DMA Email Marketing Council Blog

July's Issue of Infobox

This month we have a focus on metrics and results. You can see when marketers are actually sending emails; how to overcome three common barriers to adopting metrics and how to make the most out of your own list.

We also have news from the DMA Legal & Best Practice Hub on its definitive guide to email metrics.

UK marketers do not optimise for time of day; send times are based on sender convenience rather than subscriber preference Dela Quist, Alchemy Worx

Email marketing: overcoming three common barriers to adopting metrics Riaz Kanani, Silverpop

Lists: it’s not the size; it’s how you use it! Tink Taylor, dotMailer

Metrics, metrics and even more metrics Jonathan Burston, Chair of The Legal & Best Practice Hub (alias: Do Good Things Hub)

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Metrics and their meaning - Part 2

Here's the second installment of the Legal & Best Practice Hub on Metrics and their meaning. What we're hoping is to gain your feedback and comments.

This week we're looking at Internal Monitoring and the metrics that feature in this area:

1. Average Soft Bounce Rate        

Definition: The number of soft bounces divided by the number of e-mails delivered (as a %).         

Things to take into consideration: A soft bounce indicates a temporary reason (inbox full, server temporarily unavailable etc.) why the e-mail can not go into the inbox. In this instance, it is worth trying the e-mail address at a later date. However, monitor repeat soft bounces and remove after a maximum of three.

2. Average Total Click-through Rate        

Definition: Number of total clicks divided by number of e-mails delivered (as a %).

Things to take into consideration: If comparing results with other campaigns, make sure the click-through rate is measured using the same metrics. It can be click against e-mails sent, e-mails delivered or e-mails opened. Always compare like for like, and know which option has been used.

This metric attempts to answer the question, “How many times did a person click on a link or multiple links within this e-mail?” This may or may not include clicks on unsubscribe links or other links, and you may find it helpful to view click-through reporting by individual link. This metric is a whole number in the form “100,000″ or as an e-mail Click-through Rate percentage in the form “10%”. The denominator is e-mail delivered, and this percentage may exceed 100%. [Source: Internet Advertising Bureau]"

3. Average Unique Click-through Rate        

Definition: Number of individuals who have clicked through divided by number of e-mails delivered (as a %).        

Things to take into consideration: This is a measure of the emails overall effectiveness because it looks at emails that generated a click.  If the campaign is an acquisition campaign then this is a more valuable measure than total click rate.

4. Average Unique Open Rate        

Definition: Unique opens divided by number of e-mails delivered (as a %).        

Things to take into consideration: Due to the high number of false negatives (emails that did not show as opened because the images were switched off) and false positive(emails that were opened in the preview pane but were not viewed by the recipient) this is not an accurate measure of how many emails were opened.  It is however an excellent directional indicator of the effectiveness of your subject line among other things.  Make sure reporting is consistent. For example, if comparing different sources, ensure it is not confused with opens from sent or total opens (which will include when the same person opens an e-mail more than once).

5. Click to Conversion Rate        

Definition: Number of clicks divided by the number of conversions or intended actions e.g. clicks converting to sign-ups for a newsletter or a successful download on an offer.        

Things to take into consideration: This is the key metric when measuring success. It is important that you are clear from the start that the objective is defined. Also remember not to use this metric in isolation. The uplift in actions that come directly to the site, via telephone or visit to a shop show room need also to be recognised as a benefit of the email campaign.

6. Click to Open Rate        

Definition: Number of clicks divided by the number of opens.  It is generally calculated as either Unique Click-through over Unique e-mail Opens, or Total e-mail Click-through over Total e-mail Opens. [Source: Internet Advertising Bureau]         

Things to take into consideration: This metric attempts to answer the question, "Of the Unique e-mail Opens, how many individuals took an action?"

7. Click to Purchase        

Definition: Data Users can correlate directly the clicks from the e-mail resulting in transactional behaviour. From this a clear calculation of the Return on Investment (ROI) from a programme or campaign can be made. It is considered to be best practice to always pre-define measurement and success criteria and to track conversions accordingly. This can either be achieved directly using tracking technologies embedded with the e-mail, or via a data match back process post campaign. [Source: DMA Best Practice Guidelines]  

Things to take into consideration: From this a clear calculation of the Return on Investment (ROI) from a programme or campaign can be made. It is considered to be best practice to always pre-define measurement and success criteria and to track conversions accordingly. This can either be achieved directly using tracking technologies embedded with the e-mail, or via a data match back process post campaign.

This is a valuable measure but it is important not to only attribute this value to the email. Email is not 100% trackable. Remember consumers do not always react in the way we want them to. Some will pick up the phone, come to the site direct or interact with your brand in a different way to through the email.  Remember to add additional value when looking at the true benefits. "

8. Click-through Metrics        

Definition:

• Total Click Rate (Total Clicks/Total Delivered)

• Unique Click Rate (Unique Clicks/Total Delivered)

• Click to Open Rate (Unique Clicks/ Total Opened)"        

Things to take into consideration: It is important to define what metric you are using and be consistent. These measures do have a value particularly in terms of relevance to the audience targeted, but must be used in context. It is important not to use these measures in isolation to judge success, the results in relation to end results are what should do this.

9. Click-through Tracking        

Definition: When a hotlink is included in an e-mail, a click-through occurs when a recipient clicks on the link. Click-through tracking refers to the data collected about each link clicked, such as how many people clicked it, how many clicks resulted in desired actions such as sales, forwards or subscriptions. [Source: Marketing Sherpa]         

So that's part 2. We look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Jonathan Burston

CACI & Legal and Best Practice Hub

Help! I want to sign up for emails!

I was recently asked by a journalist from Marketing Week to comment on some research relating to consumer willingness to give data to a company or brand. The survey suggested that most consumers would be more than happy to provide their email address to a retailer when placing an order. However, the research also found that very few retailers ever ask.

This got me thinking – why do so many retailers fail to ask for email addresses? Is it forgetfulness? Do they think customers will be put off? Usually all it takes is a simple opt-in check-box – how hard is that?

And with tonnes of other research demonstrating that retaining an existing customer is much more cost-effective than acquiring a new one, the inability of retailers to include email sign-up options is staggering.

The subject was bought home to me again last week when I was working with colleagues from our dotCommerce business who are currently working on a benchmark study of top UK retailer’s websites (if you’re interested, you can sign-up to be notified when it’s available here).

One of the categories assessed was whether the retailers we looked at included data capture methods on the website. Our findings correlate very closely with the above research: less than half included the option to sign up to an email newsletter on the homepage or product pages and less that one in three offered the opportunity to opt-in during checkout.

This is pretty shocking considering these were some of the best-known names in UK retailing!

Retailers need to start seeing the buying process as a cyclical progression. A sale should be seen as the beginning of the relationship between brand and customer, not the end, but without acquiring their email address from the start the relationship is dead in the water.

Once data is captured, creating a bond with the customer is very easily done with email and if the relationship is handled in the right way – e.g. targeted messages with personalised content – the long term benefit should be a profitable one.

Turning customers into brand advocates, especially in these times of Twitter, Facebook and the like, can reap significant rewards and a long-standing, productive relationship. Including forward to a friend options within messages will encourage your recipients to share your content with their peers – and then they’ll do some of the hard work for you.

We’ve been offering social networking bookmarking links as part of our email platform since last year and the results we’ve seen demonstrate that when businesses get the right message to right person at the right time, the chances of them passing it on is high.

But none of this will be possible unless businesses ask the question in the first place. Ask your customers to consider subscribing to your newsletter and many will. Don’t ask and they definitely won’t!

Tink Taylor
dotMailer

Inactive or Unemotionally Subscribed?

The term "emotionally unsubscribed" as a way of describing the subscribers who do not interact with your emails for long periods of time seems to be making a comeback - unfortunately.

I first came across the term 2 – 3 years ago and I have never liked it, particularly when it comes to describing people who have given you permission to email them.

I dislike the term because:

1. I really find it hard to believe anyone is so disengaged with your program that they can’t be bothered to unsubscribe - it only takes a click!

2. It is a very negative way of looking at the issue of inactives and implies that it is a result of some kind of failing on the part of the person sending the email; a classic case of what I call fear and self loathing in email marketing.

With very few exceptions when it comes to sales and marketing, long term inactivity is perfectly normal. After all, how often do you actively interact with marketing communications of any kind from a car dealer, insurance company, estate agent, bank, consumer electronics retailer, hotel chain etc? 

 So why should email marketing be any different?

I prefer to call them Unemotionally Subscribed

Given that between 35% and 55% of your list will NOT have interacted with your emails for between 6 months and a year,  I think that a better description is that they unemotionally subscribed – that is they do want to receive your emails, but don’t need your content or offer yet.  They would prefer to ignore your messages until they are ready to buy, because it is easier than unsubscribing and having to remember your url or Google you at a later date.

We have gathered plenty of evidence of this phenomenon, from our deep dives into client data and here are some examples:

- £70,000 generated by subscribers who had not opened (downloaded images) or clicked on the previous 25 to 40 emails - it was a great offer.

- 10% of 2008 revenue generated by subscribers who did not open or click at all in 2007

- The most common or modal open, click or purchase frequency across every email audit we have ever conducted is 1.

The takeaway is simple.  While some of those inactive addresses may be people who fit the emotionally unsubscribed description, the vast majority are unemotionally subscribed - they don’t need you - yet!

So don’t beat yourself up over the fact that they don’t feel compelled to read every email you send.

Metrics and their meaning

The DMA Legal & Best Practice Hub of the Email Marketing Council have for a number of months been working on defining the metrics that are commonly used day to day within our industry. Why? Because with so many definitions and meanings it's often difficult to keep track and to help those new to the industry to understand what a term means when they hear it.

Over the coming weeks we'll be publishing the metrics on this blog for your comment and feedback. We've decided to split them up so as to make it easier to read and comment on, so feel free to add your thoughts and comments to the list of metrics below.

We've categorised the metrics and the first category is 'The Email':

1. Above the Fold

Definition: This is the part of the email message that is visible without the need for scrolling. 

Things to take into consideration: This is generally the most important and valuable area as a individual sees this information first.  The area above the fold changes size depending on the recipients screen resolution.

2. Cell

Definition: The combination of content with a group of recipients (frequently called a segment). The content can be unique to this group to improve response, or it can be the same in order to easily test response.

Things to take into consideration: This type of personalisation can be the most effective way to get optimum response for e-mail. The more you capture and learn about a group of users, the more effective it will be. Split test campaigns against the same creative with generic content to gauge if there is an uplift with this level of personalisation.               

3. Dynamic Content

Definition: Content that is chosen by the system when the e-mail is being created. This content is based on the recipient's attributes stored in the database.        

4. HTML message

Definition: An email that contains any formatting other than ascii text.        

5. Personalisation

Definition: Database values that are inserted by the system when the e-mail is being created.        

6. Plain Text

Definition: An email that consists of solely text and no other formatting code.

7.  Subject Line

Definition: The field at the top of an e-mail template in which the title or subject of the e-mail can be typed. It is important to have a strong subject line, particularly if using e-mail for advertising or promotional purposes, or the recipient may simply delete the e-mail.
source: emailmaketingpro.org/email-marketing-terms

Things to take into consideration: The subject line can effect the open rate of an email hugely. This is one reason why open rates should not be used to gauge the effectiveness of a campaign. The aim of the subject line is to get people to open the email but it should give enough accurate information to ensure that when the recipient opens the email it is relevant and what they expect, which in turn will result in the end action being optimised.

So that's our first part published and look forward to receiving your thoughts and comments.

Jonathan Burston
Legal & Best Practice Hub

Email Research from Return Path: UK Marketers Missing Opportunities to Engage

With market conditions changing so frequently it can be difficult to keep abreast of what is happening. During my time with the DMA I have signed up to a number of blogs and e-newsletters; most days my inbox is teeming with updates and useful information.

Working in a research function my eye is naturally drawn to new studies and reports that help with our day-to-day efforts. I am also keen to promote findings to members that are relevant to their business and that serve as best practice guidelines.

One recent new study that arrived in my inbox was from Return Path, the deliverability service provider. The report, Creating Subscriber Experiences That Maximise Returns for UK Marketers, offers some very interesting findings. Unfortunately, the picture it paints of how email subscribers are treated in the UK is not pretty.

I was particularly interested in the statistics around personalisation and the use of data to target messages.  In the study, Return Path researchers found that 85 per cent of companies that collect personal data on subscribers fail to use this valuable information to make their marketing messages and offers more relevant. 

This is alarming news for the industry.  First, because segmentation and personalisation is the bread-and-butter of any direct marketing effort.  Sending generic messages when you could be sending highly targeted, relevant messages just seems counter-productive. 

Secondly, consumers in Britain are pretty sensitive on privacy issues.  That said, there are plenty of people who see the value in handing over a few personal details in exchange for messages that are more helpful and personal.  But when the result of filling out a form on a web site is a bland email message that doesn’t speak to the consumer’s needs, the value equation quickly appears lopsided.  Consumers start to wonder what the hell we marketers are doing with all this data we are collecting?

The advice that Return Path gives its clients is quite sound and aligns with the advice we give DMA members: Collect only the data you plan to use, use the data you collect. 

The other surprising statistic I found is that Return Path's researchers failed to receive a single email from 39 per cent of the organisations they registered with during the five-week study period.  Not a single email in five weeks!  In a time of global economic crisis it seems mad that companies would ignore potential customers by not following up quickly with the email messages they request.  Either companies aren’t integrating new data into their system quickly enough, or they are sending the emails as requested but are being blocked from the inbox.  Interestingly, if deliverability issues are at play here (and it seems highly likely to be the case, at least for some of these companies) then these two statistics may be linked.  Sending generic messages can often lead to high complaint rates (subscribers hitting the “this is spam” button) which can lead to ISPs blocking all the email from that sender. 

Return Path has very good advice on this as well: make sure you know where your email goes.  Blocked email can’t generate any kind of response.

Those are just two of the juiciest data points, but this report is full of interesting stats, great advice and examples of what some of the best marketers do with email. 

You can download it at the Return Path site:  http://www.returnpath.net/landing/ukstudy/

What is the best time to send marketing emails?

At a recent conference, the panel I was moderating was asked “What is the best time to send marketing emails?” It is one of those questions that is often asked of email marketers because there is no definitive answer. It really does depend on the individuals on your list. The only way to get an answer is to test performance of your desired target metric and then select accordingly. For all I know, Sunday could be the best day for your company!

Of course, it has always been pretty meaningless. We have talked for years about how bad it is to blast emails to your entire list, instead advising that emails should be targeted to specific segments to produce much better results and keep your audience more engaged.

Yet identifying the best time to send has always been based on testing performance of an email sent to at best large groups of people on your list. There have been too many possible metrics which could affect the best time to segment on (gender, age, location, job etc). The right time to send emails, of course, is when each individual recipient is most likely to respond: the time when they consistently open and act on your emails.

Getting so granular sounds nearly impossible, especially if you have a large list, but it can be done using recipient time-of-open and click data.

Using an automated technology called Send Time Optimization, which calculates the optimum send time based on a rolling average of times each recipient has opened or clicked on previous messages, messages can be scheduled to an individual one at a time – such granularity in even large lists is suddenly achievable.

For example, Encyclopedia Britannica, saw a 40% increase in net revenue by tying delivery times to historical open and click times.

Hopefully this should remove the need to ask “What is the best time to send marketing emails?” :)

Thriving in a competitive inbox

Have you looked at your own inbox recently?  If not, why not take a quick look now?  If it is anything like my own it is becoming increasingly crowded.  In fact I would guess that I am receiving 35% more emails a week in 2009 than I was receiving in 2008.

So why are we seeing an increase in the number of emails we are receiving? 

Well put simply, there are more people are now realising that email communications deliver real results!  But as more businesses start to reap the rewards from email communications, competition in the inbox will only get fiercer.  As a result, I have started to think about what factors can make your messages really stand out in the recipient’s inbox.  What is going to make recipients open your email rather than the others that are in their inbox?  And based on this research it is not going to be no easy task…

Consider how the email looks in the preview panel when no images are turned on

I recently received a flood of marketing emails within the space of a 30 minute meeting, when I returned to my desk I only actually opened one of them, the others were quickly deleted.  When I looked at what had influenced my decision to open that message rather than any other, it came down to the way the message looked in the preview panel when the images were turned off.

All the other messages I had received were image heavy and appeared in the preview panel as a mess of missing images.  The message that I opened also contained missing images but importantly it also contained text content within the preview panel.  I could therefore see it was promoting great holiday deals for Easter and was encouraged to open it and find out more. 

Making sure your email displays well within the preview panel can help you encourage recipients to open your message rather than any other.

Deliver value to your recipients on a consistent basis

Last week I received an email from a budget airline followed by an email from a competitor some 30 minutes later.  I only opened one of them…

I choose to open the second email because my past experiences of their messages.  They have delivered relevant and valuable messages to me in the past that have encouraged me to use their services.  As a result I wanted to open their email to see what offers they had for me this time.

In contrast, my past experiences of the first companies emails has taught me that they tend to go for a one size fits all approach and therefore the offers aren’t so relevant to me.  When time is tight, there is only going to be one company that gets me to open their messages.

If your campaigns are not delivering value to your subscribers they will tune out of future communications.  By delivering value your recipients will want to open your messages no matter how busy their inbox becomes.

Make sure you are at the top of the recipient’s inbox when they have time to read your messages

As email marketers we are trying to make sure our message is at the top of the recipient’s inbox, when they have time to read the message and are interested about what we have to say.  This is even more important as the inbox becomes increasingly competitive. 

I imagine I am not alone in reading my inbox from top to bottom, or put another way, most recent first.  What this means is that if I have a lot of messages to read, the messages towards the bottom (or oldest) of my inbox typically get the least attention. 

How can you ensure that the message arrives at the top of the inbox?  Well consider the time that you are sending the message.  Sending emails overnight or at a weekend to a business address will almost certainly mean that by the time the message is read it is surrounded by other emails.  Look at the activity of the subscriber, if they often open your emails at 15:00 in the afternoon then start to send the messages at that time.  Consider where they are in the buying cycle, if they have just spent money with you they may be less likely to spend money again, deliver an informative message instead.

James Bunting
Communicator Corp

The from field - a key tool in getting opened

Because we're all dealing with busy inboxes and making split second decisions whether to read now, later - or delete,it's important to craft an email that is immediately recognised by the recipient as they are scanning through new email.

The sender line in the from field is your key to getting opened. What are your choices? There are a number, actually – and the one you select should correctly reflect the relationship you have with each recipient.

    * From your company - The from field works well when personalised, but if you don’t have enough information about the subscriber (e.g. who their point of contact is in your company) or if they are a prospect, you’ll most likely choose your company name. Your goal should be to achieve personalisation as the relationship deepens.

    * From a brand associated with your company - If you have a wide variety of products and services, you’ll want the email to come from the brand the subscriber has purchased, or has indicated they’d like to hear more about the products/services of the brand.

    * From someone at your company - Here’s where the personalisation opportunities kick in. For example, the email could come from the customer’s Account Manager, from the sales person or the Customer Service rep, etc. Avoid using a personal name that means nothing to the subscriber - it can at best just get deleted as unknown, or at worst be perceived as a spammer’s ploy.

Don’t forget you have the technology at your fingertips to test the from field. Take advantage of this technology to confirm you are making the right choices.

denise cox, Newsweaver

An addendum: Sean Duffy has posted a comment about the success he has had with Name AND company. And that testing included the use of a generic name and the company name. Interesting results. Thanks for reminding me about the fourth choice of name and company (In fact, I already use that format in my own newsletter). What your post really drives home - testing is essential to find out what works best for your own business.

"Email Equity" or "Spray & Pray"

£9.11, £20, or at the risk of sounding like Bruce Forsyth - Higher / Lower? 

At the start of January 2009, an article that was published in Revolution magazine put the value of a permission based email at £20. This proposed a new updated value from the £9.11 put forward by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) National Benchmarking report in this post in 2007.

Two things struck me by this:

1. Whilst both these figures can be criticised as being only "finger in the air" - how many companies can, even if they choose not to say, actually place a value of their own asset (excuse me if I don't put email list, database etc but lets call it what it is)

2. Given that they can value this asset do they treat it as such i.e. regularly measure it, manage it, and through a structured process aim to improve it !

Over 2008 I monitored the number of emails I received from 24 companies (I registered but then did not open). Have a look at the monthly figures but the difference was stark.

• One company emailed me 105 times in the year!! This suggests that they are either very persistent, very optimistic or not listening to the feedback they should be getting ?

• Others emailed hardly at all - I opted in and they failed to deliver !

"The time has come when advertising has in some hands reached the status of a science" - Claude Hopkins wrote in 1923, but my experience over 2008 suggests not all hands !

If companies do not go beyond a "never mind the quality feel the width approach" i.e. How big as opposed to how valuable, they will be unable to have communication that is relevant both to their customers and their corporate goals.

In discussion with various delegates at a recent Ready Steady Email event, feedback suggested that people are starting on the route to email equity but it still has some distance to travel. However the sooner companies start the sooner they should get there!

I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Stefan Elliot
Six Serving Men