Measuring the effectiveness of your e-mail programmesLuke Griffiths – Account Director

e-Dialog Client Knowledge Day

28th January 2009

Overview

•Why measurement is important

•Checklist for success

•A framework for measuring email’s impact

•Responding to your findings

Times are tough…

Times are tough…and getting tougher

The UK’s face of the credit crunch:

“…unprecedented government lending…”

“…consumers are going into hibernation and battening down the

hatches…”

•Brands are disappearing from the high street

oWoolies…o Zaavi….o XL Holidays

When the going gets tough….

o Your budgets are being eyed…

oMarketing is often the first port of call

o Be ready for the email or call

*Marketing Sherpa Special Report: Marketing During a

Downturn

• Some accountants see the marketing budgets as a discretionary spend

• ‘Discretionary’ because marketers have done a poor job at measuring and reporting on the benefit of their budgets…

Cuts have started….

o Your budgets may have been reduced

o They will continue to be challenged

o Smart businesses are investing ready for the bounce

• Spend is being directed away from traditional channels

• Closed loop measurement means online channels are best positioned to see out the downturn

*Marketing Sherpa Special Report: Marketing During a

Downturn

This is what you are up against

o Less customers

o Less new customers

oHigher acquisition costs

o Lengthening sales cycles

• Insights need to direct your programme strategies to ensure you continue to direct your spend correctly

• Focus on retention….its cheaper

*Marketing Sherpa Special Report: Marketing During a

Downturn

• e-mail has the ability to be one of your most successful channels

• Marketers must understand how to define and calculate the impact of their e-mail marketing efforts

• “Knowledge is power!”

Let your numbers do the talking….

Email Effectiveness Check List…

1. What is working and what’s not?2. For every £, €, or $ spent on email, what is the average

return?3. Where are the majority of emails addresses “coming”

from?4. Multi-channel impact?5. How are you changing your programme to adjust to

current economic environment?

Five questions to ask before someone else does…

Success not defined by just revenue…

The success of your email programme can be defined in several ways…

Immediate revenue

generation

Longer Term Customer

Value

Brand Marketing

Support

…key is for you to define what success looks like

11

Framework for measuring contribution

CommercialCommercial BrandBrand

StrategicStrategicLong-term

commercial value of email

programme?

Emails contribution to overall brand

value?

TacticalTacticalCommercial value

of specific activities?

Programmes contribution to brand value?

Tactical / Commercial

Measures:

o Total revenue generated

o Revenue per click

o Revenue per email

CommercialCommercial BrandBrand

StrategicStrategic

TacticalTactical

What are the specific success criteria for the commercial success of the campaign?

Strategic / Commercial

Measures:

o Revenue per subscriber from email

o Increase in overall customer value or share of wallet for email audience vs.. off-line audience

o Number of product holdings (cross-sales value)

o Increase over time in:-oTotal revenue generatedoRevenue per clickoRevenue per email

CommercialCommercial BrandBrand

StrategicStrategic

TacticalTactical

What are the measures of success for the commercial contribution of the programme/channel?

Strategic / Brand

Measures:

o NPV/brand advocacy measures – consider using include email in any brand tracker programme

o Proportion of email audience engaged in channel

o Response rate trends (open, CTR)

CommercialCommercial BrandBrand

StrategicStrategic

TacticalTactical

What is the impact on brand value of the email programme?

Tactical / Brand

Measures:

o Positive measures:

o Open rates

o Click-through rates

o Engagement measures e.g. Click rate/open rate

o Customer engagement – poll completions, referrals , reviews.

o Negative measures:

o Unsubscribe rate

CommercialCommercial BrandBrand

StrategicStrategic

TacticalTactical

How does each campaign support your brand value?

What else is needed…?

Beyond baseline metrics

• More detailed reporting:o Click stream data - Layers of response providing behavioral insight beyond

conversionso Drill-down on conversion revenueo Define actual mailing lifto Margin, profitability and ROI analysiso LTV of an email address to your business

• Data implications:o Full multi-channel customer viewso Margin and cost information

Measuring the health of your email database

List health is key for long term growth

UnsubscribeInactive Customers

New Customers

Channel Migration

Total Active Customers

Reactivating Customers

LTV

Responding to measurement

Once you have completed your analysis•Report consistently

•Champion success

•Evolve your programme

•Test, test and test

Summary

1. Measurement is vital to understanding impact & productivity of e-mail investment

2. If you cant measure the results your going to deliver then your spend will be seen as discretionary

3. Metrics should be geared to your e-mail objectives

4. Consider metrics beyond just revenue impacts

5. Monitor results and react quickly

6. Talk to your account team about reporting and dashboards to help you