If there’s one thing I don’t see folks talking about in the email marketing world, it’s the concept of macro and micro conversions.
We get so bogged down with measuring email metrics, we forget why we were sending the emails in the first place 😬
Macro vs. Micro conversions
A “macro” conversion is your big goal.
It’s tied to goals that move the needle in your business.
Things like:
- Increasing free trial sign-ups
- Getting users to choose the annual plan
- Migrating users to a new version of your app
Think of it as your ultimate goal. The metric that will be measured to figure out the success of your email campaign.
And you'll measure it against:
How many conversions (free trials to paid, upgrades to annual plan, etc.) were you getting monthly before your email campaign went live?
How many are you getting after?
Has there been an increase, a decrease, or has it remained unchanged?
That’s the metric that’ll tell you whether your campaign was a success or not.
When a SaaS team reaches out to me, they'll say they need to create or optimize their emails.
But when we get on a call, they say:
→ We want to increase our free trial sign-ups because our MRR has plateaued.
→ We want to increase our ARR by getting more users to choose the annual plan.
→ Our churn is too high, and so on.
My job is to figure out how to help them achieve that goal with emails.
Which brings me to micro conversions...
A “micro” conversion is linked to the individual emails in your campaign.
They’re the small actions your users take to reach the big goal.
Think of it this way…
In an onboarding sequence, each email is designed to encourage users to take a small action that moves them towards the bigger goal (the macro conversion.)
When a user signs up for a free trial, you don’t immediately ask them to become a paying customer, do you?
Each email you send focuses on getting a micro conversion first.
Each micro conversion inches the user towards the big goal — the macro conversion.
So if the goal of an email sequence is to get the macro conversion...
Why do we focus on micro conversions for email performance?
Two reasons.
- Because it’s been the industry standard for as long as anyone can remember
- It comes in handy when your macro conversion goals aren’t met or fall short of expectations.
When the former happens, that’s when you go in, look at each email’s performance to see where the disconnect happened.
You do an audit.
You figure out which emails performed better and which didn’t. You find out where the micro conversion train broke, so you can fix it.
Because here’s the thing:
Conversion may be a single event, but you need to offer multiple opportunities to convert.
So yes, track your opens and clicks.
But don't forget they’re only stepping stones towards a business goal.
If your emails aren’t tied to a macro conversion, you’re not email marketing; you’re just shooting emails in the dark, hoping some would stick.
— Samar
P.S. If your email metrics look fine but your revenue doesn’t, we should talk.
Let’s connect your emails to your revenue.
Life Outside the Inbox
- I broke my kitchen sink. It's irreparable 😭
- I'm writing emails without AI again. And let me tell you — it's excruciating! It took me TWO weeks to write 4 emails for my course launch. BUT they're also some of the best emails I've written for my business in a loooooong time. Jury's out on how well they'll convert.
- I love it when the student surpasses the teacher. My favorite email marketer was once my student. Now, I learn from her. She just started her YouTube channel. It's SO GOOD.
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