Look Smart: Top 5 Quick & Easy Ways to Evaluate Email Performance

Don't Just Look Smart. Be Smart!

Quick + Smart Ways to Evaluate Email KPIs

Overview

Overview

Here's What We Will Be Looking at Today:

- What the heck is this “CPAP” thing?

- Metrics Overview

- 5 Key Tips for Tracking Email Performance

- Q + A

Introduction / About CPAP.com

But Really, What's a CPAP?

CPAP Masks and Machines Treat Sleep Apnea.

What's Sleep Apnea?

Sleep Apnea is a disorder that causes the soft palate to

relax and block airways causing one to “suffocate”.

But Really, What's a CPAP?

A Little Bit More on CPAP Equipment...

More About Sleep Apnea

Sleep Apnea Facts:

• 1 in 18 Americans have Sleep Apnea

• More prevalent in men than women

• Women who do have Sleep Apnea are less likely to

show traditional symptoms (snoring) and typically

have morning headaches, daytime sleepiness

and insomnia

• Having untreated Sleep Apnea greatly increases

your risk for cancer, diabetes, heart disease and

even your chances of getting Alzheimer's

A Little Bit About CPAP.com

Located in Stafford, Texas – Right outside of Houston.

A Little Bit About CPAP.com

CPAP land

• Online and profitable since early 90s

• eCommerce > Healthcare

• Metrics driven

• Grown rapidly

• My background

• Also, we're hiring

Let's Talk Numbers: Basic Metrics

The Basics

Stuff You Probably Already Know:

• Delivery Rate

• Open Rate

• Click Rate

• Conversion Rate

• Revenue / Email

• Revenue

• AOV

Tip One: Check Yourself.

Reliability is Key

Make Sure Your Numbers are Accurate

• Test Sends

- Don't test the basics, test the tracking!

• Compare with Google Analytics or Other Provider

- Home > Connections Center > Custom Analytics

Reliabilty is Key

How Can This Be Tested?

1. Clear your cache from your email browser

2. Send a single test send

3. Open, click, and place a test purchase from this

email

4. If applicable, make sure Analytics are displaying

- One missing </a> can mess up tracking for a

message

5. Check Bronto to make sure activity matches the

reports

Reliabilty is Key

Know What You are Tracking:

1. Is Bronto reporting ship costs?

2. Is Bronto reporting tax costs (if applicable)?

3. How do discounts from promo codes get

reported?

4. What about returned equipment?

- Return rates can be very helpful here

5. Note: Opens and clicks cannot be tracked in

some clients.

Tip Two: Know What to Look At.

A CPAP.com Case Study...

• We A | B Tested Two Subject Lines for Our Spring Sale

- 30.2% - Your Inbox Just Laid Eggs!

- 24.9% - On the Hunt? See What We've Got Inside!

Know What to Look At

The “Blue” Charts Don't Offer a Good Apples to Apples

Comparison

“Green” Charts Allow for Better Evaluations Across Messages

Know What to Look At

• Pipeline Metrics (“Blue Charts”)

• Pros:

- Great picture on how customers flow through the

funnel

- Gives insight to where customers fall off

• Cons

- Harder to compare against overall efforts

Know What to Look At

• Delivery Metrics (“Green Charts”)

• Pros:

- Chart to chart comparison provides better trend

data

• Cons

- Doesn't reveal where customers get “stuck”

Know What to Look At

Pipeline Metrics

Delivery Metrics

Subject A Subject B

Know What to Look At

Drawing Comparisons

• If you categorize your messages, delivery reports will be

much more effective in helping you compare

performance

- These metrics are for a sale newsletter.

- Using a delivery group of similar messages, we can

compare performance trends.

Know What to Look At

Wait, What's a Delivery Group?

• Quick Tip:

- Under the “Messages” tab, select “Delivery Groups”

- Add various messages and deliveries to view

comprehensive reports

Compare These Two Sends v the Average for Delivery Group:

Subject A Subject B

Summary Report

Know What to Look At

Compare These Two Sends v the Average for Delivery Group:

Subject A Subject B

Summary Report

Know What to Look At

Tip Three: Run A | B Tests.

Run A | B Tests

Types of A | B Tests

• Subject Line

• From Name and Address

• Date and Time of Send

• Full Message Content

Bronto makes A | B testing really easy – no reason not

to do it!

Run A | B Tests

Use Comparison Reports to Evaluate Performance

• Go to Reporting > Comparison Reports

• View side by side snapshots of message

performance

• Take notes and capitalize on your findings

- Use your data to make remails more efficient

- Note reoccurring trends over time

Run A | B Tests

Example: Putting Data to Work

• Initial showed discount offer in the green egg was

used the most

Initial

Send

Remail

Run A | B Tests

A Few Fun Things We've Learned from A | B Tests:

• Using “Brand New:” in a subject line routine out

performs other variations for product launch emails.

• Price buttons have lower click through rates but

ultimately higher conversion rates than sale or

product name buttons.

• Weird, short and humorous subject lines generally

have the highest open rate.

• Lately, we've even found sale emails have a higher

conversion rate on Saturday than on Friday.

Tip Four: Make Projections

Projecting Revenue for a Send

• Delivery Groups Again!

• Remember Revenue / Email?

• You can use the Revenue / Email metrics of a

Delivery Group to project how an email will do.

- ex. Your Sales category sends have a

revenue / email rate of 45¢

- Your next sale email will be sending to a list of

200,000

- 200,000 x .45 = $90,000

• Of course there will be fluctuation, but gives a good

ballpark

Projecting Revenue for a Send

Beware – Many Things Can Affect These Calculations

• Your list will hopefully grow between one

send to another

• You need to consistently account for inactive

contacts

Projecting Future Revenue of a Send

What If I Want to Project Revenue for a Future Send?

1. First decide what date range you are projecting

for

2. Calculate your growth for the same increment

of time

3. Apply growth rate to current list size

4. Multiply projected list size by average

revenue / email for similar newsletter

category

Projecting Future Revenue of a Send

Example: What do we project revenue to be on a sale

newsletter going out three months from now?

1. Look at growth rate for a three month period.

List size January 1 = 115,000

List size March 31 = 120,000

2. Calculate Growth Rate

120,000 / 115,000 = 104.34%

3. Multiply Current list size by Growth Rate

121,700 * 1.0434 = 126,981

Projecting Future Revenue of a Send

Example: What do we project revenue to be on a sale

newsletter going out three months from now?

(continued)

3. Multiply Projected List Size by Average Revenue

/ Email

126,981 * 45¢ = $57,141.45

Quick Tip

Where Do I Get List Growth Data?

• Reporting > Dashboard > Contact Growth Over

Time

- Pick Your List

- Select Contact Points to See Contact Count

Projecting Future Revenue of a Send

Beware – Many Things Can Affect These Calculations:

• A marked increase or decrease in regular list

growth

• Sending to an unusual segment

• Seasonal impacts

• The basic appeal of the offer

- Fine tuned delivery groups can alleviate

this

Tip Five: Schedule Your Reporting.

Recommended Reporting Schedule

When to Look at Reports is Pretty Obvious

• By Message

• Monthly

• Quarterly

• Annually

But What to Look at is Important...

By Message

Important Things to Check

• Reminder to look at “Green” charts

• Use Comparison Report to view A | B tests

and see what works the best

• Delivery Rate

- Easy to overlook, but very important

By Month and Quarter

Important Things to Check

• Create a delivery group for the entire month

• Compare to previous month and year over

year

• Look at aggregated performance metrics

- Are there consistent trends across emails?

- What is the single most clicked link?

- Are there any holes?

By Month and Quarter

Glimpse of a Sample Report from CPAP.com:

Income numbers removed for confidentiality purposes

By Month and Quarter

What Can We Learn From This Report?

• Communications were more efficient in 2012 than

2013

• Average order value was higher in 2013

• Extra sends indicate there is a bit of list

fatigue

• Less remails might increase click and

conversion rate / email next season

• Increased revenue (not shown) should be

weighed against the amount of list

fatigue

By Year

Important Things to Check

• Were year over year trends the same?

- What worked and should be repeated?

• How much was revenue up / down annually?

- Did increase / decrease in revenue match

company's overall growth rate?

• Did you send more or less?

• How much is a subscriber worth annually?

By Year

How Do I Find Out These Things Out?

• Annual Trends: Rates Over Time

- It's still all about the delivery group!

- Create a group with all messages for the

year

- Go to Reporting > Dashboard > Message

Performance Over Time

- Select your delivery group and choose your

date range for the year under question

By Year

Rates for

2013

By Year

How Do I Find Out These Things Out?

• Annual Trends: Year Over Year Comparisons

- Simply compare delivery group metrics

year over year

- ex. Compare key metrics for 2012 and 2013

- Was overall click and conversion rate up or

down?

- How does your revenue / email compare?

- Did overall revenue go up?

- If so, was it on par with overall site

growth?

By Year

How Do I Find Out These Things Out?

• Annual Trends: Annual Subscriber Worth

- Refer to the same delivery group for the

year

- Look at Revenue / Email

- Multiply Revenue / Email * Number of

Deliveries

Question + Answer

Ashley Thompson