What Email Metrics Should You Track for App Marketing?

Are you tracking the right email metrics for your app, or are you just watching vanity numbers that don't actually move the needle? After years of building apps and helping clients set up their email marketing campaigns, I've seen too many teams obsessing over the wrong data while missing the metrics that actually predict success.

Look, email marketing for mobile apps isn't the same as traditional email campaigns. When someone clicks your email about a flash sale, you're not just hoping they visit your website—you need them to open your app, engage with specific features, and ideally make a purchase or complete an action that drives your business forward. That's a much more complex journey, and it requires tracking metrics that most email platforms don't even show you by default.

The thing is, most app developers I work with start tracking email performance the same way they'd track any other marketing channel. They look at open rates, maybe click-through rates, and call it a day. But here's what I've learned from working with everyone from fintech startups to major retail brands: those surface-level metrics only tell you if people are interested enough to click. They don't tell you if your emails are actually driving the app engagement and revenue that keeps your business growing.

The best email campaigns for mobile apps don't just get opened—they drive specific in-app behaviours that compound over time to create genuinely valuable users.

In this guide, we'll walk through the email analytics that actually matter for app marketing. We'll cover everything from the obvious metrics you should be tracking differently, to the hidden performance indicators that most teams completely miss but can make or break your campaigns.

Open Rates and Their Real Impact

Right, let's talk about open rates—probably the most misunderstood metric in email marketing for apps. I see clients obsessing over these numbers all the time, and honestly? It drives me a bit mad because they're missing the bigger picture.

Open rates tell you how many people opened your email, sure. But here's the thing—they don't actually tell you if your app marketing is working. I've seen campaigns with 15% open rates that generated more downloads than ones with 35% open rates. Why? Because it's not about how many people open your emails; it's about who opens them and what they do next.

What Open Rates Actually Mean for App Marketers

When you're marketing an app, your open rate is more like a health check for your sender reputation and subject line quality. If your open rates suddenly drop from 25% to 10%, that's a red flag—maybe you've hit spam filters, or your audience has gone cold.

But don't chase vanity metrics. A 40% open rate means nothing if those users aren't downloading your app or engaging with your existing app features. I'd rather have 100 highly engaged users who actually use the app than 1,000 who just peek at emails and forget about them.

Industry Benchmarks That Matter

Here's what I typically see across different app categories:

• Gaming apps: 20-25% open rates
• Productivity apps: 18-22% open rates
• E-commerce apps: 15-20% open rates
• Social apps: 22-28% open rates
• Finance apps: 16-21% open rates

Remember though, these numbers mean nothing without context. A finance app with a 16% open rate but high conversion to premium features? That's brilliant. A gaming app with 25% opens but terrible retention? Not so much.

Click-Through Rates That Actually Matter

Right, let's talk about click-through rates—because honestly, most people are measuring them completely wrong when it comes to app marketing. I see clients obsessing over their overall CTR figures, but they're missing the bigger picture entirely.

Your email CTR is basically the percentage of people who clicked on something in your email after opening it. Sounds simple enough, right? But here's where it gets interesting for us app developers and marketers—not all clicks are created equal.

When I'm working with clients on their email campaigns, we don't just look at the headline CTR number. We dig deeper. Which specific links are people clicking? Are they tapping on your "Download Now" button, or are they clicking through to your privacy policy? Both count as clicks, but only one actually matters for your app's success.

Breaking Down Your Click Data

The emails that perform best for app marketing typically see CTRs between 2-5%, but that varies massively depending on your audience and email type. Onboarding emails usually perform better than promotional ones—people are genuinely interested in learning how to use your app at that point.

Track clicks by individual links, not just overall CTR. Your "Open App" button clicks are worth way more than clicks to your social media pages.

Here's what you should be tracking for each email campaign:

• Primary CTA clicks (app downloads, app opens, feature usage)
• Secondary link clicks (support, social media, website)
• Click-to-open rate (clicks divided by opens, not total sends)
• Click timing (when during the day people are most likely to click)
• Device-specific click patterns (mobile vs desktop behaviour)

The click-to-open rate is particularly useful because it shows how compelling your email content is to people who actually read it. If your open rates are solid but your click-to-open rate is rubbish, you know the problem isn't your subject line—it's what's inside the email that needs work.

Conversion Tracking Beyond the Click

Right, so someone clicked your email and downloaded your app. Job done, yeah? Well, not quite. This is where most people stop tracking, but honestly, that's where the real story begins. I mean, what's the point of getting downloads if those users never actually use your app?

The click is just the beginning—what happens next determines whether your email campaign was actually successful or just generated some vanity metrics. You need to track the entire user journey from that initial click through to meaningful app engagement. And trust me, this is where things get interesting.

Post-Install Behaviour Tracking

When someone installs your app after clicking an email, you want to know if they actually open it. Then you want to know if they complete your onboarding process. Are they creating an account? Making their first purchase? Setting up their profile? These are the metrics that tell you whether your email content attracted the right people.

I always set up tracking for what I call the "golden path"—the sequence of actions that indicate a user is genuinely engaging with the app rather than just having a quick look and deleting it. This might be completing three key actions within the first week or spending more than five minutes in the app during their first session.

Long-Term Value Measurement

But here's where it gets really interesting: tracking user behaviour over 30, 60, even 90 days after that initial email click. Are users from your email campaigns more likely to become paying customers? Do they have higher retention rates? This data helps you understand which email campaigns are bringing in your most valuable users, not just the most users.

Setting up proper conversion tracking requires connecting your email platform with your app analytics, but the insights you get are absolutely worth the technical effort.

User Engagement and App Activity

Here's where things get really interesting—and where most app developers miss the boat completely. You can have brilliant open rates and click-through rates, but if people aren't actually using your app after clicking through from your emails, you're basically throwing money down the drain. I've seen countless apps with stellar email performance that still failed because they weren't tracking what happened next.

The metric that matters most? Post-email app session length. When someone clicks through from your email, how long do they spend in your app? Are they just opening it for two seconds and closing it again, or are they genuinely engaging with your content? This tells you whether your email messaging aligns with what people actually find in your app—a disconnect here is bloody expensive to fix later.

Session Quality Over Quantity

App opens within 24 hours of email sends are another goldmine of data. Sure, someone might not click your email link directly, but if they open your app shortly after receiving your message, that's still a win. Your email reminded them you exist, which is half the battle in today's overcrowded app landscape.

The best email campaigns don't just drive clicks—they drive meaningful behaviour changes that stick around long after the email is deleted.

Feature adoption rates from email traffic deserve special attention too. If you're promoting a new feature via email, track how many recipients actually use that feature within a week. I typically see adoption rates of 15-25% for well-targeted campaigns, but it varies massively by industry and user base. Anything below 10% usually means your messaging needs work—or your feature isn't as compelling as you thought it was.

Revenue Attribution from Email Campaigns

Here's where things get properly interesting—and honestly, a bit tricky. Tracking how much money your email campaigns actually bring in isn't as straightforward as you might think, especially when you're dealing with mobile apps where users bounce between different devices and platforms.

The biggest challenge I see with app marketers is they're only looking at immediate conversions. Someone clicks your email link, downloads the app, maybe makes a purchase—easy to track, right? But what about the user who reads your email on their laptop during lunch, then downloads your app on their phone three days later? Traditional email tracking completely misses this.

You need to think about revenue attribution in two ways: direct and influenced. Direct attribution is the straightforward stuff—user clicks email, completes action immediately. But influenced attribution? That's where the real value lies. It's tracking users who engaged with your email content but converted through a different channel later.

Key Revenue Metrics to Monitor

• Revenue per email sent (total campaign revenue divided by emails sent)
• Lifetime value of email-acquired users vs. other channels
• Time-to-purchase after email engagement
• Cross-session conversion tracking (email to app download)
• Assisted conversions where email played a role

The trick is setting up proper UTM parameters and working with your analytics team to create attribution windows that make sense. Most apps use a 7-day click and 1-day view window, but I've found that extending this to 14 days gives you a much clearer picture of email's true impact.

Don't forget about cohort analysis either. Users acquired through email campaigns often behave differently than those from paid ads or organic search—they tend to be more engaged and have higher retention rates, even if their immediate conversion value looks lower.

Deliverability Metrics You Can't Ignore

Right, let's talk about the unsexy stuff that can make or break your app marketing campaigns. I mean, you could craft the most beautiful email in the world, but if it doesn't actually reach your users' inboxes? Well, you're basically shouting into the void.

Deliverability is where I see a lot of app marketers completely lose the plot. They're obsessing over open rates and click-throughs whilst their emails are bouncing left, right and centre. It's a bit mad really—like worrying about the colour of your car when the engine doesn't work.

The Big Three You Need to Watch

Your bounce rate is the first red flag. Hard bounces (invalid email addresses) should stay under 2%, but soft bounces can be tricky—they might indicate temporary issues or full inboxes. I've seen app campaigns tank because teams ignored mounting soft bounce rates that eventually became permanent delivery failures.

Spam complaint rates are the real killer though. Anything above 0.1% and you're in trouble with email service providers. Your sender reputation takes a beating, and before you know it, even your best users aren't seeing your app notifications and updates.

Set up automated alerts for bounce rates above 5% and spam complaints above 0.08%. These early warnings can save your sender reputation before it's too late.

Then there's your sender score—basically your credit rating for email. Most ESPs provide this data, and anything below 70 means you need to take action fast. Clean your lists, improve your content, and maybe slow down your sending frequency until things improve.

• Monitor bounce rates weekly (aim for under 3% total)
• Track spam complaints religiously (keep under 0.1%)
• Check your sender reputation score monthly
• Watch for blacklist appearances
• Review inbox placement rates by provider

The thing is, poor deliverability doesn't just hurt individual campaigns—it damages your long-term ability to reach users through email. And for app marketers, that's often your most direct line to re-engaging dormant users.

Segmentation Performance Analysis

Here's where things get really interesting—and where most app developers miss out on huge opportunities. I've seen countless clients send the same generic email to their entire user base, then wonder why their metrics are rubbish. The truth is, your different user segments behave completely differently, and your email performance should reflect that understanding.

When I'm setting up email campaigns for app clients, we always start by creating meaningful segments. New users who haven't completed onboarding need different messaging than power users who've been active for months. Users who abandoned their shopping cart require a different approach than those who've never made a purchase. It sounds obvious when you say it like that, but you'd be surprised how many apps treat all users the same way.

Key Segments to Track Separately

• New users (0-7 days since install)
• Active users (weekly app opens)
• Dormant users (no activity for 14+ days)
• Converting users (made purchases or key actions)
• Geographic segments (different time zones, languages)
• Device type (iOS vs Android behaviour patterns)

The magic happens when you compare performance across these segments. Your re-engagement emails might have a 15% open rate with dormant users but 45% with active ones. That doesn't mean the dormant user campaign is failing—it means you need different expectations and strategies for each group.

I always tell clients to look at segment performance trends over time rather than just snapshots. If your new user segment's click-through rates are declining month over month, that's telling you something about your onboarding flow or the quality of users you're acquiring. These insights help shape not just your email strategy, but your entire app marketing approach.

Right, so we've covered quite a bit of ground here—from the basics of open rates through to the more complex world of revenue attribution. And honestly? It's a lot to take in when you first start tracking email analytics for your mobile app.

But here's what I've learned after years of running email campaigns for apps across every industry you can think of: you don't need to track every single metric from day one. Start with the fundamentals—open rates, click-through rates, and conversions. Get comfortable with those numbers, understand what they mean for your specific app, and then gradually add more sophisticated tracking.

The biggest mistake I see app developers make is getting lost in the data. They'll track dozens of metrics but never actually use the insights to improve their campaigns. It's like having a sports car and only driving it in first gear! What matters is picking the metrics that align with your app's business goals and then acting on what the data tells you.

If your app makes money through subscriptions, focus heavily on conversion tracking and revenue attribution. If you're all about user engagement, dive deep into those post-email app activity metrics. Free apps with ad revenue? You'll want to track everything that leads to increased session times and daily active users.

Remember, email analytics for mobile apps isn't just about the emails themselves—it's about understanding how email fits into your users' entire journey with your app. The best performing campaigns I've worked on always treated email as one part of a bigger conversation, not as isolated messages sent into the void.

Start measuring, start learning, and most importantly, start improving. Your users (and your app's bottom line) will thank you for it.