|
Analyzing and Acting on Email Performance by ISP/Domain
Loren McDonald - Oct 8, 2004
|
Do you know how your email messages are performing by key ISP and domain? Are one or more domains significantly underperforming others?
In the June 2004 issue I wrote about the importance of dissecting your message results, including by ISP/domain. Why? The point of analyzing your results by domain is to uncover issues and trends that are caused by domain-specific factors - such as filtering, blocking, email client issues and demographics/psychographics unique to each domain. Below is a chart showing four examples of how email performance can vary dramatically by domain. (Percentages highlighted in green are the highs for the message and the red percentages are the lows.)
Why Are There Differences?
There are a couple of reasons results can differ so dramatically across domains, including:
- Demographics/Psychographics — People that use AOL tend to be less technically oriented and not as Internet savvy as say Earthlink users. Many AOL users are still using dial-up connections and prefer less graphic intensive emails. (For more on dealing with AOL subscribers and issues, read our ClickZ E-mail Delivery columns on this issue Part 1 and Part 2.)
- Filters/Blacklists/Bulk Folders - The major ISPs filter emails differently, may ignore certain blacklists and have distinct approaches to bulk folders. Yahoo's bulk folder, for example, is notorious for catching legitimate permission emails.
- White Lists — Being (your company or email service provider) white listed with one ISP and not another may contribute to varying results. Additionally, users or some ISPs or certain demographic types may be more likely than others to add the sender’s from address to their address book or personal white list.
- From & Subject Lines — Your "from" name and address appears differently in AOL than it does in the Yahoo Web client. A long subject line and unfamiliar from address in AOL could lead a lower open rates. (See our From & Subject Line Tool to view what your From and Subject Lines look like in different email clients.)
- B2C vs B2B — As you can see from the chart (though this is a small sample, it is consistent with our findings historically), Earthlink subscribers tend to be deliver the highest open and click-through rates for B2C marketers. Not surprisingly, "other" (primarily subscribers using work accounts), tend to do better with B2B marketers.
What to Do About It
So if your AOL subscribers are delivering results at half the level of your Hotmail recipients, for example, what should you do about it? The point of analyzing your results by domain is to uncover issues and trends that are caused by domain-specific factors — such as filtering, blocking, email client issues and demographics/psychographics unique to each domain. Following are a few quick tips:
- Determine List Composition — Before you launch into anything, first determine the composition of your list. What percentage of your list is comprised of the major domains and perhaps individual corporate domains? Obviously, spend minimal energy trying to improve results from a domain that is seeing horrendous results, if it only comprises one percent of your list. If however, a domain comprises 15-20 percent of your list (as the major ISPs often do for B2C marketers), then it demands some significant energy in attempting to improve results.
- Continually Monitor Results by Domain — Don’t base your strategies on analysis of a single campaign or newsletter. One campaign may have been filtered due to perceived "spammy" content. Continually monitor results by domain and look for message results that significantly outperform or under perform the norm for that domain. (With EmailLabs, for example, you can set up filter-based reports that automatically send you a report via email showing message results by domain, or any other demographic.) Then deconstruct the outlying message. Was it the subject line, content, day/time you sent the email, etc.?
- Segment by Other Demographics and Behaviors — Not all of your subscribers using the same ISP act the same. While your message results across all AOL or Yahoo subscribers might be below your overall average, some of these subscribers may be your most loyal customers or readers. For example, your best AOL subscribers should probably be segmented into a group along with your other loyal subscribers or by other demographic and behavioral attributes.
- Test, Test and Test — Test different variables with low performing domains to see what changes and different approaches lead to better results. These can include:
- Different approaches to subject lines
- Different formats or layouts of the message
- Different approach to content and copy
- Different days or times sending the messages
- For retailers, try different kinds of offers.
Again, don't go overboard on segmenting based on domain. You do want to identify if there are issues specific to a domain so that you can take actions to improve results. But your primary segmentation approach should be based on your recipients' demographics, preferences and behavior.
For other articles and resources related to segmentation and improving results by domain, check out the following links:
Feedback
|
|
