Introduction

Artshell allows you to monitor the performance of your emails and newsletters through a comprehensive and detailed analytics system. You can check who opened your communications, who clicked on the links they contain, and track recipients who have chosen to unsubscribe.

he analytics also include a report of syntax errors and bounced addresses, enabling you to constantly monitor the quality of your mailing list. In addition, you can download an Excel file with all the analytics, allowing you to examine the data for each newsletter in detail and easily share it with your team.

In the dedicated section of this article, you will find some recurring scenarios in the analytics reports, along with their explanations.

To ensure accurate data and effective campaigns, we recommend keeping the Contacts section up to date and well organised, paying attention to how email addresses are added and regularly monitoring the status of each recipient.

Analysis sections

To view the analytics, select the email of your choice and click Analysis at the top.

Within the analytics you will find the following sections:

• Analysis Overview
• Calendar
• Most opened
• Tags

Let’s look at them in detail.

Analysis Overview

This section provides an overall view of the performance of your communication. Each data point is shown with both a number and a percentage. To learn more about the meaning of each percentage, click the  icon. Click the  icons to view the complete list of addresses included in each box.

The elements included in the overview are:

1. Sent

Indicates the number of email addresses to which your message was successfully sent. Addresses with syntax errors, inactive addresses, unsubscribes, or those already marked as bounced in previous mailings are excluded from the count.

The percentage shows the ratio between successfully sent emails and the total number of active addresses entered in the “To” field.

2. Errors

Here you will find email addresses to which the message was NOT sent due to syntax errors. Common examples include info(at)gallery.com → “at” instead of “@”, gallery@gmail.com → missing the “l” in gmail, team@theartgallerycom → missing the dot before “.com”.

In these cases, when the newsletter or email is sent, the addresses are not recognised as validi.

The percentage indicates the number of syntax errors detected compared with the total number of active addresses entered in the “To” field.

3. Opened

The number and percentage of recipients who opened the email.

The percentage indicates how many emails were opened compared to the total number of emails sent.

4. Links opened

Indicates the number of recipients who clicked at least one link in the communication.

The percentage refers to the number of addresses that clicked at least one link, compared with the total number of opened emails.

5. Bounced

The number of addresses to which the message was sent but could not be delivered for technical reasons (for example, non-existent address, full mailbox, or temporary server issues). A more detailed explanation can be found in the dedicated article.

The percentage indicates the share of emails that bounced compared to the total number of sends.

Note: Artshell does not send emails to addresses already flagged as bounced. In other words, if an address has been marked as bounced during a previous mailing, no new attempt is made and no new error will appear.

How to track bounced addresses?
The status of each address is visible within the contact card and searchable via the search bar in the Contacts section. You can therefore check at any time how many bounced contacts you have in your database:

6. Unsubscribed

The number of recipients who chose to unsubscribe from your newsletter after receiving the email.

The percentage is calculated on the total number of recipients of the communication.

Note: When an email address unsubscribes, the corresponding contact card is also updated, showing the status next to the unsubscribed address. You can check at any time how many unsubscribed contacts you have in your Contacts section:

Calendar

In this section you can view the trend of opens and clicks over time, displayed in an interactive graph. By default, the system shows the data from the first recorded action to the most recent one. If you prefer, you can limit the analysis to a specific time interval by selecting the dates from the calendar using the Period button.

In addition, from the dropdown menu you can choose to view only opens or only clicks, depending on your needs.

Most opened

This section shows in detail the most active recipients who opened your communication the most times. The list is ordered from the highest to the lowest number of opens.

For each recipient you can see:

• the date and time of the last open;
• the number of times the email was opened (shown by the counter next to the  icon).
• the links and how many times each one was clicked (shown by the counter and the  icon next to the URL)

You can use the View all function and filters to search for a specific contact by name or email address.

Tags

In this section you will find an analysis by tag. For each tag associated with your contacts, you can view:

• how many recipients with that tag opened the email.
• how many recipients with that tag the email was sent to.
• how many recipients with that tag clicked at least one link inside the email.

You can filter the data using the dropdown menu, as shown in the image below.

Scenarios

Below are some situations that, if found in your newsletter analytics, deserve particular attention. These are signs that your communications may not be reaching the intended audience.

1. Low percentage and number of emails sent
   
   

   

   
   A low percentage and number of emails sent means that the communication reached only a limited portion of the intended recipients. This can happen when the “To:” field contains contacts, groups, tags, or lists that:
   
   1. • contain syntax errors;
   2. • have mailbox issues and are therefore considered bounced.
   In the first case (syntax errors), the errors are listed in the Errors box. Click the box to see the list of incorrect addresses, then click the contact to open the card and correct the address.

   

   Clicca sul box per vedere l'elenco degli indirizzi sbagliati, infine clicca sul contatto per aprire la relativa scheda e correggere l'indirizzo.
   
   Attention! Even after correction, the error will continue to appear in the analytics for that specific mailing. This ensures consistency in the data and performance percentages. However, you can always open the contact card to verify that the address has been updated.
   
   In the second case, the bounced addresses are shown in the Bounced box.
   If a large number of bounced addresses appear here, consider whether it is advisable to delete them permanently from your database or take other actions to clean up your mailing list. Read more in the point 2.
2. High percentage of sent emails but many bounced addresses

   Even when the send percentage is close to 100%, it is important to pay attention if the analytics show a high number of bounced addresses. These addresses will not receive emails in future mailings, but they will also compromise the quality and reliability of your analytics, “polluting” the data of subsequent newsletters.
   A high number of bounced addresses may also cause a significant drop in the Opened box, since these addresses will never interact with your communications. For this reason, we recommend permanently removing bounced contacts from your mailing list to keep it clean, updated, and truly active.

3. Low number of emails sent but high percentage
   

   

   If you have sent a communication to a list of, for example, 300 recipients but the number of emails sent is much lower, while showing a percentage close to or equal to 100%, the reasons may be:
   

   • • The list includes many contacts who unsubscribed from previous emails and were therefore automatically excluded.
   • • The list includes many contacts who, over time, became inactive or were manually set to inactive.
   • • The list includes many addresses already flagged as bounced in the past. Bounces are recorded only once, when delivery fails. As already mentioned, Artshell does not mark the same address as bounced in every subsequent mailing, but considers it an invalid address. This is why the send percentage can still appear as 100%, since it is calculated only on active addresses. 

    

4. Syntax errors that look correct

   This error is less frequent and more complex to detect, but it can still occur.
   If, when opening the Errors box, you find some email addresses that at first glance look correct, it is very likely that they are not. In many cases, they contain “special” characters (only visible in the code) that were copied together with the formatting of the original text and then pasted into Artshell.
   

   

   
   For greater clarity, below you can see an image showing how such an address actually appears in the code, highlighting the “special” character &lrm:
   

   

   
   As with all syntax errors, if the problem is not corrected it will continue to be reported, and the contact will not receive your communications.
   To fix the issue:

   1. 1. Open the contact card.
   2. 2. Delete the incorrect email address.
   3. 3. Re-enter the address manually using your keyboard, avoiding copy and paste (otherwise you risk copying the special character again and reproducing the same error).
   4. 4. Save the contact card.

   From that moment on, the address will no longer be flagged as a syntax error.

    

    

Downloading analysis

Artshell allows you to download an analytics report for each newsletter in Excel format. This function helps you monitor the performance of your communications, providing useful data to assess open rates, click-through rates, and other key metrics.

To download the report, click the Download Excel button at the top right of the Analysis page.

In the Excel file you will find the following fields:

Recipient:

• Email, first name, last name, and company
• Nationality
• Address information (street, city, postcode, province/region/state, country)
• Contact type
• Tags
• Notes

Email:

• Delivery date and time
• Open date and time
• Contact status after sending
• Links opened

Where can I find the analytics export files?

All export files are available in the Export section, which you can access by clicking the @ icon in the left vertical menu. To view only analysis files, use the filter at the top right and select Excel – Newsletter analysis.

When you select an export, you can use the icons at the top to:

• : share the Excel link.
• : download the Excel file to your computer.
• : rename the file, cancel its expiry, or delete it.

Other fields provide additional information about the file, such as the creation date, the number of items it contains (i.e. the number of rows in the Excel – each row corresponds to one email address), the file size, and the expiry date.

Conclusions

Artshell’s analytics allow you to gain detailed insights into the performance of your emails, helping you better understand how recipients interact with your content. By analysing this information, you can adapt your email marketing strategy, improve recipient engagement, and optimise your future communications.