time (weekly or biweekly) to review results and make one or two smart changes—then let it run.

Summary: Keep It Simple, Iterate, Repeat

Cold email works when you treat it like a process, not a one-off blast. Use Mailstand analytics to track the basics, fix what’s broken, and run small, smart experiments. Don’t chase every metric—focus on conversations started, not just emails sent.

Start small, pay attention, and keep improving. Over time, you’ll figure out what actually works for your audience—and you’ll waste less time on the stuff that doesn’t.