The reporting system has evolved to become a robust analytics system for accomplishing the following key tasks:

§         Mailing Performance

§         Content Analysis

§         Subscriber Analysis

§         Benchmarking and Best Practices

In keeping with this vision, new reporting functionality has been added to the system. This functionality is available as a free preview for a limited time period. After the preview period you will be asked to select a reporting package that fits your needs.

Here is an overview of the key improvements found in the new Reporting and Analytics system (Reports 2.0). 

Charts and Graphs

The reports now use a sophisticated charting package to provide new and exciting ways to visualize your performance and gain a more comprehensive understanding about the data that is being collected.

Available charts include:

• Bar charts that illustrate the relative differences between various performance metrics (like opens, clicks, etc.)
• Pie charts that indicate how information can be segmented and compared as parts of a whole
• Line graphs that show how data is changing from one point to another.

User Interface – Navigating the Report Tabs

The interface for navigating reports has been changed. Reporting now begins with the Overview report. This report is almost exclusively graphical in nature. From this report the user can drill down into any of the more specific and detailed reports. Major report categories are also accessible from the top of the reporting window via the tabbed interface.

Overview

The overview report is primarily top-level information regarding the most recently published and approved issue of the newsletter. The following key metrics are depicted on this page:

§         Response

§         Delivery Statistics

§         Performance by Day

§         Top 10 Most Popular

§         Performance Trend: Last 10 Issues

To obtain more detailed reports related to the overview, click the

Snapshot

The snapshot includes the entire set of top-level metrics related to the selected Issue or Mailing. It indicates data points in terms of actual values and percentages of emails sent and emails delivered.

The snapshot includes these sections:

§         Delivery Statistics

§         Response

§         Total Activity

§         Executive Summary

§         Issue(s) Selected

By default, the snapshot will include statistics from only a single issue/mailing. However, it is possible to extend the snapshot across a wide range of issues/mailings. This is done by choosing additional items from the Issue/Mailing selector.

Industry Performance Comparison

In addition to measuring your own statistics, the system measures the statistics being generated by all customers in our network. This information is anonymously accumulated and segmented according to specific vertical categories. It is then possible to display these averages as performance metrics that can be compared line by line for each key metric. These averages can be found in the Industry and All columns on the Snapshot report.

Performance Trend

The performance trend reports let you plot key metrics across multiple issues/mailings. The Issue/Mailing Selector makes choosing the issue/mailings easy. Just check off the issue/mailings and click the Generate Report button.

This report lets you compare performance over time and look for trends that are more easily seen through data points connected by lines. The Data Point selector lets you choose which metrics should be plotted. Different combinations of Data Points can reveal different things about your data.

Performance Histogram

The histogram shows how key metrics are collected over time. This lets you see when statistics are arriving and in what quantity. There are two ways to use the Performance Histogram. The first method is to compare several key performance metrics for a single issue/mailing. The second method is to compare a single key metric across two or more issues/mailings. Using a performance histogram you can determine the best day to send your mailing and learn more about reader behavior.

Expanded Reporting Period

The new snapshot and trending reports have an unlimited reporting window. This means that these reports include data that is older than 180 days, and can provide reports from the very first issue/mailing in your account. Detailed subscriber level reporting is only available for the last 180-day period (by default). This detailed reporting window can be expanded through an Expanded Reporting plan. Contact your sales representative to learn more.

Understanding Metrics

Here is a list of the key metrics being tracked for each issue/mailing:

• Emails Sent
• Emails Delivered
• Bad Address
• Mail Box Full
• Hits, Total
• Clicks, Total and Unique
• Opens, Total and Unique
• Visits to Microsite, Total and Unique
• Referrals, Total and Unique
• Referral Actions, Total and Unique
• Identified Visitors
• Unidentified Visitors

Emails Sent vs. Delivered

Emails Sent = Total number of emails that were sent to the mailer to be distributed.

Emails Delivered = Sent – Bad Address – Mail Box Full.
This statistic does not include unknown bounces or vacation messages.

Bounces

A bounce occurs after an attempt is made to deliver an email but the email is not deliverable and/or causes an automated response. There are 4 categories into which bounces are classified:

• Bad Address
  User address is not valid, or domain does not exist
• Mail Box Full
  Email box has reached its limit
• Vacation
  Systems vary when handling this. Some return vacation message back to the system via the FROM address, others send vacation notification back to the sender via the REPLY-TO address.
• Unknown
  Messages that came back but the system could not properly identify and classify them.

Only the Bad Address and Mail Box Full bounce messages are definitive indicators that an email did not get through. Vacation messages usually indicate that the email was received but not read. Unknown bounces can occur for a number of reasons however there was not enough information in the message for the system to automatically determine the cause. This can happen quite frequently since there is no standard mechanism for email servers to report bounces and automated messages can often be sent for situations other than unknown addresses or mail box quota problems.

Hits, Total and Unique

Hits, previously known as Page Views, describe all actions that can occur within the email or microsite.

Hits (Page Views) = Clicks + Opens + Microsite Visits + Referrals + Referral Actions

Total Hits = All actions, with repeats by same subscriber.

This statistic represents all of the activity occurring on a particular issue/mailing.

Clicks, Total and Unique

A click occurs when a subscriber clicks a link on the email message.

Total Clicks = all clicks, with repeats by same subscriber.

This number represents each individual click on any link in the email, no matter how many clicks the same person has made.

Unique Clicks = distinct clicks with no repeats by the same subscriber.

This is the number of individual subscribers that have clicked at least once on any link in the email.

NOTE: If the email is posted to a newsgroup or passed along to other people through email forwarding or internal distribution lists, additional clicks will be attributed to the original subscriber.

Opens, Total and Unique

An Open occurs when an email message has been opened or viewed in an email program.

Total Opens = Each time the email is opened or previewed in the email program

Unique Opens = Only the first time the email is opened by each subscriber

NOTES: The Open statistic is only reported through emails sent and received with the HTML email format and through HTML compliant email programs.

If email is passed along, additional opens will be attributed to the original subscriber and will show in the Total Opens statistic. Only the open from the first subscriber will be counted in the Unique Opens statistic.

Visits to Microsite, Total and Unique

This is the number of pages viewed on the microsite. The statistic only includes pages hosted on the system. If a page is copied to another server, additional Microsite visits will be recorded as part of the Total.

Total Visits to Microsite = all pages viewed, with repeats by the same subscriber

Unique Visits to Microsite = the distinct visits to the microsite, with no repeats from the same subscriber.

This is the number of unique subscribers that have visited the Microsite at least once.

Referrals and Referral Actions

The Referrals statistic is the number of people that have filled out the Refer a Friend form attached to a newsletter.

The Referral Actions statistic is the number of people that clicked the link in the referral email.

Identified Visitors and Unidentified Visitors

An Identified Visitor is a known subscriber. This person may have come from an email or filled out the subscription form. Each subscriber that has taken at least one action with the issue/mailing is considered an Identified Visitor.

Unidentified Visitors are people who are not subscribers. This person may have come from a search engine or link on a Web site. The system has no way of determining who this person is and is unable to find them in the subscriber database of the account.