Experian email benchmark report-q2-2015

Quarterly email benchmark reportQ2 2015 — April, May, June

An Experian Marketing Services benchmark reportAn Experian Marketing Services benchmark report

http://www.experian.com/marketingservices


CONTENTS

Q2 2015 executive summary .....................................................................................................................1

Spotlight on: The value of mobile ..............................................................................................................2

Email and mobile subscribers ..................................................................................................................................................2

Mobile transaction rates ...........................................................................................................................................................3

Summary ......................................................................................................................................................................................4

Q2 2015 benchmark volume ......................................................................................................................4

Performance analysis ................................................................................................................................5

All industry ...................................................................................................................................................................................5

Business products and services ..............................................................................................................................................6

Consumer products and services ...........................................................................................................................................6

Media and entertainment .........................................................................................................................................................6

Multi-channel retailers ...............................................................................................................................................................6

Publishers ....................................................................................................................................................................................8

Travel .............................................................................................................................................................................................8

Methodology ...............................................................................................................................................................................8

Mobile trends ..............................................................................................................................................9

Email opens and clicks by platform ........................................................................................................................................9

Email opens and clicks by device ..........................................................................................................................................10

Appendix: Metrics definitions .................................................................................................................. 11


Quarterly benchmark report Q2 2015 (April, May, June) | 1

Q2 2015 executive summary

The following report details overall email marketing trends for the second quarter of 2015, as well as the key performance indicators (KPIs) that shaped the success of Experian Marketing Services clients’ email programs over the past two years.

Key trends

•Email volume rose by 16.1 percent in Q2 2015 compared to Q2 2014, yet response rates stayed fairly constant

•Unique open rates were 17.0 percent in Q2 2015 – very close to the 17.2 percent of Q2 2014

•Unique click rates were 2.0 percent in Q2 2015, close to the 2.1 percent rate in Q2 2014

•Revenue per email was $0.08 in Q2 2015, below the $0.09 seen in Q2 2014 but matching the rate seen in Q1 2015

In this month’s spotlight on section, we focus on the value of mobile subscribers, as well as customers who subscribe to both email and mobile:

• We analyzed SMS and MMS messaging programs from two brands to assess the value of their mobile and dual (both email and mobile) subscribers

•Dual subscribers were 3.9 times more likely to complete transactions than email-only customers

•Transaction rates for mobile campaigns were 10 times higher than those for email campaigns



Spotlight on: The value of mobile

With over half of all email opens and 38 percent of clicks occurring on mobile devices, it is a best practice for all emails to be mobile optimized. However, as many brands recognize, mobile marketing is much more than device-friendly emails.

Through mobile apps, SMS and MMS messaging, brands are able to reach their consumers through their preferred channel on a regular basis. While mobile subscriber lists are typically much smaller than email lists, subscribers that are willing to share their mobile numbers form a loyal group of highly engaged customers.

To better understand the value of mobile subscribers, we have looked at case studies from two brands with on-going SMS and MMS messaging programs. In both cases, we were able to attribute transactions to mobile campaign data by subscriber.

Email and mobile subscribers

Brand A sends emails and SMS messages announcing seasonal products, sales, and special offers. The brand wanted to see if email subscribers who also provided their mobile phone numbers had higher performance (more transactions in any channel) than those who were just email subscribers.

Comparing a random list of their email-only subscribers to those subscribed to both the mobile and email list, we found significant increases in the percentage of dual (mobile and email) subscribers who had completed transactions, confirming the higher value of these subscribers for this brand.

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

Dual subscribers (mobile and email)Email subscribers only

Dual subscribers were 3.9X more likely to have a transaction than email only subscribers

3.2%

5.7%

22.5%

% of subscribers with a transaction

Source: Experian Marketing Services



Mobile transaction rates

Our second study looked at SMS and MMS campaigns sent over an eight-month period from another brand (Brand B). As with Brand A, the mobile messages included sales, new product announcements and holiday offers.

Looking first at how mobile transaction rates compared to our email benchmarks, we found that mobile transaction rates were over 10 times higher than the all industry average email transaction rate (0.64 percent for all mobile campaigns compared to 0.06 percent for all industry email).

We also compared two types of mobile campaigns for Brand B: broadcast campaigns, in which the brand pushed SMS to the subscriber (such as ‘Storewide sale starts tomorrow’), and pull campaigns, in which customers texted to get an offer (‘Save 25% off with in-store coupon- code XXX123’). SMS push/broadcast campaigns made up over 95 percent of the volume, but pull messages provided much stronger transaction results.

Customers who texted to get a coupon were more willing to complete a purchase than those receiving a push/broadcast campaign, but both message types were successful in generating revenue. The overall revenue per message was $0.32, which is more than 3 times higher than the all industry revenue per email for this period ($0.09).

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

3/152/151/1512/1411/1410/149/148/14

Pull messages had much lower volume but had a 34% average transaction rate

31.2%

Pull volume Transaction rate

Pul

l vol

ume


0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

3/152/151/1512/1411/1410/149/148/14

Tran

sact

ion

rate

s

49%

42.4%

29.3%

39.6%

56.9%

44%

28.6%

0

1

2

3

4

5

3/152/151/1512/1411/1410/149/148/14

SMS push/broadcast messages had high volume and a 0.4% average transaction rate

SMS push/broadcast volume Transaction rate

SM

S p

ush/

broa

dcas

t vol

ume


Tran

sact

ion

rate

s

0.41%

0.0%

0.2%

0.4%

0.6%

0.8%

1.0%

1.2%

3/152/151/1512/1411/1410/149/148/14

0.0%

0.2%

0.4%

0.6%

0.8%

1.0%

1.2%

0.33% 0.30% 0.30%

0.61%

0.44%

0.26%

0.64%

Mill

ions



Q2 2015 benchmark volume

Year-over-year volume comparison

The following benchmarks report on the year-over-year (YOY) trends for Q2 2015 compared to Q2 2014. This quarter, email volume rose by 16.1 percent compared to the same quarter last year.

Volume variance YOY Q2 2015 versus Q2 2014:

• Consumer products and services and multi-channel retailers led the way in volume gains, with two-thirds of brands in each vertical increasing year-over-year volume in Q2 2015.

• Business products and services also had a majority of brands post year-over-year volume increases, while only 38 percent of travel brands did so.

• Although publishers and media and entertainment brands had year-over-year decreases in volume, a third of their brands had volume increases in Q2.

-15%

-5%

5%

15%

25%

35%

45%

All industryTravelPublishersMulti-channel retailers

Media and entertainment

Consumer products and

services

Business products and

services

15.6%

Volume variance by industry – Q2 to Q2 (2015 vs 2014)

20.7%

-11.1%

-4.4%

9.6%

16.1%19%

Summary

Mobile subscribers make up a self-selected, highly engaged set of customers.

• For Brand A, dual subscribers (mobile and email) were more likely to complete transactions than email-only customers

• For Brand B, transaction rates for mobile campaigns were much higher than those for email campaigns

• Consider increasing the pull promotions within your mobile program to take advantage of the high propensity of responders to take action



Volume variance quarter-to-quarter:

• All industries except media and entertainment increased volume in Q2 compared to Q1 in 2015.

-10%

0%

10%

20%

All industryTravelPublishersMulti-channel retailers


Consumer products and

services

Business products and

services

19%

12%

Volume variance Q2 compared to Q1 by industry – 2014 and 2015

Q2 2014 to Q1 2014 Q2 2015 to Q1 2015

8% 9% 10%

-7%

9%

2%

9%

4%

1%

14%

8%

4%

Performance analysis

In order to enhance our understanding of performance by industry, we have created views of all Q2 year-over-year metrics for 2015 versus 2014.

All industry

Q2 All industry year-over-year performance analysis

• Total and unique open and click rates, bounce and unsubscribe rates and average order values were all matching, or fairly close to, the rate seen in Q2 2014.

• Transaction rates and revenue per email declined slightly, but the results were mixed as 51 percent of brands had significant year-over-year increases in these metrics.

• Q2 performance on almost all metrics matched or was just a bit below Q1 2015. Unsubscribe rates declined as the post-holiday surge subsided.

Q2 compared to Q1 2015 all industry performance analysis

Positive change Minimal change Negative change



Business products and services

Q2 Business products and services year-over-year performance analysis

• Fifty-eight percent of business products and services brands had statistically significant increases in open rates, and 54 percent had significant increases in click rates.

• While the unsubscribe rate rose year-over-year, the 0.17 percent seen in Q2 2015 is below the 0.18 percent seen in Q1 2015.

Consumer products and services

Q2 Consumer products and services year-over-year performance analysis

• An almost 21 percent increase in year-over-year volume contributed to lower open and transaction rates for consumer products and services. Results varied, however, as over 40 percent of brands had significantly positive year-over-year increases in opens and transactions.


Q2 Media and entertainment year-over-year performance analysis

• While open and click rates declined for media and entertainment brands, results were actually mixed as 54 percent of brands had statistically significant increases in these metrics year-over-year.

Multi-channel retailers

Q2 Multi-channel retail year-over-year performance analysis

• In spite of a 19 percent increase in year-over-year volume, open, click and transaction rates matched or were close to those seen in Q2 2014.

• Average order values matched those seen in Q1 2015 at $167, but this was a drop from the $189 seen in Q2 2014.



Trend to watch: Customer choice

While connections with brands occur across multiple channels, one successful way to empower your customers with email is to include the words ‘choose’ or ‘choice’ in the subject line. In Q2 2015, campaigns that included these words in their subject lines had higher revenue per email, transaction rates and transaction-to-click rates than the all industry benchmark for the quarter.

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

140%

Transaction to click rateTransaction rateRevenue per email

Giving customers a “choice” boosts customer engagement and revenue

22%

46%

117%

‘Choose’ or ‘choice’ in subject line

Lift

com

pare

d to

all

indu

stry

Q2

benc

hmar

k




Publishers

Q2 Publishers year-over-year performance anaylsis

• Open rates rose for publishers in Q2 2015 compared to those of Q2 2014.

• Click rates declined somewhat overall from last year’s rates, but over 50 percent of publishers had statistically significant year-over-year increases in click rates in Q2 2015.

• While unsubscribe rates rose year-over-year, the Q2 rate of 0.07 percent is still much lower than the 0.11 percent all industry rate for this period.

Travel

Q2 Travel year-over-year performance anaylsis

• Q2 was a strong quarter for the travel industry as more than two-thirds of brands had statistically significant year-over-year increases in opens and clicks.

Methodology

Experian Marketing Services’ quarterly email benchmarks are based on analysis of major email marketing trends and key performance indicators across six major verticals: Business products and services, consumer products and services, media and entertainment, multi-channel retailers, publishers and travel. As cross-channel marketing increases, the number of brands who are primarily catalogers has decreased. Therefore, we have now combined catalog brands with our consumer products and services vertical.

Data analyzed in these benchmark reports are from client brands within the United States and Canada that have opted to participate in the study. All metrics, including the historical benchmarks, reflect average performance at 7 days after the emails were sent.



Mobile trends

Email opens and clicks by platform

Q2 2015 opens and clicks by platform

• Fifty-two percent of total email opens occurred on a mobile phone or tablet in Q2 2015. This is a slight increase from the 51 percent we saw during Q1 2015.

• The majority of email opens occurred on mobile phones or tablets for consumer products and services, multi-channel retailers and travel.

• The majority of total clicks occurred on desktops, although multi-channel retailers split evenly between desktops and a combination of mobile and tablet platforms.

Platform

Desktop

Mobile

Tablet



Email opens and clicks by device

Q2 2015 opens and clicks by major device types

• The largest percentage of clicks for all industries was received on Windows.

•The iPhone® received the second largest number of clicks and was particularly strong for media and entertainment and multi-channel retailers.

Devices

Windows　　　OS X　　　Android　　　iPhone®　　　

iPad®



Appendix: Metrics definitions

Total opens: All opens recorded for the mailing including multiple opens by the same subscriber. Total open rates are (total opens/received)

Unique opens: The number of unique subscribers that have opened an HTML-formatted message. Unique open rates are (unique opens/received)

Total clicks: Every click on a tracked link, including multiple clicks by a given subscriber. Total click rates are (total clicks/received)

Unique clicks: The number of unique subscribers who have clicked on any link. Unique click rates are (unique clicks/received)

Click-to-open rates: Unique clicks as a percentage of unique opens (unique clicks/unique opens)

Transaction rates: Overall percentage of transactions as related to delivered messages (transactions/received). This metric only includes data for clients who have implemented Experian Marketing Services’ Track to Purchase functionality

Transaction-to-click rates: Percentage of transactions compared to the number of unique clicks (transactions/unique clicks). This metric only includes data for clients who have implemented Experian Marketing Services’ Track to Purchase functionality

Average order value: Average total amount for each transaction. This metric only includes data for clients who have implemented Experian Marketing Services’ Track to Purchase functionality

Revenue per email delivered: Average amount earned for each delivered email (total order/received)

Bounce rates: The percentage of subscribers that did not receive a mailing because their email addresses hard bounced (bounce/sent)

Unsubscribe rates: The total percentage of subscribers lost as a result of users unsubscribing from the mailing (unique unsubscribers/received)


Experian Marketing Services29 Broadway, 6th FloorNew York, NY 100061 844 747 1667experian.com/marketingservices

Intelligent interactions.Every time.

© 2015 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.

Experian and the Experian marks used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

August 2015

Intelligent interactions.Every time.


