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&amp;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

Thank You!

Joe Scharf@JoeScharf

joe@sendgrid.com