How to Analyze Marketing Email Performance in Hubspot

Understanding how your marketing emails perform in Hubspot is essential if you want to improve engagement, deliverability, and conversion rates over time. This guide explains how to use the main analytics tools on a marketing email’s performance page so you know exactly what each metric means and how to act on it.

All instructions below are based on the standard marketing email tools available in most current Hubspot accounts, though specific options may vary depending on your subscription and feature set.

Accessing Marketing Email Analytics in Hubspot

Before you dive into individual metrics, you must first open the performance view for a specific marketing email.

1. Sign in to your Hubspot account.

2. Navigate to Marketing > Email from the main navigation.

3. In the list of emails, locate the sent email you want to review.

4. Click the email name to open the performance summary.

You will see a series of tabs, including Performance, Recipients, and Engagement. Each tab in Hubspot surfaces a different level of detail about your campaign results.

Hubspot Performance Tab Overview

The Performance tab in Hubspot provides a high-level summary of how a single email performed. It also includes summaries of relevant comparison metrics and key deliverability signals.

Key Metrics on the Hubspot Performance Tab

Typical metrics you will see include:

• Sent: Total emails Hubspot attempted to send.
• Delivered: Messages successfully accepted by recipient email servers.
• Open rate: Percentage of delivered emails that were opened at least once.
• Click rate: Percentage of delivered emails with at least one click.
• Click-through rate (CTR): Often used interchangeably with click rate, but may be calculated slightly differently based on settings.
• Bounce rate: Percentage of messages that could not be delivered.
• Unsubscribes: Number of contacts who opted out after receiving this email.
• Spam reports: Contacts who marked the email as spam.

Use these figures to understand overall performance. If open or click rates are low compared with your typical benchmarks, plan to test alternative subject lines, preview text, or content layouts in future Hubspot campaigns.

Filtering and Comparing Performance in Hubspot

The Performance tab often lets you adjust date ranges, filter by contact lists, or compare metrics against averages across your account. When you compare an email to past sends, look for patterns such as:

• Subject lines that consistently deliver above-average open rates.
• Templates or layouts that drive higher click engagement.
• Send times that align with better performance in your audiences.

These comparisons in Hubspot help you determine which strategic elements to reuse and which to change.

Using the Recipients Tab in Hubspot

The Recipients tab shows how individual contacts interacted with your email. Instead of focusing on summary metrics, this Hubspot view lets you drill down into contact-level data.

Recipient Status Categories in Hubspot

Each contact is grouped into a status based on what happened with their email. Common categories include:

• Sent: Email was sent to this contact, but might not yet show additional interaction.
• Delivered: The contact’s server accepted the email, confirming delivery.
• Opened: The contact opened the email at least once.
• Clicked: The contact clicked at least one link in the email.
• Bounced: The email could not be delivered; includes hard and soft bounces.
• Unsubscribed: The contact opted out after receiving this message.
• Marked as spam: The contact reported the email as spam.

You can filter by any of these statuses to review only the contacts you care about in that segment. This level of detail is useful when troubleshooting issues or building follow-up lists in Hubspot.

Inspecting Individual Contacts from the Recipients View

From the Recipients tab you can typically click a contact’s name to open their contact record in Hubspot. On that record you may see:

• The exact date and time they received, opened, or clicked the email.
• Which specific links they clicked.
• Other marketing emails they recently engaged with.

This information is particularly powerful for sales and success teams, who can use real behavior data from Hubspot when deciding how and when to follow up.

Analyzing the Engagement Tab in Hubspot

The Engagement tab provides deeper insight into how recipients interacted with your content after they opened the email. While names and exact metrics can vary, this Hubspot view usually includes charts and tables showing how engagement changed over time.

Time-Based Engagement in Hubspot

Time-based charts help you see when most activity took place. You may see graphs of:

• Opens over time: Identifies the hours or days when recipients engaged.
• Clicks over time: Reveals when links were most attractive.

If engagement spikes soon after sending and then drops sharply, it may confirm that your send time is effective. If engagement is slow or heavily delayed, you may want to test new send times in future Hubspot emails.

Link-Level Engagement in Hubspot

Link performance tables show which specific URLs captured the most attention. Typical data points include:

• Total clicks on each link.
• Percentage of overall clicks attributed to each link.
• Click distributions by device or location, depending on your reporting setup.

Use these insights to refine your calls-to-action and content hierarchy in Hubspot templates. If a secondary link outperforms your primary CTA, you may need to reposition or reword the main action in your next campaign.

Interpreting Deliverability and Bounce Data in Hubspot

Deliverability has a direct impact on how many people can even see your content. The analytics tools in Hubspot distinguish between several important concepts related to bounces and failures.

Types of Bounces

You will typically see at least two primary bounce types:

• Hard bounces: Permanent failures, such as invalid addresses or domains that do not exist. These contacts are usually excluded automatically from future sends in Hubspot.
• Soft bounces: Temporary issues, like a full mailbox or a temporary server problem. Hubspot may try to send again automatically or categorize the contact differently after repeated failures.

High hard bounce rates may indicate low-quality lists or outdated data. You may need to clean your lists, confirm opt-in processes, or review acquisition sources.

Spam Complaints and Unsubscribes

Spam complaints and unsubscribes are also available in the analytics views. If these numbers rise, review the following in your Hubspot strategy:

• Contact permission and opt-in practices.
• Frequency of your sends.
• Relevance and clarity of your subject lines.
• Alignment between email content and contact expectations.

Consistent monitoring can prevent long-term damage to your sender reputation.

Best Practices for Using Hubspot Email Insights

Once you understand what each metric means, you can apply consistent steps to refine your overall program. Below are practical ideas you can implement directly within Hubspot.

1. Benchmark and Set Targets

• Record your typical open, click, and bounce rates across recent campaigns.
• Define realistic short-term goals, such as a small increase in click rate or a reduction in bounce rate.
• Use Hubspot reports to track progress over time.

2. Test Subject Lines and Send Times

• Use A/B testing tools where available in Hubspot to compare subject lines.
• Experiment with different send times and days of the week.
• Review performance differences on the Performance tab to identify your winning combinations.

3. Optimize Content and Calls-to-Action

• Use the Engagement and link-level analytics to prioritize content that performs best.
• Move high-performing calls-to-action higher in your layout.
• Align visual design in Hubspot templates with clear, focused offers.

4. Maintain List Hygiene

• Regularly review bounce and unsubscribe data.
• Remove or re-engage inactive contacts to protect sender reputation.
• Segment contacts in Hubspot by engagement level and tailor content accordingly.

Where to Learn More About Hubspot Email Analytics

For additional technical detail and the latest interface screenshots, refer to the official documentation on analyzing marketing email insights in Hubspot at this support article. You can also explore specialized consulting resources, like the strategy and implementation services available at Consultevo, if you need help designing or optimizing your workflows.

By regularly reviewing the Performance, Recipients, and Engagement tabs, and by acting deliberately on what you see, you can build a data-driven email program in Hubspot that delivers stronger engagement, better deliverability, and more reliable results across every campaign.

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