Engagement Frequency
Frequency is one of the most valuable and easily calculated metric of engagement. Here at Alchemy Worx we measure and set benchmarks for how often our client's subscribers receive, open, click and transact over time. For most brands we would recommend that frequency is measured over a 12 month period although products or services with a very high send frequency (one or more emails/week) or short sales cycle such as groceries could be measured over shorter time period. One of the most effective ways to improve open click and conversion rates is to raise engagement frequency.
Most studies show that the subject line is only one of many reasons subscribers open an email, so another good reason to benchmark frequency is that it makes you focus on the content and value of your emails rather than your subject line or what time of day you send them.
Open Frequency
Total number of emails opened by an individual subscriber over time
Engaged subscribers will open more of the emails you send them than un-engaged subscribers so it is important to measure and set benchmarks for open frequency. So for example if your analysis shows that 30% of your subscribers open an average of 1 in 4 of the emails they get, you could focus on getting the number of people opening 1 in 4 emails up to 35% and/or increase the average number of emails opened by 30% of your list up to 1 in 3.
To do this your subscribers need to be "rewarded" for opening your emails, try to make them as interesting and valuable as you can. However be realistic with your expectations - if you're marketing a product that most people only purchase once a year, how many emails should you really expect your subscribers to interact with?
Here are some easy ways to increase Open Frequency:
- Serialise your content - split the content and send it over two or more emails
- Include a competition, poll or quiz in every message (they are very sticky)
- Let them know what's coming in the next email (next week we will have a great offer on shoes)
- Consider a 2 coupon strategy (5% off with one coupon 10% with two)
Open frequency analysis will also lead you to develop more targeted frequency strategies. For example, you may choose to send more messages to subscribers who have a very high open frequency, or fewer messages to infrequent openers. Whatever you do make sure you test it first.
Click Frequency
Total number of emails clicked on by an individual subscriber over time
Analysing and benchmarking Click Frequency will give you additional understanding of how engaged your subscribers are and how valuable they find your content.
Transaction Frequency
Total number of transactions an individual subscriber makes over time
If you are able to connect transactions to an email you send, transaction frequency can provide extremely valuable insights, particularly when it comes to identifying your most valuable customers. It is not uncommon for 1% of your list to generate 5% or more of your transactions.
Sent Frequency
Total number of emails sent to each individual subscriber over time
Measuring sent frequency i.e. how many messages you have sent every subscribers is a very good way to keep an eye on changes in list size and the impact of your segmentation or targeting strategies.
If you have a stable list and do not do a great deal of segmentation your sent frequency will be stable; everyone on the list will have been sent every message.
If your list is growing or shrinking and/or you do a lot of segmentation there will be much more variation in sent frequency. For those email marketers who cut their list from their customer data every time they send an email analysing sent frequency will highlight any inaccuracies in their targeting- you'd be surprised how often this happens.
If your email programme contains a variety of targeted, lifecycle messages, if you use a lot of segmentation in your messages, or if different internal departments send messages to the same database, monitoring sent frequency is very important.
Delivered Frequency
Total number of emails delivered to each individual subscriber
Delivered frequency is a very important tool if you have concerns about deliverability, because it provides you with a better understanding of where any problems may lie. Deliverability is a notoriously black art so anything that helps you identify where to focus your attention is very valuable indeed. Here is a good example; your campaigns have a fairly consistent delivery rate of 95%, but if your delivered frequency stats show you that it is the same people every time, you need to review your bounce policy. If on the other hand your delivered frequency stats show that different addresses are bouncing, it may be an indication that you have problems with the reputation of your IP address.
Inactive Frequency
Total number of emails received that are not opened by the subscriber
Studying patterns of 'not opening' is almost as important as studying open frequency patterns. Knowing how many inactive subscribers you have, and who they are and how long it has been since they last opened will highlight the "true" size of your list and, hopefully, incentivise you to develop reactivation strategies. Combining your inactive frequency analysis with your recency will enable you to develop the optimal triggered reactivation programme - check next month's Metric of the Month to find out how to measure recency.
