Response Rate Definition

A response rate is a metric which represents the number of people who engage with a call to action (CTA). It can refer to a literal response, in the sense of a prospect replying to an email marketing message. However, just as often a response rate is aiming to measure the behavior of a prospect after being presented with a CTA. If, for example, the call to action is to fill out a survey, the number of people who do so increase the response rate. This is true even though the prospects haven’t actually “responded” to the company.

Response Rate Example

Imagine that a business is interested in social media marketing. They decide to run a new social media marketing campaign—any follower who fills out a marketing survey will receive an exclusive coupon or discount. The business tracks how many views their social media posts for the campaign get as well as how many people click through and complete the survey. By dividing the number of people who filled out the survey by the total number of views, the business can determine the response rate percentage.

Knowing this metric is important because the business will then be able to judge how well received the offer was by their audience. In this case, a higher response rate is a good thing—but there are some scenarios where a lower response rate may be desirable (such as how many people fill out a complaint form, for example).

Why is Understanding Response Rate Important in Strategic Marketing?

Strategy

Understanding which campaigns compel a target audience into action—and subsequently those which do not—is important to consider when creating a marketing strategy.

Continuous Improvement

By tracking the response rate of different campaigns, businesses are able to continually improve their campaigns to try and get a higher (or lower, see above) response rate.