Download - Email Metrics that Matter
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