If you want to build a world-class email marketing program, you’ll need to know how you measure up when it comes to opens, clicks, engagement and list churn – and how you can improve performance in areas that are falling short. Join Jay Jhun, Account Director at IBM as he dives into the data from IBM Marketing Cloud’s exclusive “2016 Email Marketing Metrics Benchmark Study,” a performance analysis of emails sent by nearly 3,000 brands. You’ll learn: How your metrics stack up against the best of the best (and the worst of the worst) How measurements differ by industry, vertical and region New mobile, holiday and engagement metrics you need to be paying attention to How to map out strategies and tactics that will take your programs up a notch And more.

1. 2016 Email Marketing
Benchmark Study:
How Do You Measure Up?
Jay Jhun | @emailrocks

2. @emailrocks @IBMforMarketing #NewWaytoEngage
Today’s Presenter
Jay Jhun, Account Director
@emailrocks
IBM Marketing Cloud
@IBMforMarketing

3. @emailrocks @IBMforMarketing #NewWaytoEngage
Today’s Agenda
Selected Metrics & Tips
Background for the Report
How to Use the Results

6. Benchmark data can help
answer these questions …

7. … but benchmarks are
most valuable when you use
them to take your marketing
program to the next level.

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What We Did
• Asked clients to opt-inPermission
• Ran the scriptsData
• Sliced, diced and organizedAnalysis

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Overview of Benchmark Study
750+ Companies (Nearly 3,000 Brands)
– 40 Countries
Full Year
2015 Data
US Canada
Categorized into 18 Industries
Australia
/ New
Zealand
Rest of
World UK Rest of
Europe
Middle
East /
North
Africa
Overall

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Study Report Contents

11. Do you really want to be average?

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Metrics Sliced 4 Ways
Top
Quartile
Bottom
Quartile
Mean Median

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Today’s Agenda
Selected Metrics & Tips
Background for the Report
How to Use the Results

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Open Rates
• Unique Open Rates by Region
• Unique Open Rates by industry
• Transactional Open Rates

15. Unique Open Rate: 21.8% (mean); 41.8% Top Quartile

16. Open Rates by Industry
• Top performer:
Schools & Education
• Bottom Performers:
Agencies; Media Publishing

17. Transactional – Leveraging High Open Rates
7 of 10 for top performers
Opportunity is to maximize cross/upsell
with transactional messages
The relevance of
transactional messages –
the anticipation – provides
a significant lift

18. Increasing
Open
Rates
Subject Line
Testing
Understand
Impact of
Frequency
Build Brand
Value Through
Content /
White Space Active /
Inactive
Segmentation
Optimize
Pre-Header
Text

19. Pre-header text
includes product detail
and price
Pre-header text is
wasted
Pre-header text
includes sale urgency,
but then wastes
opportunity

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Click-Through Rates
• Click-Through Rates (CTR) by Region
• CTRs by Industry
• CTR Transactional
• Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR) by Region
• Click-to-Open Rate (CTOR) by Industry
• CTOR Transactional

21. Top Quartile is nearly 6 times median CTR

22. CTOR = clicks as a
percentage of
opens; aka
‘Effective Rate’
Top Performers: 1 of ~3 recipients that open; click
Median: 1 out of
~10 recipients that
open a message,
also click a link

23. Top Performers: Nearly 43% of openers also click
Opportunity to include:
- Product usage tips
- Cross sell

25. Horizontal
“sections”
Big, finger-
friendly buttons

26. Website/emails
use same button
Heat map lessons:
• Shoppers look for
discounts first
• CTA beneath it gets
higher
conversion/lower
bounce rate

28. @emailrocks @IBMforMarketing #NewWaytoEngage
List Churn
• Hard Bounces by Region
• Hard Bounces by Industry
• Unsubscribes by Region
• Unsubscribes by Industry
• Complaint Rates by Region
• Complaint Rates by Industry

29. 13 of 10,000 = Mean; Bottom Quartile = 44 of 10,000

30. Unsubscribe Rates by Industry
• Mean
Low ~0.05%
High ~0.20%

31. Reducing
Unsubscribes
Leverage
Behavior &
Automation
Manage
Expectations
Offer
Alternatives to
Opting Out
Use Content
to Increase
Value

32. Device/Client &
Engagement Rate
• Device/Client by
Region
• Device/Client by
Industry
• Engagement Rate by
Region
• Engagement Rate by
Industry

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49% = Avg. Mobile Readership

34. Devices by Industry
•
Highest Mobile:
Food Service, Sports &
Entertainment
Lowest Mobile:
Computer Hardware &
Telecommunications

35. Engagement Rate Defined

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US Low & Rest of Europe & Aus/NZ High

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Engagement
by Industry
• Insurance = Highest
Read Rate + Lowest
Glanced/Deleted
• Schools & Education =
Lowest Read Rate +
Highest Glanced/
Deleted

38. @emailrocks @IBMforMarketing #NewWaytoEngage

39. Making Visual Impact

40. My friend had the basic
pulled pork sandwich,
which was very tender
and juicy. I had the spicy
pork sandwich with
homemade kimchee on
top. It was juicy and mildly
spicy with a beautifully
fresh crunch to the bite.

44. Holiday vs. Non-holiday –
Retail/Ecommerce Brands
• Open Rate
• Click-Through Rate
• Click-to-Open Rate
• Hard Bounce
• Unsubscribe Rate
• Complaint Rate

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Mean Open Rate Much Higher During Non-Holidays
3.3 percentage points /
18.8 percent higher

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Click-Through Rates
0.8 percentage points /
28.6 percent higher

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Non-Holidays has higher unsubscribe rates, but …
0.014 percentage points
/ 12.1 percent higher

48. Rate Goes
Down
Cumulative
total goes
up

49. @emailrocks @IBMforMarketing #NewWaytoEngage
Selected Metrics & Tips
Background for the Report
How to Use the Results

50. 1. Understand these
are “process” metrics
Diagnostic: How elements of your email program drives success
Creative / Design Offers / Content
Deliverability /
List Hygiene
@emailrocks @IBMforMarketing #NewWaytoEngage

51. 2. Benchmark
Against Similar
Industries

52. 3. Benchmark Against Top Quartiles –
Imagine What’s Possible

53. 4. Use it to ask for budget & resources
4. Use the
data to lobby
for more
budget &
resources

54. 5. Focus efforts on
REALLY big issues/
opportunities

55. Web
Tracking
Send Time
Optimization
AutomationA/B Testing
Scoring
Dynamic
Content
Personalization
Relational
Tables
API / Partner Integrations Web/Progressive Forms
Social
Integrations
6. Use your ESP/MA tools to improve results

56. 7. Celebrate
and get
promoted!
@emailrocks @IBMforMarketing #NewWaytoEngage

57. Q&A
Slides and the full benchmark report
will be made available after the webinar
@emailrocks @IBMforMarketing #NewWaytoEngage

58. Jay Jhun
@emailrocks @IBMforMarketing
jjhun@us.ibm.com
Thank You!

59. Interested In
Learning More?
bit.ly/IBMforMktgResources
@IBMforMarketing
IBM for Marketing

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