Multi-Channel Benchmarking Guide H2, March 2013 Version 1.1

Transcription

1 Multi-Channel Benchmarking Guide H2, 2012 March 2013 Version 1.1

2 Contents Introduction... 4 Key Trends... 5 Key Trend Details... 5 Overview... 9 Deliverability... 9 Analysis Hard Bounce Rate Unsubscribe Rate Complaint Rate Sector Overview Unique Open rate comparison by industry sector Unique Click rate comparison by industry sector Clicks to Opens Total Bounce Rate Hard Bounce Rate Soft Bounce Rate Content Bounce Rate Unsubscribe Rate Complaint Rate Most popular client Opens by Browser Opens by Device Client Reach & Engagement Data Acquisition Per Month Data Acquisition Per Sector Engagement Best Month Engagement - Monthly Open Rate Engagement - Monthly Click Rate Social Media Statistics Facebook Shares Twitter Shares Purchase Conversions Number of Purchase Conversions Value of Purchase Conversions

3 Summary Recommendations Additional Resources Supporting Documents Research Methodology/Glossary

4 Introduction Since welcoming in another year, our experts have been busy conducting a lot of research regarding the industry in 2012, which has contributed to the Communicator Corp half-yearly Multi-Channel Benchmark Report. This report focuses on the last half of A wealth of response data has been collected from our vast array of campaigns dispatched in the second half of The campaigns varied from highly targeted newsletters, promotional s and transactional s to triggered welcome and re-engagement campaigns. This report includes statistics for a number of campaign types sent across a variety of industries and sectors. The data collected between 1st July and 31st December 2012 was analysed to produce detailed statistics on: Key Trends we noticed in 2012 and predictions for 2013 Overall Statistics (open, click, bounce, complaint and unsubscribe rates) Sector Statistics (open, click, bounce, complaint and unsubscribe rates) Opens by device Share to social statistics Average purchase conversion statistic Reach and Engagement The analysis includes a breakdown of results by industry sector and information on how this has changed when compared to the first half of In addition, it is also complemented with an overview of response trends over recent years. 4

5 Key Trends Those of you who work within the multi-channel marketing industry know that there is no shortage of potential areas to focus on and regularly review, but what areas result in success within the multichannel marketing environment? In the last Communicator Corp Benchmarking report* for the first half of 2012, we looked at key trends such as mobile campaigns, share to social, responsive design, targeted and dynamic welcome campaigns and further use of dynamic content in regular s. We also saw increased interest in integration and automation with many of our clients benefiting from the range of Communicator Connect products resulting in time-saving whilst executing campaigns while spending more time analysing and refining. In the recent National Client Report released by The Direct Marketing Association (DMA), it shows that respondents declared that is "important" or "very important" to their businesses and this is set to rise moving forward. This is supported by the return on investment (ROI) from marketing increasing to for each 1 spent on in Many of these trends will continue to grow in 2013 but multi-channel marketers should be mindful of new emerging trends. The start of 2013 will see multi-channel marketers reviewing how their businesses have performed over the past year while vigorously planning for the year ahead. We have already noticed trends that will be on the up in 2013 and so we have included our thoughts and insights on 'what to watch out for in the coming months' in order to assist multi-channel marketers achieve improved results in the first half of Key Trend Details Content Marketing There is a wealth of content being distributed through multiple channels targeting prospects and customers who are potentially looking to make a purchase. To drive interaction and eventually a sale, content must be educational to allow the consumer to have all of the information at their disposal to make the final decision and more importantly, the purchase. The multi-channel marketer should encourage sharing via social media and aim to create a community of brand advocates. The key is to get personal with your audience by creating relevant and dynamic content while using behavioural and preference based information to deliver highly personalised messages. We know that when Communicator clients use preference based content results improve dramatically. Examples of different target segments are shown below. 5

6 Target Segments Message Type Never Purchased Include examples of the top five most popular items Purchased Recently Include examples of products that complement the original purchase to drive further sales, also make customers aware of all social channels Purchased over 12 months ago Try a series of re-engagement campaigns to tell the customer what they are missing Mobile Campaigns It is predicted that mobile marketing campaigns will continue to rise in A recent study* from Google predicts that 55% of consumers say that a poor mobile experience can hurt their perception of a brand. This means that if you re not providing a mobile-friendly experience, you could be putting your reputation at a greater risk. With an average open rate of 98% for mobile campaigns, text messaging can be a seriously powerful marketing tool. Mobile campaigns work really well when integrated with an communications strategy. Responsive Design With the increased importance of the user experience, it is really important that recipients should be able to browse the web or view their s on their mobile phone just as quickly and easily as they browse the web on a desktop computer. It's important that s are responsive so that they look and perform just as well on a mobile device as they do on a PC. Responsive design ensures an optimal viewing experience for the recipient, across a range of devices including mobile and tablet. Read our Responsive s Design Guide* to ensure your campaigns are optimised and your subscribers aren't missing out. Share to Social This online medium goes beyond simply delivering content. If implemented correctly, social media channels can generate vast exposure for your brand, increasing traffic to your website and even footfall through the door. This can in turn grow your database and lead to increased revenues. Clients who implement a multi-channel communication strategy generally see a greater ROI and have a higher number of brand advocates. The Communicator platform allows for seamless integration between your businesses' communications and social media pages on Facebook or Twitter. 6

7 Mailing List Growth With many businesses looking to increase sales and engagement with their brands we have noticed Communicator clients making a real effort to increase the size of their mailing lists while putting subscribers back in the driving seat. The ability for subscribers to change their preferences and frequency of communication is key to growing any mailing list as well as keeping the content relevant for each subscriber. This will continue through 2013 as brands look to increase sales in these tough economic times. The Communicator Corp Mailing List Growth Strategies* document provides best practise advice on growing your mailing list. The above are each areas of a digital strategy which Communicator Corp can assist you with. Don't hesitate to contact your Account Manager for further information. 7

8 The Statistics The statistics throughout this document show a Communicator Corp overview followed by a breakdown for each sector. The sectors which are included ar Travel and Tourism Manufacturing Public Sector Financial Services Utilities Education and Training Consumer and Retail Construction and Property Communications, Media and Marketing Charities, Trade Unions and Bodies Business Services A methodology and glossary section can be found at the end of this report, with a breakdown and explanation of terminology used as well as sources of information to which have been referred. 8

9 Overview It can be very difficult for businesses to benchmark themselves against other businesses in their sector. Understanding expected industry average open rates or how campaigns are performing compared to the competition is invaluable. We believe that the best way to measure the success of an campaign is to determine whether it met and exceeded your businesses goals or whether it fell short of them. Analysing the campaign to see what worked well or what could be improved is important to allow key learning's to be fed back into the next campaign, allowing for progression through constant testing and evaluation. This benchmarking overview aims to provide figures to help you to understand how your campaigns compare with other sectors as well as what needs to be done in order to improve future results. Between July 1st and December 31st 2012, Communicator Corp sent just over 1.5 billion s, with our clients receiving above-average results when compared against the latest industry statistics. Here is the breakdown: Deliverability 2% Half 2 2% Half 1 Delivered Undelivered Delivered Undelivered 98% 98% Industry 17% Delivered Undelivered 83% 9

10 Analysis Communicator Corp's overall delivery rate was positive throughout 2012 with improvements revealed in open and click rates. The Sector Overview section in this document details open and click rates per industry with some sectors achieving huge open rates of 45.95% and good click through rates of 15.89%. High open and click rates are an important factor in maintaining high delivery rates. Hard Bounce Rate 0.24% Half % Half 1 Deliverable Hard Bounce Rate Deliverable Hard Bounce Rate 99.76% 99.78% 2.10% Industry Deliverable Hard Bounce Rate 97.90% The industry average for hard bounce rates is 2.1% (Econsultancy.com); Communicator Corp's average for the second half of 2012 was 0.24%. Although this is a slight increase of 0.02% from our last report, this still compares very favourably with the industry average. We continue to encourage our clients to always collect good quality opt-in data and send to those who have interacted within a recent period of time. 10

11 Unsubscribe Rate 0.12% Half % Half 1 Subscriber Rate Unsubscribe Rate Subscriber Rate Unsubscribe Rate 99.88% 99.91% 0.31% Industry Subscriber Rate Unsubscribe Rate 99.69% Communicator Corp's average unsubscribe rate for the second half of 2012 is 0.12% which is significantly lower than the industry average of 0.31%. This indicates that many of our clients are continuing to send highly targeted and relevant campaigns to their subscribers. 11

12 Complaint Rate Half 2 Half % Non Complainers Complaint Rate 0.05% Non Complainers Complaint Rate 99.95% Industry 99.95% 0.08% Non Complainers Complaint Rate 99.92% Communicator Corp also saw its complaint rate remain the same at 0.05% throughout The DMA states that a complaint rate of 0.2% or above is likely to cause significant delivery challenges. We recommend adding a preference management or unsubscribe option at the top of each to allow subscribers to unsubscribe or change their preferences rather than receiving a damaging complaint. We always provide best practise advice to our clients to help them achieve good delivery rates. 12

13 Sector Overview It is often very difficult for businesses to determine how their campaigns are performing in comparison with their competitors'. This sector overview provides a range of key performance benchmarks that allow our clients to benchmark their own campaigns against thes Unique Open rate comparison by industry sector Business Services Charities, Trade Unions and Bodies Communications, Media and Marketing Construction and Property Consumer and Retail Education and Training 11.75% 13.67% 25.11% 17.67% 12.11% 16.00% 21.67% 20.65% 17.45% 18.79% 21.80% 21.19% Utilities 40.23% 45.95% Financial Services Public Sector Manufacturing Travel and Tourism 7.15% 12.80% 15.59% 19.11% 27.53% 23.11% 16.54% 17.31% Half 1 - Total Unique Opens Half 2 - Total Unique Opens Insight When assessing the sector overview, the Utilities sector continued to improve into the second half of 2012 by delivering a really strong average open rate of 45.95%. We have found that many of our utility clients offer a discount for online billing. Many customers have a focus on saving money with their utilities so are very keen to read s from their provider to view their bills and consumption. 13

14 Unique Click rate comparison by industry sector Business Services Charities, Trade Unions and Bodies Communications, Media and Marketing Construction and Property Consumer and Retail 1.91% 2.40% 1.98% 2.28% 2.59% 3.29% 2.46% 3.37% 3.45% 5.71% Education and Training 4.34% 3.31% Utilities 15.23% 15.89% Financial Services 1.99% 2.80% Public Sector Manufacturing 1.54% 2.52% 4.76% 5.50% Travel and Tourism 3.11% 2.91% Half 1 - Total Unique Clicks Half 2 - Total Unique Clicks Insight The Consumer and Retail, Business Services and Financial sectors have all seen a positive increase in unique click rates during the second half of We usually find that between the months of October to December there are many multi-channel campaigns focused around major retail events such as Christmas and the January sales. When reviewing the results further we have noticed certain clients in these three sectors have launched specifically seasonal targeted campaigns, using dynamic content, personalisation and behavioural filtering in order to maximise recipient engagement. These positive results are highlighted further within our purchase conversion section of this document. 14

15 Clicks to Opens Business Services 16.23% 17.58% Charities, Trade Unions and Bodies 11.22% 22.75% Communications, Media and Marketing Construction and Property Consumer and Retail Education and Training 18.83% 16.22% 15.19% 11.92% 19.33% 18.34% 19.92% 15.60% Utilities 37.85% 34.58% Financial Services Public Sector 15.56% 17.96% 24.92% 21.56% Manufacturing Travel and Tourism 10.91% 19.97% 18.83% 16.82% Half 1 - Clicks to Opens Half 2 - Clicks to Opens Insight We have seen great results within the Business Services and Financial sectors, with click to open rates significantly increasing from the first half of last year. We mentioned in our last report that some of our clients were executing extensive testing strategies on subject lines, message content and sending times/dates to ensure that their interaction rates increased and this has garnered some great results. The coupling of share to social and text message campaigns alongside their regular campaigns have widened the reach of the marketing message, resulting in good click to open rates. 15

16 Total Bounce Rate Business Services Charities, Trade Unions and Bodies Communications, Media and Marketing Construction and Property Consumer and Retail Education and Training Utilities Financial Services 0.73% 1.02% 1.81% 2.63% 2.38% 3.69% 1.27% 1.54% 1.22% 1.45% 0.60% 0.38% 1.60% 1.28% 2.98% 6.40% Public Sector 1.18% 4.11% Manufacturing 2.72% 9.43% Travel and Tourism 0.95% 0.79% Half 1 - Total Bounces Half 2 - Total Bounces Insight The Manufacturing and Financial sectors have seen a significant decrease in their overall bounce rate which demonstrates the level of good quality, opted-in, active data which these clients are encouraged to use. Communicator automatically globally suppresses those addresses which have experienced a hard bounce, in order to ensure that this 'bad' data does not remain or is not used in any of our client's dispatches. Communicator maintains a global suppression list which ensures low hard bounce rates across the platform. 16

17 Hard Bounce Rate Business Services 0.18% 0.19% Charities, Trade Unions and Bodies 0.73% 0.63% Communications, Media and Marketing 0.48% 0.42% Construction and Property 0.46% 0.55% Consumer and Retail 0.12% 0.16% Education and Training 0.34% 0.19% Utilities 0.78% 0.64% Financial Services 0.46% 0.65% Public Sector 0.30% 0.68% Manufacturing 0.74% 5.89% Travel and Tourism 0.15% 0.15% Half 1 - Hard Bounces Half 2 - Hard Bounces Insight The overall hard bounce statistics have improved with a significant change in the manufacturing sector. The poor performance from the first half of 2012 was turned around by our Strategic Delivery Experts working closing with specific clients to improve their data collection processes. 17

18 Soft Bounce Rate Business Services 0.44% 0.66% Charities, Trade Unions and Bodies 0.83% 1.79% Communications, Media and Marketing 1.40% 2.88% Construction and Property 0.51% 0.78% Consumer and Retail 0.64% 1.08% Education and Training 0.18% 0.14% Utilities 0.40% 0.33% Financial Services 1.92% 5.42% Public Sector 0.65% 1.48% Manufacturing 1.68% 3.10% Travel and Tourism 0.47% 0.36% Half 1 - Soft Bounces Half 2 - Soft Bounces Insight The Financial and Manufacturing sectors have again seen a lower soft bounce rate which means that their reputation has improved with ISPs, further aiding inbox delivery. 18

19 Content Bounce Rate Business Services Charities, Trade Unions and Bodies 0.12% 0.17% 0.24% 0.21% Communications, Media and Marketing Construction and Property Consumer and Retail Education and Training Utilities Financial Services Public Sector Manufacturing Travel and Tourism 0.51% 0.52% 0.30% 0.22% 0.46% 0.21% 0.08% 0.04% 0.42% 0.30% 0.51% 0.41% 0.22% 0.44% 0.29% 0.32% 0.28% 1.94% Half 1 - Content Bounces Half 2 - Content Bounces Insight Within the first half of 2012, Communicator Corp has continuously encouraged clients to keep their data 'clean' and up to date. This has improved results in many of our client sectors into the second half of By clearly placing the unsubscribe or preference manager links within s, our clients are able to ensure that their data is up to date and remains of a high quality and that recipients remain in control of the communications they receive. 19

20 Unsubscribe Rate Business Services 0.06% 0.08% Charities, Trade Unions and Bodies Communications, Media and Marketing 0.11% 0.22% 0.28% 0.20% Construction and Property 0.16% 0.29% Consumer and Retail 0.10% 0.10% Education and Training 0.27% 0.22% Utilities Financial Services Public Sector 0.16% 0.11% 0.14% 0.11% 0.12% 0.07% Manufacturing 0.26% 0.34% Travel and Tourism 0.15% 0.12% Half 1 - Unsubscribe Rate Half 2 - Unsubscribe Rate Insight Overall, unsubscribe rates remain positive across all sectors. Many Communicator Corp clients are constantly improving their campaigns to make their customers' journey a success. Many of our clients in the Travel and Public Sector use responsive design templates which allow recipients to view s quickly and easily on all devices providing the recipient with an optimal viewing experience. This has potentially contributed to a low unsubscribe rate across the Retail sector. 20

21 Complaint Rate Business Services 0.05% 0.06% Charities, Trade Unions and Bodies 0.09% 0.13% Communications, Media and Marketing 0.05% 0.07% Construction and Property Consumer and Retail Education and Training Utilities 0.06% 0.05% 0.05% 0.07% 0.05% 0.09% 0.09% 0.10% Financial Services Public Sector Manufacturing Travel and Tourism 0.02% 0.08% 0.08% 0.07% 0.06% 0.05% 0.05% 0.05% Half 1 - Complaint Rate Half 2 - Complaint Rate Insight Communicator Corp clients achieved low complaint rates within the first half of the year which continued to improve into the second half of We provide regular best practise advice and support to our clients ensuring they communicate with active data and ensure they focus on quality over quantity. Showing your recipients that you know them and are sending them communications that they want to receive is a great way of keeping them engaged, preventing them from unsubscribing or even worse, complaining. Most ISP's say that complaint rates of 0.2% will cause significant delivery challenges. Communicator Corp clients in every sector have very low complaint rates. 21

22 Most popular client Below is a snapshot of the opens by client between July and December The statistics shown below are not exclusive as some recipients tend to use more than one client each month which registers each time the client is used. ios equates to the operating system used on iphones and ipads. As you can see below, this is the clear leader when analysing opens. 8% 8% 1% 1% 5% 2% 34% ios Devices % Outlook % Hotmail % Apple Mail % Yahoo! Mail % Gmail % 10% Android % Windows Live Desktop % Thunderbird % 12% 19% AOL Mail % Opens by Browser 9% 1% 6% Internet Explorer % Chrome % 17% FireFox % Other % Safari % 68% 22

23 Opens by Device 41% Desktop % 59% Mobile Device % The statistic for s opened on mobile devices is now averaging at 41.19% across dispatches sent from all Communicator Corp clients, which is growing very quickly. In a recent article published by the DMA it states that the industry average is currently 43%. We often advise our clients on the importance of responsive design to improve mobile user experience and increase engagement with the message. The average open on a mobile device is growing quickly so it is imperative subscriber's receive s that render on all devices. We expect the opens by device figure will increase to be on par with that of desktop opens. 23

24 Client Reach & Engagement More marketers are looking at customer engagement and tend to use the most easily accessible campaign metrics, believing that those statistics will also cover recipient engagement. Most often marketers only look a open rate per send click through rate per send conversion rate per send The problem with those campaign statistics is that we should be measuring the activity of recipients, not campaigns. The DMA proposes different metrics known as 'open reach' and 'click reach' when measuring recipient engagement. They have recently published an Engagement White Paper* which reviews this hot topic in more detail. This section of our report shows how engaged subscribers are by sector and also provides a snapshot of how our clients' campaigns have performed overall throughout the six month period from the 1st of July to the 31st of December Data Acquisition Per Month The graph shows the most successful months for subscriber acquisition (mailing list growth) in the second half of The acquisition rate decreased between October and December, there are many different factors that affect this figure from sector to sector. December 5.97% November 9.77% October 11.88% September 16.75% August July 9.23% 10.22% 24

25 Data Acquisition Per Sector Gaining new subscribers into your mailing list is a key factor in improving the reach of your marketing efforts. The graph below shows the sectors that have the most success at obtaining new subscribers to their marketing campaigns. The Utilities sector has a high new subscriber rate as this is because many of their clients are switching to online billing and have the option to sign up to the mailing list during this process. Travel and Tourism 6.50% Public Sector 0.44% Financial Services 13.88% Utilities 25.46% Education and Training 7.91% Consumer and Retail 12.56% Construction and Property 6.36% Communications, Media and Marketing Charities, Trade Unions and Bodies Business Services 9.60% 8.15% 12.43% Engagement Best Month This graph shows when subscribers were most engaged by month in the second half of This also reflects when campaigns were most effective or more highly targeted. December 32.43% November 31.27% October 32.57% September 28.58% August July 28.81% 29.47% 25

26 Engagement - Monthly Open Rate This graph highlights the sector which has the most active subscribers in terms of opens. The Utilities send their customers online bills and this is the reason the open rate is so high. Travel and Tourism 37.39% Public Sector Financial Services Utilities Education and Training Consumer and Retail Construction and Property Communications, Media and Charities, Trade Unions and Business Services 30.12% 33.19% 31.33% 36.99% 24.04% 28.68% 28.28% 33.06% 49.38% Engagement - Monthly Click Rate This graph highlights the sector which has the most active subscribers in terms of clicks and also takes into account the number of recipients who open only some of the s they are sent. Travel and Tourism Public Sector Financial Services Utilities Education and Training Consumer and Retail Construction and Property Communications, Media and Marketing Charities, Trade Unions and Bodies Business Services 1.97% 9.99% 10.00% 6.88% 8.94% 10.69% 7.73% 5.64% 8.37% 13.19% 26

27 Social Media Statistics We have reviewed recipient Twitter and Facebook share statistics for the first and second half of 2012 and have provided our client averages by sector. The Public sector is the only one that is not seeing the benefits of using social media. The other sectors are actively using social channels or have recently integrated this into their multi-channel campaigns. Facebook Shares Business Services Charities, Trade Unions and Bodies Communications, Media and Marketing Construction and Property Consumer and Retail Education and Training Utilities Financial Services Travel and Tourism Half 1 - Average Facebook Shares Half 2 - Average Facebook Shares Twitter Shares Business Services Charities, Trade Unions and Bodies Communications, Media and Marketing Construction and Property Consumer and Retail Education and Training Utilities Travel and Tourism Half 1 - Average Twitter Shares Half 2 - Average Twitter Shares 27

28 Insight From the graphs above it's apparent that share to social has been adopted by more sectors in the second half of Our clients in the Consumer and Retail sector use share to social more than they did in the first half of 2012, but one or two new clients in that sector have recently started using share to social and this has slightly distorted the average shares statistics. In other sectors like Business Services and Charities we have seen share to social being used for the first time in our client's campaigns. Some of the sectors who haven't yet embraced using share to social within their s send in some cases some highly sensitive content. For example, the Financial Services and Utilities sectors will send information with regards to statements and bills which isn't something you'd want to share with your friends or followers so we imagine this will always be lower than others. 28

29 Purchase Conversions We have reviewed conversion statistics from the 1st of July to the 31st of December 2012 and have provided averages by sector across the entire time period. The sectors shown in the following graphs already see the benefits of using conversion tracking and in the second half of 2012 this continued to grow. The clients in the sectors listed below have not taken a step in that direction or don't feel it's relevant for their business: Charities, Trade Unions and Bodies Construction and Property Education and Training Utilities Financial Services Public Services Manufacturing Number of Purchase Conversions Business Services Consumer and Retail Travel and Tourism Half 1 - Average number of Purchase Conversions Half 2 - Average number of Purchase Conversions 29

30 Value of Purchase Conversions Business Services 19,952, ,983, Consumer and Retail 331,706, ,181, Travel and Tourism 587,208, ,310, Half 1 - Average value of Purchase Conversions Half 2 - Average value of Purchase Conversions 30

31 Summary The Communicator Corp Benchmarking Report has revealed some interesting trends in the first and second half of Open and click rates across most sectors have risen since 2011 and share to social and other predicted trends continue to grow and support the subscriber journey. Unsubscribe rates have fallen and overall bounce rates have decreased further since our last report, suggesting an ongoing improvement in the quality of targeting, data usage and data collection. Share to social has been very successful but has so far only been implemented by a few sectors. We hope that this will be adopted by other sectors so we can see this grow in We also see a continued growth in the Consumer and Retail sector from purchases conversions from , which is incredible in the current economic climate. The strategic importance of remained high in 2012, with 89% of respondents declaring as important or very important to their business. This channel is cost effective and will continue to grow into 2013 and beyond. 31

32 Recommendations One of the main factors for ISPs when considering inbox placement, is recipient behaviour. This is something which they have really started to focus on over the past few years. Therefore, it is even more important than ever to focus on relevant content. Frequency of communications should be representative of the recipient's behaviour as well as the preferences they have set during the initial stages of their relationship with you. Always give the subscribers the option to select how often they wish to receive your s as this will assist in improving delivery results and it's also a great way make the subscriber feel like they are in control. Don t focus on size of your mailing list or how many dispatches you send, focus on how relevant they are to each individual and whether they are supporting your overall business objectives. We suggest using personalisation and dynamic content, based upon customer data and preferences to provide each recipient with engaging s which are tailored to their interests. Ensure subject lines are intriguing, engaging and relevant; for example try testing with different subject line lengths or adding a symbol to stand out in the inbox. Whether a conversion for your business is a sale, a whitepaper download or a form completion, adding conversion tracking is a tactic which will allow you to see how valuable your s are to your business. Have your regular templates transformed to responsive templates to ensure that recipients have the best experience no matter which device they view your s on. Consider incorporating share to social links within your s to reach a wider audience that may result in a sale or increased subscriber numbers and brand advocates. Get in touch with your Account Manager to discuss how we can help you with your businesses marketing strategies. 32

33 Additional Resources Supporting Documents Any documentation or articles referenced in the above document show *. Links to the articles or documents can be found below. Responsive Design Guid Mailing List Growth Strategies: National Client Report 2013: Engagement - Often Talked About, Never Defined - DMA Whitepaper: Google Blog Articl Communicator Corp Benchmarking (H1 2012) Guid 33

34 Research Methodology/Glossary This study examined messages sent from the 1st of July 2012 until the 31st of December 2012 by Communicator Corp client base in a variety of industries. The document looks at all messages sent from the Communicator platform within this time period. A range of different message types are included within the report including promotional s, newsletters, notifications and transactional messages. Industry stats: Stats posted on Econsultancy.com have been referred to within this report where the term 'industry stats' has been used. Open: refers to an HTML message whose viewing is recorded by a clear 1 X 1 pixel image. When a message is opened and images are enabled, the image calls the server and the message is then counted as open. Open Rate (Unique): The unique open rate measures one open per recipient and is expressed as a percentage of the total number of delivered messages. To calculate the rate, divide the number of unique opens by the total number of delivered s, and then multiply by 100 to get the percentage. Deliverability: This is a term refers to the numbers of s sent out but does not equal the number of s that arrive at their intended destination (the recipient's inbox.) Click-Through Rat Measures the percentage of messages drawing at least one click. For this study, it is expressed as unique click-through rate, counting only one click per recipient. To calculate the click-through rate, divide the number of unique clicks by the number of delivered messages and multiply by 100. Click-to-Open Rat Measures the percentage of opened messages that recorded clicks. To calculate, divide the number of unique clicks by the number of opened messages and multiply by 100. Hard Bounc Which are permanent delivery failures because the address doesn t exist or the account was closed. 34

35 Unsubscribe Rat The percentage of delivered messages generating unsubscribe requests. To calculate, divide the number of unsubscribe requests received by delivered s and multiply by 100. Spam Complain A complaint registered by a recipient who indicates that the message is unwanted, This could be an unsolicited or simply a recipient no longer wants to receive the information. For further clarification, please refer to the Communicator Corp help site