Learn about common metrics to evaluate your writing in email, social media, blog, and report. Align your metrics with your goals and improve your skills.

From my point of view, engagement and conversion should be the hallmarks of whether or not your social media strategy is working. Yes, reach has some value if you are solely focused on awareness, but true resonance can only be measured on how viewers respond to your posts and their resulting behaviour.

What metrics can you use to measure the effectiveness of your writing in different contexts?

You write for different purposes, audiences, and platforms every day. But how do you know if your writing is effective in each context? How do you measure the impact of your words on your readers? In this article, you will learn about some common metrics that you can use to evaluate your writing in different contexts, such as email, social media, blog, and report. You will also discover how to align your metrics with your goals, and how to use feedback and data to improve your writing skills.

1 Email metrics

Email is a popular form of professional communication, so you want to make sure your emails are clear, concise, and compelling. To measure the effectiveness of your email writing, consider the open rate, click-through rate, and response rate. The open rate is the percentage of recipients who opened your email, and a high open rate indicates a catchy and relevant subject line. The click-through rate is the percentage of recipients who clicked on a link in your email; if it's high, it means your content was engaging and persuasive. Lastly, the response rate is the percentage of recipients who replied to your email. If it's high, it means your email prompted a conversation or an action.

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Elin Jones

Risk Communication Strategist and Editor/Writer at Washington, D.C.
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Just because your email was opened or a post viewed does not mean that it was read or understood. Keep communication brief and use plain simple language. Encourage a call to action and click throughs for more details. We learn a lot from comments and other engagement -- even if they are negative. Time spent on a blog or a video are important. For instance, the fact that no viewer finishes watching the director's weekly 3-minute video message is more significant and revealing than her message. Surveys help assess the best ways to reach a target consumer. When asked how did you hear about us, surprisingly many people respond "your staff." It is a smart practice to inform your own staff about company products, programs and communications.

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2 Social media metrics

Social media is a powerful tool for building your brand, connecting with your audience, and sharing your ideas. When writing a tweet, post, or caption, you want your social media writing to be catchy, creative, and conversational. To measure the effectiveness of your content, you can look at metrics such as reach, engagement, and conversion. Reach is the number of people who saw your content; a high reach indicates that your content was visible and attractive. Engagement is the number of people who liked, commented, shared, or reacted to your content; a high engagement indicates that your content was interesting and resonant. Conversion is the number of people who took a desired action after seeing your content; a high conversion suggests that your content was relevant and influential.

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Jordan Berman, MBA
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From my point of view, engagement and conversion should be the hallmarks of whether or not your social media strategy is working. Yes, reach has some value if you are solely focused on awareness, but true resonance can only be measured on how viewers respond to your posts and their resulting behaviour.

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3 Blog metrics

Writing a blog is a great way to showcase your expertise, provide value to your readers, and generate traffic to your website. Whether you are writing a how-to, a listicle, or a case study, you want it to be informative, useful, and SEO-friendly. To measure the effectiveness of your blog writing, you can look at metrics such as views, time on page, and bounce rate. A high number of views indicates that your blog title was appealing and optimized. A high time on page suggests that your blog content was relevant and engaging. Lastly, a low bounce rate implies that your blog content was satisfying and actionable.

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4 Report metrics

Writing a report is a formal way of presenting your findings, analysis, and recommendations to stakeholders. To ensure accuracy, logic, and persuasiveness, you should measure the effectiveness of your report writing using metrics such as clarity, credibility, and impact. Clarity measures how easy it is to understand and interpret your report structure, language, and visuals. Credibility assesses whether your research, analysis, and citation were thorough and transparent. Impact evaluates the degree to which your report purpose, argument, and recommendations were compelling and convincing.

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Stacey L Miller
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Some Metrics for effective writing: Online Content: Track page views, time on page, bounce rate & social shares. Marketing Copy: Measure conversion rates for desired actions like purchases or sign-ups. Feedback & Comments: Assess audience reactions & sentiments. Readability: Evaluate scores & clarity using readability tools. SEO Performance: Monitor search rankings, keyword performance & organic traffic. Presentations: Gauge audience engagement, questions & participation. PR: Measure media coverage, mentions & backlinks. Long-form Content: Track completion rates to assess reader engagement. Time to Action: Measure the time taken for readers to act. Goal Benchmarking: Regularly compare performance against predefined goals or KPIs.

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5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Zachary Flynn

Live Events Production | Strategic Communications
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As a communicator, remember to always consider why you're generating a certain piece of content, what business goal your tactic is supporting, and how that goal is being measured. For example, if the goal is to get 100 people to sign up for a seminar and you are predominantly communicating about this seminar via social media, it is safe to say that the success of that goal is a direct reflection of how effective your post was. Rule of thumb: Always make sure your tactics roll up to business goals. A "successful" tactic that doesn't move the business forward isn't high-value work for you and your team.

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Pratik Vaidya

Market Intelligence : Business & Data Analytics : MBA|MIS
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Substantial data and metrics is all well and good, but depending on the importance and context of your message, the answer to ‘What is the impact of my writing?’ can be as simple as ‘did a single person take the action I was intending for?’

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What metrics can you use to measure the effectiveness of your writing in different contexts?

1

2

3

4

5

1 Email metrics

2 Social media metrics

3 Blog metrics

4 Report metrics

5 Here’s what else to consider

Strategic Communications

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What metrics can you use to measure the effectiveness of your writing in different contexts?

1

2

3

4

5

1 Email metrics

2 Social media metrics

3 Blog metrics

4 Report metrics

5 Here’s what else to consider

Strategic Communications

Rate this article

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