measuring the results: how to measure the results of email communications and enhance their success

Measuring the Results

How to Measure the Results of Email Communications and Enhance their Success

Dwight DunkleyCUNY Communications Coordinator

July 29, 2015

Dwight Dunkley

Bona Fides

Communications CoordinatorCUNY has 25 institutions

20 undergraduate colleges250,000 students

CUNY Welcome CenterCentral Office of UndergraduateAdmissionsTeam of recruitersTeam of counseling staffTeam of processing staff

Bona Fides

SIX MILLIONOver 6,000,000 communications via HobsonsHave been a Hobsons Connect user since 2009Have managed 5 instances of Connect & RetainNow managing:an instance of Connectan instance of Retain

Presentation Objective and Agenda

Objective and Agenda for Discussion

Objective:Understand both why and how to create and send dynamic and data-driven communications

Agenda:1. Mindset2. Methods

Mindset is applicable to

3. Big Wins4. Big Plans

Five Finger Feedback

No fingers Not At All1 finger 2 fingers3 fingers Pretty Well4 fingers5 fingers Completely

Do You Understand?

Experience Levels

1 finger Very New user

3 fingers Two to Five Years

5 fingers Over Five Years

Your Experience Level

Share in Pairs

Pick a Partner and Answer in One Word:

What Were You Hoping to Learn From This Presentation Today?

The Mindset Behind Measuring

A Mindset About Measuring

I often say that when you can measurewhat 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)

Why Even Bother Tracking Results

Vital to showing which practices workVital to showing which practices are failing

So they can be revisited and revisedVital to showing which institutional characteristics generate the most excitement from prospectsVital to showing which media or topics generate the most compliance from prospective and admitted studentsData-driven decision-makingCultivate expertise/knowledge

Why Even Bother Tracking Results

Demonstrate your value to department/institutionTalk about your experience in quantifiable waysIdentify both strengths and weaknesses for professional growthSupport requests for more resources with data

Because something is working Because something is not working

Most Important Benefit

Get Into the Data, Not the Debate

Currently Tracking Results

Fist No

5 fingers - Yes

Currently Tracking Results

How Are You Tracking Results?

How to Measure Results

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

Our Tracking Tools

1. Hobsons Native AnalyticsSent Email ResultsReports TabExports

2. Litmus: Email Marketing Analytics3. Microsoft Excel4. Google Analytics

Possible Tracking Tool:Landing Pages

Native Hobsons Analytics

1.Visit Communications tab 2.3.

Communication you want to measure

Native Analytics Breakdown

Received and ViewedReceivedViewed/ Not Viewed

Actions]

Clicked on any link [also clicks to specific links]RepliedOpted-out

Other Actionable StatisticsNo email addressServer Bounce backsOpted-out

Example of Native Hobsons Analytics

Viewed Rate really measures what recipientssee/think before they read email

Interaction Rate really measures whatrecipients see in/think about the email

How to Measure Success of A Hobsons Email

General terms:1. Open-rate2. Clicks-to-Open rate3. Conversion rate4. Unsubscribe rate

Hobsons terms:1. Viewed rate2. Interacted rate3. Conversions Not Always Tracked in Hobsons4. Opted-out

Example of Links Click-Thru Results

Two Pro-Tips1.

anchor text

2. Use Google URL BuilderCampaign Source/ Medium/ Name

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

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

Litmus Analytics Breakdown

Preview what emails will look like across a wide array of device and browser configurationsPreview what emails will look like in different email clients and email service providersPreview the spam score of each emailReview open rate of emails and location of where recipients are viewing the emailEngagement: desktop vs. mobileReview how many read/skimmed/glancedNumber of forwards and printsNumber of seconds spent looking at email

Examples of Litmus Analytics Preview

Examples of Litmus Analytics Location

Examples of Litmus Analytics Engagement

Microsoft Excel

Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for Unit Average open/viewed rate (only last 10 emails)

Share Results With StakeholdersPercentages and Raw Numbers

Understand Tracking Methods

No fingers Not At All1 finger 2 fingers3 fingers Pretty Well4 fingers5 fingers Completely

Understand Tracking?

Big Wins From Measuring the Results

Big Win: Gorgeous Email Templates

We discovered the percentage of our audience that opened emails on mobile devices

24% 76%

MobileDesktop

Big Win: Gorgeous Email Templates

After implementing Litmus we discovered that our audience is overwhelmingly mobile

Desktop24%

Mobile76%

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%

AndroidGmailiPhoneiPadWeb

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

Big Win: Gorgeous Email Templates

Changing the voice of emailsLess authority, more relatable

More casual but still professionalAvoid stodgy and avoid trendy

Eliminate text-

Eliminate leak links

Add pre-headers

Leverage multimedia assets

Leverage social media efforts

Big Win: Gorgeous Email Templates

From Name Subject Line Pre-Header

Big Win: Gorgeous Email Templates

Pre-Header

Photo Resizes

Large Legible Type

Wide Call-to-Action Button

Big Win: Gorgeous Email Templates

Better Viewed Rates

0

5.5

11

16.5

22

27.5

College Week Live Sheldon Silver

BeforeAfter

Big Win: Gorgeous Email Templates

More Interaction

0

100

200

300

400

500

College Week Live0

25

50

75

100

125

Sheldon Silver

BeforeAfter

Big Win: Gorgeous Email Templates

Design Matters

Share in Pairs Stakeholder Stories

Pick a Partner and Fill in the Blank:

When I Work With Other Colleagues/Departments to Send Emails

Big Win: Stakeholder Success Stories

Cultivate Expertise and ExperienceApproach conversations with stakeholders as email marketing experts and higher education colleagues

General email marketing expertiseInstitution/Population-specific experience and expertise

Focus stakeholders on the desired outcomeApply your expertise in service to their goal

of the IT Guy.

Big Win: Stakeholder Success Stories

The reputation of a thousand years may be determined from

the conduct of an hour.

Big Win: Stakeholder Success Stories

Educate stakeholders on bad practices and best practicesShow stakeholders bad ideas before they have themShow stakeholders crappy emails before they write oneGive them templates to emulate and successful examples

The Strategy

Big Win: Stakeholder Success Stories

Have stakeholders focus on the conversion rateShorter, clearer emails No jargon (In English)Leverage multimedia content, have a clear CTA

Avoid a of TextBreak down into a series of emails where neededDefine a narrow audience

Pick meaningful attributes, find the data they need

Report Results After SendingBrainstorm Improvements/Collaboration

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?

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 peopleGetting too many emails [we send too many emails]

Big Win: Granular Segmentation

Send emails to a narrow andhighly relevant audienceCollect or define relevant attributes in database

One clear Call-To-Action in a messageCreate a video/slideshow to describe complex processes

Manage the signal to noise ratio of your emails

Big Win: Granular Segmentation

EXPLICITWhat contacts aretelling you

IMPLICITWhat contacts aredoing

Segment by various demographic/geographic/other attributes:

Freshman vs. TransferZip Code, In-state vs Out of StateProspective Entry TermSelected Interests

Segment by various interaction and engagement levels:

Sent Email Viewed RatesSent Email Interaction RatesVIP Page EngagementEvent participation history

Big Win: Granular Segmentation

Attribute Surveys can enable future segmentationCreate an attribute survey and populate it by sending to contacts. Segment on attribute in future.

Salutation for counselorsPreferred name or preferred email for current students

Segmented by implicit/explicit data with slight variations in email subject line, copy or imageExclude contacts with a far away entry term (Ex. Fall 2019) from some communicationsTarget feeder schools with image of current student from their high school

Big Win: Granular Segmentation

Use Content Documents to send dynamic emailsReflect different content to different recipientsNot responsive

Create one document that all receiveUse filters and attributes to target specific content blocks to specific recipients

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

Big Win: A Culture of Experimentation

A/B Split Testing More CommonlyIsolate a variable to test

Creative: Subject Lines & SenderCreative: Email Body: Copy of email, Images, Call to ActionCreative: Multiple Landing Pages

Different content docs or content blocks

Audience or Timing/Cadence

Use a filter to divide audienceLast name starts with

A~B~C~W~X~Y~Z

Yahoo.com, AOL.com

Big Win: A Culture of Experimentation

Share in Pairs What Can You Test

Pick a Partner and Fill in the Blank:

We Can Use A/B Testing at My Institution

Big Win: Database Fidelity

Garbage In is Garbage Out

Big Win: Database Fidelity

Server Bounce Backs correctionsPostcards to Some ContactsWho Opt-Out and Some Bounces

Adding more attributes (Ex. counselors)

Big Plans for More Measuring

Big Plan: More Return on Investment Tracking

Demonstrate how Hobsons is paying offSavings from emails vs. mailingsSavings from deterring problem calls/problem visitsSavings from student compliance

Completed applicationStudent retention outcomes

Return on Investment in VideoReturn on Investment from PSAT listReturn on Investment in visitingnew geographic territoriesReturn on investment in morestaff for communications

Big Plan: Filtering on Steroids

Increase Number of VersionsGive contacts the opportunity to opt-intocommunication sub-plans

Study abroadResidential lifeScience educationCUNY ValueDiversity range of academic majorsResources for transfer studentsEvents for high engagement contacts

Big Plan: More Reports and Exports

BarPie

Goal Gauge

Area

DataTable

Funnel

Big Plan: More Reports and Exports

Work with colleagues to plan eventsSpecial toursOpen and coordinate access to existing eventsBuild landing pages via Hobsons/LeadPages

Review highly engaged users moreCUNY Athletics t-shirtTickets to a CUNYAC gameTickets CUNY Night at minor league baseball parkTickets to CUNY TEDx

Big Plan: More User Surveys

No everything that can be counted, counts. And not everything that counts can be counted.

William Bruce Cameron

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

For Presentation and List of Other Resources

FREE.99https://cuny.wufoo.com

/forms/hobsons-university-2015/

dwight.dunkley@cuny.edu

Questions?