Measuring the Results: How to Measure the Results of Email Communications and Enhance Their Success Presented by Dwight Dunkley Hobsons University 2015

2. Measuring the Results
How to Measure the Results of Email
Communications and Enhance their Success
Dwight Dunkley
CUNY Communications Coordinator
July 29, 2015

3. Dwight Dunkley

4. Bona Fides
Communications Coordinator
CUNY has 25 institutions
20 undergraduate colleges
250,000 students
CUNY Welcome Center
Central Office of Undergraduate
Admissions
Team of recruiters
Team of counseling staff
Team of processing staff

5. Bona Fides
SIX MILLION
Over 6,000,000 communications via Hobsons
Have been a Hobsons Connect user since 2009
Have managed 5 instances of Connect & Retain
Now managing:
an instance of Connect
an instance of Retain

6. Presentation Objective and Agenda

7. Objective and Agenda for Discussion
Objective:
Understand both why and how to create and
send dynamic and data-driven communications
Agenda:
1. Mindset
2. Methods
Mindset is applicable to
3. Big Wins
4. Big Plans

8. Five Finger Feedback
No fingers Not At All
1 finger
2 fingers
3 fingers Pretty Well
4 fingers
5 fingers Completely
Do You Understand?

9. Experience Levels
1 finger Very New user
3 fingers Two to Five Years
5 fingers Over Five Years
Your Experience Level

10. Share in Pairs
Pick a Partner and Answer in One Word:
What Were You Hoping to Learn
From This Presentation Today?

11. The Mindset Behind Measuring

12. A Mindset About Measuring
I often say that when you can measure
what you are speaking about, and express
it in numbers, you know something about
it; but when you cannot express it in
numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre
and unsatisfactory kind; it may be the
beginning of knowledge, but you have
scarcely, in your thoughts, advanced to the
stage of science, whatever the matter may
be. William Thomson (aka Lord Kelvin)

13. Why Even Bother Tracking Results
Vital to showing which practices work
Vital to showing which practices are failing
So they can be revisited and revised
Vital to showing which institutional characteristics
generate the most excitement from prospects
Vital to showing which media or topics generate
the most compliance from prospective and
admitted students
Data-driven decision-making
Cultivate expertise/knowledge

14. Why Even Bother Tracking Results
Demonstrate your value to department/institution
Talk about your experience in quantifiable ways
Identify both strengths and weaknesses for
professional growth
Support requests for more resources with data
Because something is working
Because something is not working

15. Most Important Benefit
Get Into the Data, Not the Debate

16. Currently Tracking Results
Fist No
5 fingers - Yes
Currently Tracking Results

17. How Are You Tracking Results?

18. How to Measure Results

19. How to Generally Measure Success of An Email
Open-rate
# opens/ total # recipients
Click-to-Open rate
# clicks / # opens
Conversion rate
# actions / # recipients
Unsubscribe rate
# opt-outs / # recipients

20. Our Tracking Tools
1. Hobsons Native Analytics
Sent Email Results
Reports Tab
Exports
2. Litmus: Email Marketing Analytics
3. Microsoft Excel
4. Google Analytics
Possible Tracking Tool:
Landing Pages

21. Native Hobsons Analytics
1.Visit Communications tab
2.
3.
Communication you want to measure

22. Native Analytics Breakdown
Received and Viewed
Received
Viewed/ Not Viewed
Actions
]
Clicked on any link [also clicks to specific links]
Replied
Opted-out
Other Actionable Statistics
No email address
Server Bounce backs
Opted-out

23. Example of Native Hobsons Analytics
Viewed Rate really measures what recipients
see/think before they read email
Interaction Rate really measures what
recipients see in/think about the email

24. How to Measure Success of A Hobsons Email
General terms:
1. Open-rate
2. Clicks-to-Open rate
3. Conversion rate
4. Unsubscribe rate
Hobsons terms:
1. Viewed rate
2. Interacted rate
3. Conversions Not Always Tracked in Hobsons
4. Opted-out

25. Example of Links Click-Thru Results
Two Pro-Tips
1.
anchor text
2. Use Google URL Builder
Campaign Source/ Medium/ Name

26. Tracking Results in Litmus
We had a sense that recipients were viewing our
emails on mobile devices (tablets & phones)
We had no idea what emails looked like

27. Responsive Design
Design aimed to provide an optimal viewing
experience with easy to read content and a
minimum need to resize, pan, pinch, and scroll.
Content designed to look good across a wide
range of devices

28. Litmus Analytics Breakdown
Preview what emails will look like across a wide
array of device and browser configurations
Preview what emails will look like in different
email clients and email service providers
Preview the spam score of each email
Review open rate of emails and location of where
recipients are viewing the email
Engagement: desktop vs. mobile
Review how many read/skimmed/glanced
Number of forwards and prints
Number of seconds spent looking at email

29. Examples of Litmus Analytics Preview

30. Examples of Litmus Analytics Location

31. Examples of Litmus Analytics Engagement

32. Microsoft Excel
Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for Unit
Average open/viewed rate (only last 10 emails)
Share Results With Stakeholders
Percentages and Raw Numbers

33. Understand Tracking Methods
No fingers Not At All
1 finger
2 fingers
3 fingers Pretty Well
4 fingers
5 fingers Completely
Understand Tracking?

34. Big Wins From Measuring the Results

35. Big Win: Gorgeous Email Templates
We discovered the percentage of our audience
that opened emails on mobile devices
24% 76%
Mobile
Desktop

36. Big Win: Gorgeous Email Templates
After implementing Litmus we discovered that our
audience is overwhelmingly mobile
Desktop
24%
Mobile
76%

37. Big Win: Gorgeous Email Templates
We also discovered the most popular email
clients/platforms and started to design for it
53%
15%
10%
6%
3%2%
10%
Android
Gmail
iPhone
iPad
Web

38. Big Win: Gorgeous Email Templates
We also discovered the most popular email
clients/platforms and started to design for it
53%
15%
10%
6%
3%2%
10%
iPhone
Web Android

39. Big Win: Gorgeous Email Templates
Changing the voice of emails
Less authority, more relatable
More casual but still professional
Avoid stodgy and avoid trendy
Eliminate text-
Eliminate leak links
Add pre-headers
Leverage multimedia assets
Leverage social media efforts

40. Big Win: Gorgeous Email Templates
From Name Subject Line Pre-Header

41. Big Win: Gorgeous Email Templates
Pre-Header
Photo Resizes
Large Legible Type
Wide Call-to-Action Button

42. Big Win: Gorgeous Email Templates
Better Viewed Rates
0
5.5
11
16.5
22
27.5
College Week Live Sheldon Silver
Before
After

43. Big Win: Gorgeous Email Templates
More Interaction
0
100
200
300
400
500
College Week Live
0
25
50
75
100
125
Sheldon Silver
Before
After

44. Big Win: Gorgeous Email Templates
Design Matters

45. Share in Pairs Stakeholder Stories
Pick a Partner and Fill in the Blank:
When I Work With Other
Colleagues/Departments to Send Emails

46. Big Win: Stakeholder Success Stories
Cultivate Expertise and Experience
Approach conversations with stakeholders as email
marketing experts and higher education colleagues
General email marketing expertise
Institution/Population-specific experience and expertise
Focus stakeholders on the desired outcome
Apply your expertise in service to their goal
of the IT Guy.

47. Big Win: Stakeholder Success Stories
The reputation of a thousand
years may be determined from
the conduct of an hour.

48. Big Win: Stakeholder Success Stories
Educate stakeholders on bad practices and best practices
Show stakeholders bad ideas before they have them
Show stakeholders crappy emails before they write one
Give them templates to emulate and successful examples
The Strategy

49. Big Win: Stakeholder Success Stories
Have stakeholders focus on the conversion rate
Shorter, clearer emails
No jargon (In English)
Leverage multimedia content, have a clear CTA
Avoid a of Text
Break down into a series of emails where needed
Define a narrow audience
Pick meaningful attributes, find the data they need
Report Results After Sending
Brainstorm Improvements/Collaboration

50. Big Win: Granular Segmentation
Fist not reading all email;
often delete unread email
5 fingers Read every word
of every message received
We Love Getting Email?

51. Big Win: Granular Segmentation
Prospective [students] are not trying to open your
email, they are trying to eliminate them.
- Gary Vaynerchuk
Email is a bother for most people
Getting too many emails [we send too many emails]

52. Big Win: Granular Segmentation
Send emails to a narrow and
highly relevant audience
Collect or define relevant
attributes in database
One clear Call-To-Action in a message
Create a video/slideshow to describe complex processes
Manage the signal to noise ratio of your emails

53. Big Win: Granular Segmentation
EXPLICIT
What contacts are
telling you
IMPLICIT
What contacts are
doing
Segment by various
demographic/geographic/other attributes:
Freshman vs. Transfer
Zip Code, In-state vs Out of State
Prospective Entry Term
Selected Interests
Segment by various interaction and
engagement levels:
Sent Email Viewed Rates
Sent Email Interaction Rates
VIP Page Engagement
Event participation history

54. Big Win: Granular Segmentation
Attribute Surveys can enable future segmentation
Create an attribute survey and populate it by
sending to contacts. Segment on attribute in future.
Salutation for counselors
Preferred name or preferred email for current students
Segmented by implicit/explicit data with slight
variations in email subject line, copy or image
Exclude contacts with a far away entry term (Ex.
Fall 2019) from some communications
Target feeder schools with image of current
student from their high school

55. Big Win: Granular Segmentation
Use Content Documents to send dynamic emails
Reflect different content to different recipients
Not responsive
Create one document that all receive
Use filters and attributes to target specific content
blocks to specific recipients

56. Big Win: Granular Segmentation
Example: Travel Directions to Our Open House
All receive email/content doc
Bronx zip codes see directions from Bronx
Brooklyn zip codes see directions from Brooklyn
Easy way to shorter an email

57. Big Win: A Culture of Experimentation
A/B Split Testing More Commonly
Isolate a variable to test
Creative: Subject Lines & Sender
Creative: Email Body: Copy of email, Images, Call to Action
Creative: Multiple Landing Pages
Different content docs or content blocks
Audience or Timing/Cadence
Use a filter to divide audience
Last name starts with
A~B~C~W~X~Y~Z
Yahoo.com, AOL.com

58. Big Win: A Culture of Experimentation

59. Share in Pairs What Can You Test
Pick a Partner and Fill in the Blank:
We Can Use A/B Testing at My Institution

60. Big Win: Database Fidelity
Garbage In is Garbage Out

61. Big Win: Database Fidelity
Server Bounce Backs corrections
Postcards to Some Contacts
Who Opt-Out and Some Bounces
Adding more attributes (Ex. counselors)

62. Big Plans for More Measuring

63. Big Plan: More Return on Investment Tracking
Demonstrate how Hobsons is paying off
Savings from emails vs. mailings
Savings from deterring problem calls/problem visits
Savings from student compliance
Completed application
Student retention outcomes
Return on Investment in Video
Return on Investment from PSAT list
Return on Investment in visiting
new geographic territories
Return on investment in more
staff for communications

64. Big Plan: Filtering on Steroids
Increase Number of Versions
Give contacts the opportunity to opt-into
communication sub-plans
Study abroad
Residential life
Science education
CUNY Value
Diversity range of academic majors
Resources for transfer students
Events for high engagement contacts

65. Big Plan: More Reports and Exports
Bar
Pie
Goal Gauge
Area
DataTable
Funnel

66. Big Plan: More Reports and Exports
Work with colleagues to plan events
Special tours
Open and coordinate access to existing events
Build landing pages via Hobsons/LeadPages
Review highly engaged users more
CUNY Athletics t-shirt
Tickets to a CUNYAC game
Tickets CUNY Night at minor league baseball park
Tickets to CUNY TEDx

67. Big Plan: More User Surveys

68. No everything that can be
counted, counts. And not
everything that counts can be
counted.
William Bruce Cameron

69. Slow and Steady Wins the Race

70. For Presentation and List of Other Resources
FREE.99
https://cuny.wufoo.com
/forms/hobsons-university-2015/
dwight.dunkley@cuny.edu

71. Questions?