Responsys Email Engagement Study 2011

8/3/2019 Responsys Email Engagement Study 2011

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1Retail Email Guide /Holiday Guide 2011SWYN, FTAF and Community Links: November 2010 1

Email Engagement &

Deliverability StudyManagement, reengagement and re-permissioning

of inactive subscribers by major retailers.

By Chad White


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2responsys /Email Engagement & Deliverability Study

Being an email subscriber is a temporary

commitment. Interests and circumstances change;

expectations may not be met over time; email

addresses are changed; perhaps other channels

become preferred. And while things change,

subscribers often dont bother to unsubscribe for

various reasons, leaving marketers with inactive

subscribers. What a marketer does next can have

serious repercussions on their deliverability, in

addition to depressing their email metrics.

To examine the state of inactivity management,

we subscribed to the email programs of over 100major retailers using ctional personas. We opened

and clicked on the emails we received until one day

we stoppedand let 40 months pass


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At the end of that more than 3-year period, we found that the majority of retailers were

still sending emails, many of them at exactly the same frequency that they mailed their

active subscribers.

ISPs are increasingly using engagement metrics to determine deliverability, says Kevin Senne,

Director of Deliverability & ISP Relations at Responsys. This makes sense for the sender and

the recipient. Senders should want to communicate with interested customers and vice versa.

So continuing to email disinterested subscribers that dont open or click puts brands sender

reputations in serious jeopardy, as the mounting levels of inactivity lower engagement levels

among subscribers, as well as increase the chances of an inactive address being converted into

a spamtrap.

Continued mailing, no frequency reduction

Continued mailing at reduced frequency

Stopped mailing, no frequency reduction

Stopped mailing after reducing frequency

31%

23%

14%

32%

Retailers react to inactives

How major retailers treat subscribers who have beeninactive for 40+ months

If over 50% of your distribution list has not clicked or opened a single email in one year, weve

seen major ISPs lter all the incoming email, even that going to engaged subscribers, says

Heather Goff, Senior Deliverability Consultant at Responsys. ISPs tolerate even less inactivity

from high-volume senders with list sizes in excess of 1 million subscribers.

According to Return Path research, only 81% of all permissioned email worldwide make it tothe inbox, with the remainder either routed to junk or undelivered. Poor list hygiene and

management of inactivity levels are big contributors to the reduced deliverability, which

translates directly into lost revenue.

In order to consistently achieve high levels of inbox placement, marketers must develop a

comprehensive plan to address inactives. This report will cover all the necessary steps to

creating such a plan.
http://www.returnpath.net/blog/intheknow/2009/07/more-than-20-of-commercial-permissioned-emails-are-not-delivered-to-inboxes-in-the-united-states-and-canada-according-to-new-return-path-study/http://www.returnpath.net/blog/intheknow/2009/07/more-than-20-of-commercial-permissioned-emails-are-not-delivered-to-inboxes-in-the-united-states-and-canada-according-to-new-return-path-study/


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Defning inactivity

The rst step in developing a system for addressing inactives is to dene what it is to be an

inactive subscriber. Its important to separate this denition from any existing denitions of

inactive customers.

Often clients have an internal denition of an active customer and inactive customer that

have to do with website visits, purchase history, customer or account status, says Goff.

While these denitions make perfect sense from a business standpoint, from a deliverabilitystandpoint they have little bearing. ISPs need to see engagement with email specically.

Metrics

ISPs have gone on the record saying that they track user activity in two categories:

positive engagement and negative engagement.

+Recipient actions that contribute to the

positive engagement quotient are:

Clicking through links

Adding to an address to their

contacts or address book

Enabling images

Opening the message

Scrolling through the message

Recipient actions that contribute to the

negative engagement quotient are:

Reporting as spam

Deleting the message

Moving the message to trash

Marking messages as read

Ignoring messages

While all of those are factors, the single best measurement of engagement for marketers to

look at is clicks.

From a deliverability perspective, clicks are the only fully accurate measure of activity for anemail recipient because a click is a denitive action taken by the recipient, says Goff. Opens

are secondarily helpful as an engagement metric, although there are potential inaccuracies

with opens because of preview panes usage and image suppression.

Duration of inactivity

ISPs each have their own tolerances for how long an address can go inactive, but in general

any activity inside of 1.5 to 2 years is acceptable. This time frame allows for subscribers who

are season shoppersfor instance, those that only purchase from a brand during the holiday

season.

Of course, this recommendation should be tempered by the percentage of the marketers list

thats inactive and their sender reputation. If a large percentage of a list is inactive, theacceptable duration of inactivity decreases.

I recommend breaking a distribution list into active and inactive segments and tracking

conversion, revenue, complaints and spamtrap hits by segment, says Goff. That way

marketers can learn what the risk segments are for their own mailable universe, as this varies.


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Reengagement strategies

Once a denition of inactivity is in place, the next step is to trigger changes in content or

frequencyor both, as we would recommendas part of a reengagement strategy. Ideally,

changes should be initiated well before a subscriber meets the denition of inactive.

Instead of waiting for recipients to become inactive, says Goff, its best to observe their lackof engagement as it develops and send them your best offer or highest performing campaigns

and potentially at a lower frequency.

Its also wise not to wait too long before making these efforts, as the longer subscribers are

inactive the more difcult it is to reengage them.

In tests that weve done with clients, the vast majority of reactivated subscribers were

inactive for less than 18 months, says Jon Stanesby, Responsys Associate Director of

Strategic Services, EMEA. Weve seen very few coming back after being inactive for more

than 18 months.

Reducing frequency

Decreasing the frequency at which inactive subscribers are mailed is a defensive tactic used

to boost the level engagement seen by ISPs while continuing to give these subscribers

opportunities to engage.

This approach reduces the chances for inactive recipients to complain and improves the

senders reputation at the ISPs, says Goff, because theyll be sending to a more engaged

audience most of the time while still keeping their less engaged audience warm.

Case Study

Locating the Line on Engagement

After sustained ltering and sometimes blocking at some of the major ISPs, a large retailer

set out to establish what level of engagement was required among their audience to

maintain revenue goals and also avoid costly deliverability issues.

Solution

We worked with the client to establish a safe mailable universe by using a testing

methodology that allowed certain engagement types to be mailed on certain days as

separate campaigns, allowing us to track and monitor engagement, conversion or revenue

generation, bounces, complaints and spamtrap hits by segment type. Once we determined

the more risky and less risky segments, the data guided us to the tipping point of

deliverability issues vs. the safe mailable universe. It was imperative to apply this criteria

to all email programs and not just the full le mailings as spamtraps and inactive email

addresses can be mailed from triggered programs as well.

Result

This retailer established that recipients that had opened or clicked in at least one email

within the last 9 months could be safely emailed routinely. The more engaged therecipient the more frequently emails could be sent. The inbox deliverability rate went from

low 80% to high 90% based on establishing a global business rule policy to the universe

selection process.


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We found that the majority of retailers in our study reduced the frequency at which they

mailed inactives at some point before the 40-month mark. On average, retailers reduced how

often they mailed inactives by more than two-thirds compared to how often they mailed

active subscribers.

69%Amount that email frequency is reducedamong major retailers that reduce thefrequency of mailings to inactives

16%Percentage of major retailers that sendreengagement emails to inactives

55%Percentage of major retailers thateventually reduce the frequency ofmailings to inactives

Content tactics

One of the reasons that subscribers become inactive is because what is being sent to them

isnt resonating, so changing up the content can be an effective component of a reengagement

strategy. However, we found that only 16% of retailers tried to reengage inactive subscribers

with different content.

Here are some content tactics that marketers can try to catch an inactive subscribers

attention:

Most compelling emails

When marketers reduce the frequency of emails that they send to inactives, it gives them the

opportunity to only send their top performing emails to that segment.

For instance, OfceMax only sent their Weekly Ad emails to inactives, deciding that their

best shot at re-engaging subscribers was to get them back into their stores. Costco Wholesaletook the exact opposite approach, sending inactives just their online coupon offers. Buy.com

reduced their frequency dramatically sending emails every month or two, allowing them to give

inactives only their best deals such as their Cyber Monday offers.

Exclusive offer

Sending the richest, best performing offer is a tried-and-true reengagement tactic. For

example, Nascar.com Superstore, Road Runner Sports and RedEnvelope.com sent 25% off

offers, but they were sent at most a few times over several months and were interspersed

with broadcast promotional offers.

While those retailers used a reengagement email only very occasionally, others like

SmartBargains.com and Drugstore.com made them central to their appeal to inactives.

For instance, SmartBargains sent nearly 40 reengagement emails over a 3-year period;and after about a year of inactivity, Drugstore.com subscribers only received a 20% off

everything reengagement offer repeatedly.


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Make sure that the offer used in a reengagement email is truly exceptional. If a brand offers

20%-off coupons all the time, that offer isnt likely to be effective at reengaging inactives.

Different subject lines

Just like apology emails have their set of subject line key words, the subject lines of

reengagement emails often include key word phrases like we miss you, come backand its been too long.

Macys took a unique approach of sending the same email content to both active and

inactive subscribers but using those key word phrases to create an alternative subject line for

their inactive segment. Here are some sets of Macys subject lines sent to each segment:

In this reengagement

email, Spiegel positions

their generous 30% off

offer prominently along

with messaging that the

subscriber has been missed.

Subject line sent to active subscribers

Email exclusive: $25 off our favorite trend + Free Shipping!

Subject line sent to inactive subscribers

Come back and enjoy an extra 15% off + Free Shipping at our Home Sale!


Womens Fashion Clearance: Save 50-75% + Free Shipping!


Shop with us again & save 50-75% + Ship for Free!


Super Saturday: Limited-time deals for her + Free Shipping!


Its been too long! Get great weekend deals + Free Shipping.


One Day Sale: Incredible deals, web busters & Free Shipping!


We miss you! Save big at our One Day Sale + Ship for Free.


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Victorias Secret also used different subject lines for their inactive segment, but they also

sent completely different content and actually sent their inactives more email than their

active subscribers.

Email format

Many ISPs block images by default, diminishing the effectiveness of image-heavy emails,

especially among inactives. Marketers can try to get their message across more clearly by

using HTML text for the primary messaging of a reengagement email.

Design the email with consideration for images being off by default, suggests Goff. The

email should be highly valuable but also very simple and clear. Including more text that will

show even if images are off by default is key.

Preference update

In addition to trying to get inactives to click on an offer, consider presenting them with an

opportunity to update their preferences, either by including an update your preferences

request in the preheader at the top of emails or as the primary call-to-action in a

reengagement email.

Elevate the unsubscribe link

Inactives are a danger to deliverability because of their low engagement as well as their higher

propensity to hit the report spam button. Including a second unsubscribe link in the

preheader at the top of emails to inactives reduces that danger by providing a more obviousway to opt out.

ISPs do not penalize marketers for unsubscribes, but they do heavily penalize marketers for

too many complaints, says Goff. So if there are recipients on your list that simply do not want

to get promotional emails from you anymore, its best to allow them to easily unsubscribe vs.

complain. Weve conducted tests with several clients and the trending of unsubscribe rates

slightly upward and complaint rates downward is stark and consistent after adding an

additional unsubscribe option at the top of emails.

But dont let subscribers go inactive for too long before using this tactic, warns Senne.

The unsubscribe link is all about the trust you have built with the recipient, he says.

Pushing up the unsubscribe link may be a benet early in the messaging plan, but after

months and months of inactivity, the user is more likely to report the message as spam.The passing of time with no interaction breaks down the trust of the recipient.

Reengagement success

The goal of reengagement programs is to get inactive subscribers to open or click. It doesnt

matter if that click is on a link to buy a product or on a link to update their preferences, visit

a Facebook page, or participate in a poll, so dont shy away from using a variety of tactics to

secure that click.


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Case Study

Deploying a Spectrum of Reengagement Tactics

This large retailer had nearly 2 million subscribers who had not opened or clicked in over

a year and wanted to reactivate at least 10% of them.

SolutionWe worked with the client to develop a battery of 10 tests in three general areas:

1 / Subject lines (length, tone, branding, personalization, etc.)

2 / Timing (time of day, day of week, website peaks, etc.)

3 / Content (product vs. editorial, length, etc.)

Over four weeks, the tests were randomly run against a portion of the inactive list.

Result

The approach successfully reactivated 16% of those included in the test. Those contacts

that didnt bounce, unsubscribe or complain would be put through the same process again

to boost the reactivation rate even higher before nally being re-permissioned through a

separate program. The ndings also allowed the retailer to modify their regular campaign

content strategy to attempt to address disengagement before it happens.

28Average number months of inactivitybefore major retailers stop mailingsubscribers

46%Percentage of major retailers that

eventually stopped mailing inactivesubscribers

Among those retailers that did stop mailing their chronically inactive subscribers, on average

they ceased mailing them after 28 months of inactivity. Thats a bit outside of our

recommended ceiling of 24 months of inactivity.

Re-permissioningAs a last-ditch attempt to save inactives from being removed, some marketers may nd some

peace of mind and nominal success by taking the intermediate step of sending a re-permission

campaign. These emails ask a subscriber to conrm their continued interest in receiving emails

by a certain date or else be removed from future mailings. Some marketers may also undertake

these campaigns in order to remove blocks at an ISP.

Removing inactives

If inactives dont respond to reengagement efforts, eventually they should be removed from

mailing lists because of the deliverability dangers. However, we found that fewer than half of

major retailers stop mailing subscribers who have been inactive for 40 monthswhich is well

into the danger zone.


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16%Percentage of major retailers that sendre-permission emails to inactives beforeceasing mailing them

From a deliverability perspective, re-permission campaigns are needed when a sender is

being heavily junk foldered (80%-90% or more) at any given ISP for an extended period of time

(more than 1-2 weeks) and inactivity or spamtraps are the root cause of the junk foldering,

says Goff. In order to identify the audience that should be sent a re-permission a full inventory

of actives vs. inactives and business terms and time tables for each must be established.

Among the retailers that we looked at, 16% sent re-permission emails before stopping

mailing inactives. However, because re-permission campaigns are often only used in response

to a block and therefore arent always a permanent triggered campaign, this gure may notbe indicative of current usage.

Ideally, marketers should have a triggered program in place that re-permissions recipients

that have been inactive for a long time instead of waiting for a large accumulation of inactives,

says Goff. The damage that a large segment of inactives can cause you from a ltering or

blocking perspective is much greater than business opportunity these inactive recipients

provide. Weve seen that up to 90% of revenue is obtained from email recipients that have

clicked and opened one of your emails within the last 4 months. The percentage of revenuecontribution in the more inactive segments becomes progressively less signicantly,

eventually becoming negligible. Accepting this helps executives understand the long-term

value of an automated re-permission program.

Re-permission emails tend to contain a lot of HTML text to ensure that the message renders

when images are blocked and generally have straightforward subject lines. For instance, the

subject line of Home Depots re-permission email was Please Conrm Your Subscription + $5

Off Your Next Order; Spiegels Is This Goodbye? Your Subscription is About to Expire; and

Ofce Depots Important Information From Ofce Depot: Please Reconrm Your Email

Account Subscription.

Even with images blocked, this

Ofce Depot re-permissionclearly delivers the the call-to-action.

Also, Ofce Depot keeps the

focus on that one call-to-action

by jettisoning their navigation bar,

sharing links, and administrative

links which might distract the

subscriber and muddle the response.


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Home Depots re-permission

email also renders well when

images are blocked and gives

subscribers both a positive and

negative response to choose from.

A series of emails tends to be most effective. Each email in the series should increase the sense

of urgency and clearly articulate that the recipient will no longer receive promotional emails if

no response is received.

Whether a re-permission campaign is a single sudden death email or a series of multiple

emails, success is measured by any responsegood and bad, says Goff. Keeping in mind that

the subscribers targeted have already gone to sleep on your emails, getting 1 out of every 12

recipients to respond is a solid re-permission effort.

Case Study

Re-permissioning to Remove Black Listing

This large retailer offered a rich incentive in exchange for email sign-ups, however there

was no verication process to validate that the email addresses were accurate, current or

even real. As a result, the rst few emails sent to any new subscriber bounced at a rate of

40% to 60%. ISPs penalize marketers for sending to bad email addresses that bounce at

a rate of 5% or more and so this was causing blocks by ISPs as well as the collection of

inaccurate email addresses that could be spamtraps. The accumulation of spamtraps

caused a black listing at a widely referenced black list and heavily impacted the

reputation of not only the marketer but also the ESP and bandwidth provider sending

emails on behalf of the retailer.

Solution

We worked with the client to do an inventory of the database of responders vs. non-

responders and quarantined the non-responder segment inside a designated time frame.

A re-permission email was created to conduct a mass cleaning out of all bad email

addresses and non-responders. Spamtraps do not click so any non-responders from the

campaign should be removed and effectively cleaned off the list.

Result

The bounce issue was brought back under control and the black listing was removed.

Quickly the reputation of the mailer was re-established at the ISPs and inbox placement

was once again in the high 90% range on a regular basis.


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Conclusion

Developing a programmatic approach to addressing

inactives is critical to maintaining good list hygiene,

preserving a solid sender reputation and ensuringhigh deliverability of emails. Start by coming up

with a denition of an inactive subscriber thats

separate from any denitions of an inactive

customer. Then create a reengagement strategy

that uses changes in email frequency and content

to keep subscribers from becoming inactive. And

nally, establish rules for removing inactives from

mailing lists and consider creating a triggeredre-permission campaign to give wayward subscribers

one last chance.


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About the author

Chad White is the Research Director at Responsys, a leading provider of email and

cross-channel marketing solutions. The author of the Retail Email Blog and dozens of research

reports, Chad is an authority on email marketing strategies and trends in the retail industry.

In addition to working with Responsys clients, he is an Email Insider columnist for MediaPost

and has been interviewed by the New York Times, USA Today and others.

About Responsys

Responsys is the leading provider of email and cross-channel marketing solutions that enable

companies to engage in relationship marketing across the interactive channels customers are

embracing todayemail, mobile, social, display and the web. With Responsys solutions,

marketers can create, execute, and automate highly dynamic campaigns and lifecycle

marketing programs that are designed to grow revenue, increase marketing efciency, and

strengthen customer loyalty.

Responsys New School Marketing vision, exible on-demand application suite, and customer

success-focused services aim to deliver high ROI, increased levels of automation and fast

time-to-value. Founded in 1998, Responsys is headquartered in San Bruno, California and has

ofces throughout the world. Responsys serves world-class brands such as: American FamilyMutual Insurance Company, Avis Europe, Brooks Brothers, Continental Airlines, Deutsche

Lufthansa, Dollar Thrifty, Lands End, LEGO, LinkedIn, Newegg, Orbitz, Qantas, Southwest

Airlines, and UnitedHealthcare. For more information about Responsys, visit responsys.com.
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Documents

Responsys Email Engagement Study 2011