Interactive Charts: Let the data-loving begin

by Carolyn Kopprasch, Agency Relations | April 23rd, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Now in your response section, you’ll find Interactive Charts, displaying all of the useful email results that Emma collects for you in a handy, visual way. You’ll know at a glance how your campaigns perform over time. You’ll see individual results unfold over hourly increments. And best of all, these new charts make it easy to spot trends and patterns in your email strategy. (And they look so nice. Is it wrong to have a crush on a chart?)

Which trends might you identify, you ask? Well, seeing your data packaged so handsomely might lead you to several conclusions. Consider these scenarios:

1) Your clicks and opens drop in months with a higher sending volume.
Maybe you’re sending too frequently.

Not to induce high school math flashbacks, but this pattern is an example of the ol’ inverse relationship. As the number of campaigns goes up, your audience engagement goes down.

What to do? Consider sending fewer emails. You can consolidate messages or modify content so that your various audience groups only get the most relevant and tailored messages. (Not to be confused with messages from your tailor. That reminds us, we have to pick up our dry cleaning.)

2) You don’t see consistency with either results or volume.
Sounds as if your results are just, well, all over the place.

When the campaigns line jumps around, you may notice that your results are a bit erratic as well.

What to do? Build some consistency with your sending schedule so your audience knows what to expect. Set a realistic goal for how often you’ll send. If sending once a week is too much, aim for every other week or once a month. Then see what your most popular campaigns have in common — a morning send-off time, or a certain kind of content — to make those things a more consistent part of your strategy.

3) Your opens drop but your clicks go up.
Perhaps you have fewer, more engaged readers.

If your open rate remains relatively low but your click rates are high or even increasing, your content might be hitting the spot with only some of your audience.

What to do? You might test different subject lines or do something to encourage those folks who are signed up but appear to have checked out (then impress your colleagues by calling it a “re-engagement campaign”). Or look at your signup form – maybe you’re attracting people who don’t really connect with your organization. Send a survey to find out how often your subscribers would like to hear from you and what topics interest them.

4) Your opens and clicks are both falling.
Your measures of engagement may be decreasing over time.

Sometimes your strategy and content might need a little shake-up, and seeing a graph like this is one suggests that your audience is ready for a change.

What to do? Take a fresh look at your content and sending strategy. Think about new ways your emails can bring value to your subscribers, whether it’s new content, different promotions or something else entirely. Consider a new designed look, or try laying out your content in a different way. Some Emma customers have sent an Emma survey to learn what their subscribers like best and what they’d prefer to see less of, then used the feedback to relaunch their newsletter strategy. It’s a fantastic way to build better relationships with your members *and* have better email results to show for it.

And, as always, remember that you should only take a data-driven romance so far. Numbers are only impressive if they’re relevant to your own goals.

If you’re an Emma customer, go ahead and login to your account … you’ll start seeing your response data in a whole new way.