Understanding Rates
How email performance rates are calculated in Z360 GTM Hub.
The Cascading Funnel Model
Z360 uses a cascading funnel where each rate is calculated from the previous stage:
Rate Formulas
Validation Rate
Validation Rate = (Contacts Validated / Contacts Loaded) × 100%Measures list quality.
Delivery Rate
Delivery Rate = (Emails Delivered / Emails Sent) × 100%Measures deliverability success.
Bounce Rate
Bounce Rate = (Emails Bounced / Emails Sent) × 100%Measures delivery failures.
Open Rate
Open Rate = (Emails Opened / Emails Delivered) × 100%Measures subject line and sender effectiveness.
Reply Rate
Reply Rate = (Emails Replied / Emails Opened) × 100%Important: This is % of opened emails, not delivered.
Positive Reply Rate
Positive Reply Rate = (Positive Replies / Total Replies) × 100%Measures response quality.
Why Cascading Matters
Traditional Calculation
Reply Rate = Replied / Sent = 10 / 1000 = 1%
Cascading Calculation
- 1000 sent → 950 delivered → 400 opened → 10 replied
- Reply Rate = 10 / 400 = 2.5%
The cascading model shows true engagement rate among people who actually saw the email.
Reading the Numbers
Example Funnel
| Stage | Count | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Loaded | 1,000 | - |
| Validated | 950 | 95% |
| Sent | 950 | 100% |
| Delivered | 900 | 94.7% |
| Opened | 360 | 40% |
| Replied | 36 | 10% |
| Positive | 12 | 33.3% |
What This Tells You
- 95% list quality
- 5.3% delivery issues
- 40% found subject compelling
- 10% of openers engaged enough to reply
- 1/3 of replies were positive
Zero-Division Protection
All calculations safely handle zero denominators:
- If no emails sent, Delivery Rate = 0%
- If no emails opened, Reply Rate = 0%