Analyzing Campaign Statistics
Case Studies - Justin Premick - November 17th, 2006 - PermalinkAt AWeber we compile subscriber and message statistics into 19 reports that customers can view and download in their accounts.
Sometimes customers overlook the reports because they’re not sure how to use them to improve their campaigns.
Let’s take a look at an example of a report - in this case, the “Follow Up Status - Unsubscribed” one - and what we can glean from it.
This report organizes unsubscribes based on which message in your follow up sequence they were last sent prior to unsubscribing.
In the report, we see that the largest “groups” of unsubscribes are occurring after subscribers get the first message in the sequence (but before they are sent the second one) and after they get the 10th message in the sequence.
Now, in this particular list, there are 10 messages, so the high number of unsubscribes listed in the final column should be taken with a grain of salt: it includes everyone who was sent that 10th follow up, whether that happened a week ago or a year ago.
So what does it all mean?
We see that many unsubscribes are occurring after the first message (26%). What about that message is driving such a large proportion of our unsubscribes?
Possible Interpretations:
1. The message isn’t meeting subscribers’ expectations. Subscribers are upset/confused and may feel that future messages won’t give them what they want either.
Possible Solution:
Look at our opt-in page and see whether what we are offering is accurately described. Are we promising something that we’re not delivering? Is there any possible confusion about what subscribers are going to get by signing up?
Examine the source of our traffic. Who are we targeting? Is that who is actually coming to our site? If not, what changes to our advertising may correct this?
2. The message gives subscribers 100% of what they want, and they see no future value in staying on the list. An example of this might be that we’re giving away a free download in the first message, and subscribers don’t want anything other than the download.
Possible Solution:
Look at the opt-in page. Are we promoting the content in the first message as the primary or sole benefit of subscribing? Is that the only benefit we intend to offer? If not, highlight longer-term/ongoing subscriber benefits on the opt-in page.
If offering a download, consider adding and promoting complementary materials for that download (such as a study guide or “how-to-use” tips). Make it clear to the subscriber that these are included. Alternatively, add an unannounced bonus in the first message to build anticipation of more such benefits in the future.
Reports help us to identify what we’re doing well (and not so well). Knowing how to read and draw conclusions from them is essential to effective marketing.
This entry was posted on Friday, November 17th, 2006 at 10:37 am and is filed under Case Studies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment response, trackback from your own site, or permalink.
November 17th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
Hi Justin,
Thanks for your latest case study.
It’s a great help to actually see these case
studies come alive, as it will help us more
accurately determine the usefulness of our
soon-to-be-RElaunched website.
We plan to have a whole series of messages
which will help the reader more fully understand
our simple software.
Keep them coming!