advanced email campaign analysis
DESCRIPTION
Using email metrics to measure campaign objectives, including leveraging social media for maximum reach (share to social).TRANSCRIPT
IS YOUR EMAIL PRODUCING CHURN, BURN, OR PROFIT?ADVANCED EMAIL MARKETING ANALYSIS
Marketing Profs Digital Mixer 2009
Karen Talavera, Synchronicity MarketingHarvey Morris, Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau
The Evolving World of EmailThe Year of Discovering What Matters
What A Difference A Year Makes
2008 2009
Recession
Effect on 2009 Marketing Budgets Half of all responders reported negative
impact
But Every Cloud has a Silver Lining
Digital Marketing Grew
And Email Flourished
During tough times, more marketers adopted digital marketing Over 90% of marketers polled by eMetrics said
they would increase or maintain their spend on email
The Times They Are-a-Changin’
The Old Model
One-way progression More interested in speaking than listening Goal: Create demand rather than value Sell vs. Serve
The New Way
Two-way dialog, multiple avenues Conversation vs. broadcast Goal: Create long-term value & loyalty Sell by way of Serving
Why Now?
Marketing Fusion
Social Media Explosion
Web 2.0/UGC
Holistic & Transparent
Identity
Email: The New Nexus
Mobile, Ubiquit
ous, Device
-Neutra
l
Increases Engagement with
and Pushes Users to Social Media
Push/Pull to Web-Hosted Digital
Content too rich for inbox
Online Connector to Offline/Legacy
CRM and
Direct Response
World
Consumers Prefer Email
But Consumers Want Permission Merkle’s annual View
from the Inbox study found 47% of permission email recipients cite that well-executed email programs influence their decision to do business with companies both online and off-line
This percentage increases in tandem with online spend, up to 59% for those with an annual Internet spend of $1,000 or more
Let’s Not Forget Social Media
The Year Twitter Doubled,
2008 2009
6 Million 12 MillionSource: http://www.sysomos.com/insidetwitter/
Facebook Exploded,
Nov. 2008
Nov. 2009
60 Million 300 MillionSource: Facebook, Web Strategy Blog (Jeremiah Owyang)
And Marketers Caught On
There’s a Lot More Data to Deal With
So What’s Worth Measuring?
Four Essential Email Measures
• Delivered, opens, clicks, conversions, complaints, unsubs
Process Metrics (Email
Diagnostics)
• Forwards, shares with social, cross-channel conversion
Influence Metrics
• Questions, complaints, critique, frustration, problems, praise
Feedback Metrics
• ROI, AOV, LTV, Share of Customer, Measurement against business objectives
Contribution Metrics
Email + Social Media = A Focus on Engagement
Case Study: CCTB
Three Distinct Audiences
Leisure Visitors (mostly B-to-C)
Bureau Members (B-
to-B)
Meeting
Planners (B-to-
B)
1. Leisure Visitors
Email Audience: 85,000• What’s New in Chicago Semi-monthly
Newsletter
• CHICAGO: Inside Out (GLBT) Quarterly newsletter
• Eat It Up Chicago (restaurant/dining related)
Objective: Stimulate interest in and travel to Chicago among Chicago-friendly tourists
Uncluttered Email Sign-Up Page
What’s New in Chicago (Aug.)
What’s New in Chicago (Sept.)
Chicago Inside Out
Chicago Restaurant Week Promo
Social Media Presence
Social Media Presence
Social Media Presence
Leisure Visitor Program Results
Measure Rate Result
Process Metrics
Deliverability Rate 98.5%
Open Rate 32.5% Interest
Click-Through Rate (on opens) 22.7% Engagement
Click-Through Rate (total) 7.4% Engagement
Unsubscribe Rate .14% Relevancy
Influence Metrics
Social Media Buttons (Find Us on . . .)
Facebook 160 clicks/issue
New FB Fans
Twitter 64 clicks/issue
New followers
Share to Social Link (FB at #1) 108 posts/issue
Residual Lift
2. Bureau Members
Email Audience: 3,000Member Companies: 1,400
• Membership Exclusive monthly newsletter
Objectives: Engage & inform paying members about CCTB
initiatives and leverage strength of group toward common strategic objectives
Grow email list via cross-promotion with members in social networking context
Member Exclusive
Social Media Presence
Member Program Results
Measure Rate Result
Process Metrics
Deliverability Rate 99%
Open Rate 65% Interest
Click-Through Rate (on opens) 13% Engagement
Click-Through Rate (total) 9% Engagement
Unsubscribe Rate .03% Relevancy
Influence Metrics
Forward Rate .2% Residual Lift
Social Media Buttons (Find Us on . . .)
Facebook Avg. 6/issue New FB Fans
Twitter Avg. 3/issue New followers
Join Members-only LinkedIn Group Grow email list
3. Meeting Planners
Email Audience: 16,000(House File 8,000/Rentals 8,000)
• “Chicago Meetings News” monthly newsletter
Objectives: Sell Chicago as a meeting/convention location Grow awareness of free CCTB resources
available
Chicago Meeting News
Official e-newsletter sent to meeting planners
Typical Announcement
Stand-alone message announces new free resources added to Destination Marketing Kit (DMK) for meeting planners
Meeting Planner Program Results
Measure Rate Result
Process Metrics
Deliverability Rate 94.9%
Open Rate 34.1% Interest
Click-Through Rate (on opens) 11.9% Engagement
Click-Through Rate (total) 4.1% Engagement
Unsubscribe Rate .10% Relevancy
Influence Metrics
Share to Social Link (FB at #1) 41 posts/issue Residual Lift
Email & Social Media Integration
Tweet & FB links to Web-hosted versions of What’s New In Chicago and Chicago: Inside Out e-newsletters Also integrating subject-matter-specific hashtags in
Post exclusive members-only deals on LinkedIn Group page
New email list sign-ups generated from increased exposure on Facebook and Linked-In
Social Networking sites elevating audience reach Stimulating visitors to consider Chicago as a destination
vs. engaging active planners (role of main Web site)
Key Insights
“A Rising Tide Lifts all Boats” Email combined with social media has exponential
ability to boost influence Leveraging partner or member brands’ social media
efforts a major asset
Don’t underestimate your current email list members’ ability to connect you to new subscribers Solid influence + useful content can double or triple
list size
Use Social Media to spark interest, email to close it Devise an intentional consideration path
social media communityemail list sign-updetailed offers
Advanced KPIs for a Clearer View
Email Analytics: Beyond the Basics
Four Essential Email Measures
• Delivered, opens, clicks, conversions, complaints, unsubs
Process Metrics (Email
Diagnostics)• Successive opens or clicks,
forwards, shares with social, cross-channel conversion
Influence Metrics
• Questions, complaints, critique, frustration, problems, praise
Feedback Metrics
• ROI, AOV, LTV, Share of Customer, Measurement against business objectives
Contribution Metrics
Process Metric Indicators
Metric Insight
Open Rate Identity RecognitionSubject Line EffectivenessTrust
Click-Through Rate
Offer EffectivenessTargeting AppropriatenessMessage/Creative/Design Resonance
Conversion Rate Landing Page EfficacyInformation RelevanceEase of Registration, Purchase
Delivery Rate How much email made it through
Three Views of Process Metrics By Campaign or Program (aggregate response)
Allows for apples-to-apples performance comparison across different messages or campaigns
Compare subject line, offer, creative, landing page performance
By Segment Allows for apples-to-apples comparison of response history
across different subscriber groups Trend analysis of response actions by group attributes
By Responder History Frequency distribution of openers, clickers, converters, repeat
customers Identifies responder engagement levels, gaps, clusters
All Responders Are Not Created Equal
Remember the importance of channel segmentation on your back end
Analyze program results by demographic, behavioral, and channel characteristics such as: Social media participation
Which customers are active on social networks? Have shared to social? Permission type (single opt-in vs. double opt-in)
Is a higher permission standard translating into better response? Source channel
Is a particular name source yielding more responders? Or influencers? Date acquired
Are more recent list members more responsive? Multi-Channel Activity/Status
Are those active in more than one channel behaving different form single-channel responders? How?
Subscriber Engagement Analysis Is the same small minority repeating response
actions from campaign to campaign?
One-ti
me
Two-
Tim
e
Thre
e-Ti
me
Four
+0
10
20
30
40
50
60
OpensClicksConversions
Frequency of Response Action
Perc
en
t of
Lis
t
Analyze who they are . Objective is to stimulate them to open second time
Analyze who they are . Are they the same people campaign after campaign?
Longitudinal View of List Member Response Actions Examine list reach, not just aggregate response
rate Measure cumulative response actions per member
over a period of time
Divide list members by response frequency. Examine frequency distribution of openers, clickers, and buyers Is there good random distribution across your list?
Analyze frequent responders for biased clusters
Goal: Move the needle on less active segments of the list Focus test efforts here
Four Essential Email Measures
• Delivered, opens, clicks, conversions, complaints, unsubs
Process Metrics (Email
Diagnostics)
• Forwards, shares with social, cross-channel conversion
Influence Metrics
• Questions, complaints, critique, frustration, problems, praise
Feedback Metrics
• ROI, AOV, LTV, Share of Customer, Measurement against business objectives
Contribution Metrics
Web Traffic Driven by Increasingly Fragmented Sources
Source: Chief Marketer Oct/Nov 2009
MultiChannel Conversion Tracking
Is essential, will get more difficult as channels proliferate
Email may both directly and indirectly contribute to conversion How do you tell when it influences vs. causes conversion?
Your back-end may not accurately be able to track conversions because responders don’t always follow a trackable path The more complex the sale, the more likely it will be
completed in stages, in multiple channels
Short-term channel-suppression testing one way to gauge individual value of a channel
Capturing Total Conversion
List Size 50,000
Conversions By Channel
Online – Direct from Email Campaign
1,000
Conversion Rate 1,000 / 50,000 2%
Online – via Social Network (share to
social link in email)
430
Conversion Rate 430 / 50,000 .9%
Phone 150
Conversion Rate 150 / 50,000 .3%
In-Store 400
Conversion Rate 400 / 50,000 .8%
Total Conversion All Channels
1,980 / 50,000 4%
Four Essential Email Measures
• Delivered, opens, clicks, conversions, complaints, unsubs
Process Metrics (Email
Diagnostics)
• Forwards, shares with social, cross-channel conversion
Influence Metrics
• Questions, complaints, critique, frustration, problems, praise
Feedback Metrics
• ROI, AOV, LTV, Share of Customer, Measurement against business objectives
Contribution Metrics
How Responsive Is Your Company?
At least 89% of consumers believe they should get a response in 24 hours or less
The Art of Listening
Who/what is monitoring reply-to email boxes and routing complaints, comments or questions?
Who/what is monitoring unsub process?
Who’s managing Twitter? Listening to followers? Receiving DMs and monitoring for brand/product/key words/hashtags?
Who’s managing Facebook & MySpace?
Who runs the LinkedIn Group?
How are you listening across the Web? (Google alerts?)
Four Essential Email Measures
• Delivered, opens, clicks, conversions, complaints, unsubs
Process Metrics (Email
Diagnostics)
• Forwards, shares with social, cross-channel conversion
Influence Metrics
• Questions, complaints, critique, frustration, problems, praise
Feedback Metrics
• ROI, AOV, LTV, Share of Customer, Measurement against business objectives
Contribution Metrics
All Responses Are Not Created Equal
Best way to evaluate total performance is to assign a weighted (or monetary, if you can) value to each action that is meaningful to your business: Example:
Tweet = 1 point (or $x) Landing/Web Site Page View = 5 points (or $x) New List Subscriber = 7 points (or $x) Conversion/Purchase = 10 points (or $x)
Count the number of meaningful actions and multiply them by a weighted value or typical cost to generate for a truer look at the total value of each campaign
Calculating Total Contribution
Total Campaign Cost Factor in list, delivery cost, creative, testing
$1,000
Valuable Response Actions
Sales 100 X Avg $50 $5,000
Sign-Ups 430 X CPA $2.00 $860
Page Views
1,000 X CPA $.50 $500
Forwards 276 X CPI $1.00 $276
Subtotal $6,636
Simple ROI
$6,636 Less $1,000 = $5,636
Set Channel Goals
Create target deliverability, open, click, conversion rates
Benchmark improved performance over time
Test to beat control
Benchmark against industry/sector avg.
Comparative Campaign Analysis
Campaign A may have produced more click-throughs than Campaign B, but if the correlation of clicks to conversions is low in Campaign A, Campaign B will be the better performing effort
Correlations to Measure Opens to clicks Clicks to conversions
Campaign A Campaign B
Open Rate 48% 40%
Click-Through Rate
12% 5%
Conversion Rate
3% 4%
Align Email with Marketing Goals Define key marketing goals
Acquisition? Retention? Branding? Increase ROI? AOV?
Determine how adding email to the mix has impacted achievement of key goals Conduct “before and after” analysis
Determine how using email in conjunction with other online AND offline media improves overall performance of all channels
Measure email’s impact related to highest marketing priorities
ARV/AOV Look beyond ROI by comparing average
response or order value across campaigns. Higher conversion rates alone don’t matter if ARV/AOV is
low
Example: Campaign B required twice as many conversions to produce
the same results as Campaign A. Something is motivating responders to spend more in Campaign A. (Find out what, and then you just need to raise the conversion rate to maximize returns) Campaign A Campaign B
Conversion Rate
3% 7%
Sales $ $10,000 $12,000
Number of Orders
50 120
AOV $200 $100
And Overall Business Goals
Are the results of your email marketing contributing to your company’s overall business goals or detracting from them?
Can the value of the results justify increased email program budget/resources?
Can you integrate and connect email to other marketing channels or functions to maximize its impact?
In Summary
• Know the fundamentals and view from different perspectives
• Record and develop benchmarksMetrics Matter
• Look beyond raw numbers; higher not always “better”
• Develop different KPIs for different objectives
Measure Beyond the Basics
• Gauge more than desired response• Especially when/if integrating channelsLearn to Listen
• Identify outcomes directly related to macro marketing and business goals
• Quantify, justify, prosper
Align with the Big Picture
Stay ConnectedEmail:[email protected]
Web:www.synchronicitymarketing.com
www.choosechicago.com
Facebook/LinkedIn: Karen TalaveraChooseChicago Fan Page
Twitter: http://twitter.com/SyncMarketing
http://twitter.com/ChooseChicago
THANK YOU, QUESTIONS?
Marketing Profs Digital Mixer 2009