email metrics that matter
DESCRIPTION
This presentation was created by our Operations and Deliverability expert, Joe Scharf. It was presented at the Metrics Marketing Bootcamp 2.0, which was held on the CU-Boulder campus in February 2011. Thanks to Niel Robertson and Trada for putting on a great event and including us!TRANSCRIPT
Email Metrics that MatterJoe Scharf, Director of Operations & Services @ SendGrid
Session Agenda
• Email Metrics Explained• Deliverability• Understanding Reputation
Joe
Email Metrics
• Requests– What you sent us– aka list size
• Delivered– ISP accepted– What does this mean?
• Understanding the spread
Delivered / Requests
Baselines• Great: > 95%• Good: 80 – 95%• Poor: < 80%
Email Metrics: Opens• Unique vs. Total• How does Open Tracking work?
– Web beacon / Tracking pixel• Caveats
– Images must be displayed in mail client– Return Path certification can help!
<img src=3D"http://email.sendgrid.com/wf/open?rp=3DlVOWF1LnCQmiTS%2FiAQGuxVL8CgpeZdxELB1IJuBXRwTw%2B5x1E2B1XNrvfP%2FPo98A&u3DpXSqrS_HQ36gIqlbzXiA=MA%2Foo0.gif" alt=3D"">
Opens / Delivered
Baselines• Great: > 30%• Good: 15 – 30 %• Poor: < 15%
Email Metrics: Clicks
• Unique vs. Total• How does Click Tracking work?
– Replace all URLs with encoded URL– Click is recorded and redirected
• Caveats– DNSBL of click-track domain– Whitelabel will help here
http://email.sendgrid.com/wf/click?c=aTUWUy5ZA7hw3ZBeke8fTpbgS0mwk%2BrNwJXIfq4akWQ%3D&rp=lVOWF1LnCQmiTS%2FiAQGuxVL8CgpeZdxELB1IJuBXRwTw%2B5x1E2B1XNrvfP%2FPo98A&u=pXSqrS_HQ36gIqlbzXiAMA%2Fh0
Clicks / Delivered
Baselines• Great: > 15%• Good: 5 – 15%• Poor: < 5%
Email Metrics: Subscription
• New Subscribers• Unsubscribes– CAN-SPAM Compliance• Prevent deception• Identify Sender• Provide and honor opt-out
– Better than spam report
Unsubs. / Delivered
Baselines• Great: < 1%• Good: 1-3%• Poor: > 3%
Email Metrics: Bounces
• Hard bounce– Address does not exist
• Soft bounce– Mailbox full – Deferral / Rate limiting– Retried for three days
• Bounces – Uses ISP resources, with no benefit– Chronic bouncing hurts reputation
Bounces / Requests
Baselines• Great: < 2%• Good: 2 - 5 %• Poor: > 5%
Email Metrics: Spam Reports
• Recipient clicks spam button• ISP measurement often higher
– Spam / Delivered vs. Spam/Inbox• How it works:
– Feedback loops (FBL)– Tell ISPs where to send abuse reports
• Caveats– Recipients sometimes misuse– Biggest contributor to reputation
Spam / Delivered
Baselines• Great: < 0.5%• Good: 0.5 - 1%• Poor: > 1%
Email Metrics: Request-Delivered Spread
• My requests are so high, but delivered so low– (repeat) Bounce rate– (repeat) Spam Reports– Deferrals & Throttling• New content, new IP: warmup• First line of defense before spam folder• Rate limiting• Can hurt reputation if not heeded
Deliverability: Common Issues• Don’t act like a spammer:
– When sending HTML, you must send text – Image to text ratio
• Your list is a problem– Opt-in? Does it matter?
• Everyone has an opt-in list• How can you prove it?• What does this even mean?
– Temporal opt-in• How old are the “opt-in” addresses on your list?• When was the last time you touched them?
Deliverability: Engagement
• Content is out, Engagement is in• ISPs monitoring abandoned email
accounts– Why bother sending if nobody is
listening?– Implicit Spamtrap vs. Honeypot
• Keep track of your user engagement– Interaction with your service– Clicks and opens– Segment accordingly
Sending Reputation• IP-based Reputation• Return Path Sender Score
– http://senderscore.org
• Cisco IronPort Sender Base – http://senderbase.org
• Blacklists– Not all created equal– Add/removal policies & who is referencing?– http://multirbl.valli.org/lookup/
• Goodbye IPv4– Transition to domain-based reputation
