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Mastering Reporting for Smarter Email Marketing with www.informz.com Table of Contents 03 | Introduction 04 | Email Metrics 101 06 | Reporting on Deliverability 07 | Discovering Your Mobile Audience 08 | Engagement Status 09 | Determining the Right Email Frequency 10 | Defining Your Return on Investment 11 | Most-Asked Email Marketing Questions, Answered 12 | About Informz 2 Mastering Reporting for Smarter Email Marketing with Informz | © Informz, Inc. 2014 Benchmarking Data for Strategic Email Marketing In our many years of email marketing experience, we’ve discovered that most email marketers fall into one of two categories: those who analyze, scour, and dive deep into reports for every email or campaign; and those who look at reporting as an afterthought. Sometimes you’re juggling so many tasks that your email marketing reports get left to the wayside, but in doing this, you’re missing the opportunity for improving metrics, understanding your audience, and creating better messages. Here at Informz we consider ourselves reporting fanatics, and that’s why we’ve built one of the most robust reporting suites in the industry into our email marketing platform. Anything you could ever want to know (and everything you didn’t even know you needed to know) about how individual emails and entire campaigns perform is available for analysis with the click of a button. This guide will walk you through the basics of different types of reports available, define reporting terminology, and hit on key areas where reporting will help you refine your emarketing strategy. 3 Mastering Reporting for Smarter Email Marketing with Informz | © Informz, Inc. 2014 Email Metrics 101 Before diving into more complex areas of measurement, let’s take a look at the most common email metrics and how we define them at Informz. This information can be found in the Mailing Activity Report. Sent is the total number of subscribers the mailing was sent to, and reporting allows you to drill down and see the list of email addresses. You can filter through this list by domain or apply a data format to see subscriber details like first name and company. Delivery Rate is the percentage of emails that were not reported back to Informz as bounced or blocked. Bounce Rate is the percentage of emails that didn’t make it to the inbox because they hard- or soft-bounced. Average Email Metrics for Associations: Average Email Metrics for Metrics Associations and Nonprofits: Overall Email Metrics Overall Email 100 98.28% 80 60 40 34.04% 18.03% 20 Unique Open Rate is the percentage of delivered emails that were reported back to Informz as opened. If the text version of an email is read, it is not counted. Likewise, if an HTML email is read with the images turned off, it is not counted. However, if an email is opened with images off, but a link is clicked, the email is counted as being opened. This metric only includes unique subscribers, therefore multiple opens by one subscriber only count once. Unique Click Rate is the percentage of opened emails clicked by the recipient. Clicking on a link in a text email is not counted as a click. This metric only includes unique subscribers, therefore multiple clicks by one subscriber only count once. Unsubscribe Rate is the total percentage of subscribers that clicked on the unsubscribe link in your mailing and unsubscribed from the database. The Unsubscribe Report shows who unsubscribed, along with when and why (if they provided feedback). 0 Delivery Rate Open Rate Average Email Metrics for Destination Average Email Metrics for Destination Marketing Organizations: EmailMetrics Metrics Marketing Organizations: OverallOverall Email 100 95.20% 80 60 40 32.69% 17.38% 20 0 4 Click Rate Delivery Rate Open Rate Click Rate Mastering Reporting for Smarter Email Marketing with Informz | © Informz, Inc. 2014 Email Metrics 101 Don’t be overly concerned if your metrics aren’t meeting these benchmarks. Instead, utilize the benchmarking metrics available in your Mailing Activity report to see where your industry classification stands. Smarter Email Marketing If your metrics are below your industry’s benchmarks, here are some suggestions to improve them: Optimizing Delivery How clean is your list? Has everyone opted in properly? Have you warmed up your IP address? Read the next section for more deliverability tips. Optimizing Opens Evaluate your envelope properties (subject line and friendly from), subscriber list, and delivery method. Use A/B split testing to experiment with what works best for your subscribers, and use targeted subject lines to appeal directly to the recipient. Get more tips here. Optimizing Clicks Provide readers with clear and accessible opportunities to take action in your emails by hyperlinking text, images, and buttons. The easier it is to click, the higher click rates tend to be. 5 Mastering Reporting for Smarter Email Marketing with Informz | © Informz, Inc. 2014 Reporting on Deliverability Regularly monitoring the delivery rates of your messages will help you recognize when issues arise. A decline in your delivery rate should trigger a response by you. If left unchecked, it could cause major issues. Delivery rates can also provide you with a clear picture on the quality of your list, and whether or not it’s time for a cleanup. Smarter Email Marketing High delivery rates matter. Have you ever thought about the impact of your delivery rates on not just your email marketing results, but your bottom line? Let’s say you use email to deliver membership renewal notices. Here are a few key deliverability reporting terms you’ll want to examine in your reports: Soft Bounces: A soft bounce is an email that was undeliverable due to any of the following: the mail server was down, the mail server was not accepting mail at the time, or the subscriber’s inbox was full. Hard Bounces: A hard bounce is an email that was undeliverable due to any of the following: the domain does not exist, the domain does not have a mail server, or the email address does not exist on the domain. Blocked: These are subscribers who have blocked your emails from reaching their inbox. The email may have been blocked by anti-spam software installed on their ISP’s or company’s mail server, or by anti-spam software installed on the individual subscriber’s computer. Repeated Bouncers: Repeated bouncers are email addresses that have consecutively hard bounced four times or soft bounced seven times. Once the subscriber becomes a repeated bouncer, Informz no longer sends emails to that subscriber in order to protect clients from delivery issues. ISPs block senders based on bad email lists—which consists of emails that are no longer active—since spammers are typically guilty of this type of behavior. We recommend that email addresses in the repeated bouncer category be unsubscribed from the database. 6 Intended Recipients Deliverability Rate Delivered Click Through Rate Conversion Rate AVG Membership Revenue Good Deliverability 25,000 98% 24,500 5% 0.33% $400 $32,340 Poor Deliverability 25,000 81% 20,250 5% 0.33% $400 $26,730 In this example, a 17% difference in deliverability rate could mean a 21% loss in revenue for your organization. That’s a lot! Delivery rates affect much more than just email performance. Mastering Reporting for Smarter Email Marketing with Informz | © Informz, Inc. 2014 Discovering Your Mobile Audience Reports are your key to uncovering how many of your subscribers have gone mobile. According to our 2014 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report, 44.70% of readers are opening emails on a mobile device, while Destination Marketing Organizations have fewer mobile readers at 33.49%. In the Mailing Activity Report, there are a few ways to find your mobile readers. On the Snapshot tab, you can easily see what percentage of your subscribers used a mobile device. On the Details tab, look at Opens > Mobile Clients to see a detailed breakdown of the devices your mobile readers are using. You can even drill down and see the exact subscribers using mobile devices. Open Results by Email Client Open Results by Email Client Type for Associations and Nonprofits Type for Associations Open Results by Email Client Type for Open Results by Email Client Type for Destination Marketing Organizations Destination Marketing Organizations 8.52% Other 9.34% Other 8.01% Web Client 14.82% Web Client 49.16% Desktop 44.70% Mobile 31.96% Desktop 33.49% Mobile Smarter Email Marketing If the majority of your readers are using mobile devices instead of desktop computers to check email, the design of your email should be optimized. A two-column layout using size 8 font isn’t going to be easy to read and navigate. To simplify your design, use a one-column layout with larger fonts, easily clickable links, and lots of white space. To take your design to the next level and ensure readers using any device are in the clear, try responsive design. Your reports are your guide for email design. 7 Snapshot Tab Details Tab Mastering Reporting for Smarter Email Marketing with Informz | © Informz, Inc. 2014 Engagement Status Member engagement can be a tricky thing to measure because it doesn’t always look the same. What does an engaged member look like to you? Maybe they attend your events, or purchase books and attend educational seminars. Maybe they’re a fan and follower on your social media pages and perhaps regularly open, click, and share your enewsletters. It’s easy to pick out those engaged email subscribers, because they show up in your key email marketing metrics. But what about the others? When subscribers stop opening and clicking on your emails, it’s not a good sign. When subscribers never open your emails? That’s even worse. We like to call these people “emotionally unsubscribed.” These people are not just ignoring your content: they are hurting your email marketing metrics, chipping away at your email block, and actually affect your deliverability. Smarter Email Marketing Consider running a re-engagement campaign to target your emotionally unsubscribed readers, and send them quality content that exemplifies the value of being on your list. Survey subscribers to see exactly what they’re interested in, or encourage them to update their mailing preferences. At the end of your campaign, suppress those who don’t engage; they’re holding you back! The National Kidney Foundation utilized Informz reports and reengaged over 13,000 subscribers and increased open rates by 155% and click-thru rates by 14%. Read their success story here. To view this report, go to the Mailing Summary Report > Analyze Subscribers > Subscribers Emailed & Opened and take a look at the Unique Subscribers Opened chart. In this example, 59.4% of subscribers have never opened an email. Is it worth sending to them? 8 Mastering Reporting for Smarter Email Marketing with Informz | © Informz, Inc. 2014 Determining the Right Email Frequency How many emails should I be sending? How much email is too much email? How do I keep members informed and engaged while avoiding inbox fatigue? Every email marketer wants to know the answers to these questions. According to the 2014 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report, 70% of associations send 1–5 emails to members each month. The associations with the highest open rates also tended to fall in the 1–5 emails per month range. Smarter Email Marketing Informz Client EDUCAUSE used a combination of analyzing Informz reports and sending surveys to members to uncover the right frequency for their association magazine newsletter. They found that by increasing frequency from once a month to twice a month, their content was receiving more coverage and engagement, and open and click rates were not harmed by increasing frequency. Read more about their story here. Every audience is different, so look to your reports to guide your frequency questions. The Email Volume Report in the Mailing Summary Report analyzes how many email touch points you need to make to best engage your audience. To view this report, go to the Mailing Summary Report > Analyze Subscribers > Email Volume. 9 Mastering Reporting for Smarter Email Marketing with Informz | © Informz, Inc. 2014 Defining Your Return on Investment Measuring return on investment isn’t easy, but in order to make educated decisions about what works and what doesn’t, calculating your ROI is necessary. In some instances, having hard numbers to prove an email’s effectiveness, and the revenue it brings in, can make a case for your organization’s email marketing programs. Smarter Email Marketing Here’s how some Informz clients are using reports to discover their return on investment. The American Library Association, an Informz client, used conversion tracking and was able to attribute over six figures worth of non-dues revenue to their email marketing program. This data not only proved that email was a successful source of revenue, but also allowed them to reduce the number and frequency of printed materials that weren’t as effective. Beta Theta Pi used email marketing as a part of a blended fundraising strategy and raised $300,000 for their annual fund in just one month. Targeted emails coincided with direct mail asks, social media outreach, and phone-a-thons to hit donors at ideal times. Email proved to be a critical link in their strategy. The Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) and NAADAC, The Association for Addiction Professionals, discovered significant ROI through integrated email marketing. GCSAA eliminated 300+ hours of staff time and saved $38,000 and NAADAC increased membership by 38% in 11 months. 10 Mastering Reporting for Smarter Email Marketing with Informz | © Informz, Inc. 2014 Your Most-Asked Email Marketing Questions, Answered The Mailing Summary Report has some pretty snazzy data that might change the way your team operates. How many times has your marketing department sat around and discussed the best day and time to send your enewsletter? How many times have you debated whether or not a subject line was too long? The Mailing Summary Report takes the guesswork out of these decisions, and also saves you a lot of time. This report analyzes the data for you and produces results in an easy-to-read, visual format. Smarter Email Marketing The Answer Marketing Questions section of the Mailing Summary Report is your go-to report when you need a direct answer for the best day to send, best time to send, best subject line length, etc. Use the results from this report to help answer your most-asked email marketing questions: Best Day to Send Best Time to Send Best Subject Line Length Best Number of Recipients Best Number of Links Best Mailing Size The best part? It’s all based on your data—not industry benchmarks—so you know how to get the best results with your subscribers. Try using the results from this report on your next campaign. 11 Mastering Reporting for Smarter Email Marketing with Informz | © Informz, Inc. 2014 Email Marketing Professional Services Mobile Event App Our easy-to-use, web-based platform will help you create highly targeted, high-performing emails. Whether it’s outsourced marketing services or new email marketing templates you need, we can help. Engage members before, during, and after an event with a premium mobile event app experience. Informz is a leading provider of digital marketing solutions that help associations and nonprofits to easily and efficiently engage their members. Over 1,100 organizations worldwide have chosen Informz and consistently rank us #1 in client satisfaction. Request a demo today to discover the power of Informz. Stay Connected! www.informz.com www.informz.com/blog 1.888.371.1842 x5 [email protected] REQUEST A DEMO 12 Mastering Reporting for Smarter Email Marketing with Informz | © Informz, Inc. 2014