Traditionally, performance marketing has been closely associated with paid advertising and media, focusing on revenue-driving activities and other key business metrics. However, email marketing can achieve the same results—and often even better—with a staggering ROI of 44:11.
This is a level of return that many paid channels struggle to match. Despite this, the performance measurement of CRM often lags behind that of paid channels.
As third-party cookies become harder to track, the importance of first-party data and maximising its potential will become crucial. To support this shift, businesses need to transfer the methodologies of traditional performance marketing from paid media into CRM. So, how can you adopt a more performance-driven approach within your CRM channels?
1. Measurement Is Key
Simply tracking CTR (click-through rates) is no longer enough. Many organisations still have a stark contrast in how they measure performance across CRM and paid channels. In paid media, it’s expected to monitor revenue, profit, CPC (cost per click), LTV (lifetime value), and numerous other KPIs to ensure every penny is spent effectively. Yet, email and other CRM channels are often only measured by opens and clicks, with traffic to the site often being the main concern. While this is a limited perspective, there’s no reason CRM shouldn’t be held to the same standard as paid channels, especially when it comes to revenue and profit generation.
The first step is ensuring that key metrics such as revenue and profit are visible and trackable by CRM teams. This may require a fundamental change in how you report and measure CRM performance. While open rates (still relevant, even post-iOS privacy updates) and click-through rates are useful, they should be reviewed alongside revenue-driving metrics—whether that’s renewals, product usage, or sales. Once you have consistent feedback on these metrics, you can begin optimising journeys and experiences to maximise revenue.
This doesn’t mean that all emails need to be revenue focused. Just as brand-led or awareness campaigns aim to drive upper-funnel metrics like brand awareness and engagement, email can also play a role in longer-term brand loyalty. However, to measure this effectively, the right tests and controls must be in place.
Key Actions:
Identify the metrics that matter to your business.
Ensure you have reliable reporting methods to track CRM performance.
Monitor negative metrics, such as rising unsubscribe rates, as these can be warning signs that your content is either irrelevant or overly frequent.
2. Trust Your Data, Not Your CEO
Testing is critical for improving results. Without knowing what works for your audience, your campaigns will struggle to perform. Many brands rely heavily on long-standing habits or the preferences of senior leadership. The mindset of “we’ve always done it this way” isn’t a good reason to send the same weekly newsletter to your entire mailing list. Similarly, just because the CEO wants to promote sandals doesn’t mean it's relevant to your audience.
Having a Customer Data Platform (CDP), or at least a system that allows your marketing team to segment audiences without relying on data teams, is essential. This will help you understand how different segments engage with your content. Every email sent is an opportunity to learn more about how your audience interacts across channels, products, and content types. The more you can tag and track your content, the easier it becomes to target your audience effectively.
Recording your tests may not be as exciting as creating interactive WhatsApp surveys, but without documenting what you test, who you test it on, and how it performs, you won’t be able to reliably measure success. A detailed test-and-learn methodology will help you track incremental improvements. Even a small increase in CTR by 0.5% from using a brightly coloured CTA can add up to significant revenue gains when combined with other small improvements. More importantly, documenting your tests will help build a business case against blanket emails. If you can demonstrate the impact of smaller, more targeted campaigns on both unsubscribe rates and revenue, you can start challenging the obsession with driving traffic to the site.
Key Actions:
Always test! Each campaign is a chance to learn but avoid testing too many variables at once.
Test both content and segmentation to better align your creative with audience preferences.
Record all tests. By keeping track of benchmarks and past results, you can build a clearer picture of how you are driving incremental growth.
3. Say More with Less
Testing is done best with small, focused campaigns. It’s tempting to try out all your ideas at once, but that makes it difficult to determine what’s working. The same principle applies to content: packing emails with too much information can confuse recipients, making it harder for them to engage with the main message. Every email should have one clear objective, supported by concise copy and a strong CTA (call-to-action). While customers are used to scrolling, engagement drops dramatically after the first few screenfuls of content. Lengthy descriptions or testimonials are better suited for your website.
Key Actions:
Each email should have a single objective—leave out content that doesn’t support it.
Keep copy short and make CTAs prominent to get your message across quickly.
Email isn’t just a landing page: create intrigue and excitement by holding back some information to drive traffic to your website.
To Wrap Up
In the end, it all comes back to data. Success in performance-driven channels fundamentally relies on simplicity: clear goals and metrics, concise messaging and CTAs, and robust tracking and measurement. There’s no reason email shouldn’t be treated as a performance channel, but this shift in mentality will take time. Tools such as a testing backlog and documentation to prove your results will be crucial in driving this change.
If you need help taking the first steps towards a performance-focused CRM marketing strategy or measuring statistically significant changes, feel free to get in touch.
