You’re likely tracking the open and click rates of your recruitment emails. But the trickiest part is judging whether the numbers you’re seeing are good or bad. Most recruiters fall into the trap of thinking 100% is best and anything else is a failure. But that’s not true. There are a million reasons why your candidates may have stalled and that’s where understanding your email metrics can prove infinitely valuable.
Built into Weirdly’s system is the capacity to send emails to candidates and people in your talent community. That means we’ve got a ton of data around open rates (how many candidates open your emails) and click-through rates (how many replies you get), and we’ve used it to estimate benchmarks for different emails sent to candidates at various stages of the recruitment funnel. Cool, right?
We waded into the murky waters of recruitment emails for you – and here’s what we found.
You’re about to start recruiting for another role, and the first group you turn to is your talent community. This is a database of people who have applied to you in the past, but for whatever reason didn’t get the job – and you keep them in your back pocket for when new jobs come up.
These are fresh candidates, so they’re engaged. That means a fairly high open rate of 70-80% and a click-through rate of approximately 24%.
Now you throw the net wider and invite candidates outside your talent community to apply. These candidates are at the very beginning of the recruitment process and haven’t had much contact with you previously. They’ll likely be less invested than candidates in your talent community – they could be looking at other jobs or applying on a whim, which means open and click-through rates will be lower. In saying that, the average ‘cold email’ open rate for the recruitment industry is just under 60% according to research.
You’ve got candidates who have started their application but for whateverreason, they’ve not quite finished. So, you send them a friendly reminder. Withthese nudge-type emails, an open rate of over 35% is good and so is aclick-through rate of more than 21%.
You’ve made your way through your candidates and shortlisted a group of applicants for interviews. These candidates have already invested time and emotional energy into dealing with you. They also probably really want the jobs, so you can expect a good open rate of 70-85% and you want a click-through rate of over 35%.
One of the last steps in the recruitment process is confirming a candidate’s working rights. Because you’re dealing with successful candidates, you can expect open rates to be high, between 80-90%.
No one wants to be told that their job application was unsuccessful, but don’t let this stop you from sending the emails. Candidates value them – they’d rather know the outcome than be left hanging – and it’s the perfect opportunity to invite them to join your talent community. Your open rate should be over 70%and click-through over 80%.
Once candidates have joined your talent community, you want to keep them in the loop with what’s in the pipeline. This way, when you need to recruit for anew position, you’ll have a bunch of engaged candidates who are ready and waiting to open your emails. And research has found that candidates hired through talent communities can be 34x more effective in producing successful hires than job boards.
Now that you know the numbers you’re aiming to hit with your recruitment emails, here are some tips on how to improve them if they’re sitting a bit low.
Give your candidates a reason to open
A low open rate often means that your email subject line is lacking clarity or personality. Think about it. You don’t open an email unless you needor want to, so you need to give your candidates a reason to hit open.
Personalisation is key. Use their names and craft a subject line that is short, snappy and to the point. Also, make sure you’re clear on the singlepurpose for sending each email – don’t double up. Do this, and your open rates will increase.
High open rates are a great sign, but the next step is getting candidates to respond.
Boosting your response rate
If you have a low response rate, it usually comes down to a few key mistakes. Something as simple as misspelling the candidate’s name will immediately put you on the wrong foot. Using email templates without bothering to personalise them with what you’ve learned about each candidate can also be a kicker.
To give your response rate a boost, critically analyse your writing with fresh eyes to make sure the messaging is clear. Also, be sure to include a strong call-to-action – tell your candidates what you need them to do, e.g.click to book an interview, sign the contract, visit the careers page or join the talent community. Sometimes all that’s need is a helping hand to get them across the line.
Recruitment email metrics can tell you a lot about the effectiveness of your recruitment process. Knowing where you should be aiming gives you a target, and measuring your efforts will help you understand where you can make improvements and hire more effectively.
Get started measuring your recruitment email metrics by booking a demo with Weirdly today.
