Email and the KPIs: Re-evaluating the evaluation

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Kieran Cooper
Re-evaluating the Evaluation

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These days

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Way back when...

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How many
hits does my
website get?

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How
Idiots
Track
Success

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“HITS is an
anagram”
Richard Foan, JICSWEBS Chair 2003

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It was all we had

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Anything else was
hard

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What is my
open rate?

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But it’s bad!
It relies on images so is really inconsistent
Unique opens generally worked out by IP but that gets broken
by image caching and IP address sharing, and by everyone
having multiple devices or changing location often
Gmail clipping stops pixels at the bottom from rendering
And that doesn’t cover privacy concerns, tracking blockers etc

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So what’s to be
done?

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Tracking clicks
Much more accurate
But still prone to misunderstanding
How do you calculate unique clicks?

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Tracking website journeys
Adding web tracking parameters to email URLs
Cookies and tracking pixels

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But
Technical solutions are hard
Everyone else just uses open rates so why shouldn’t we
What’s the point of better metrics if nothing will change
internally anyway

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What does your organisation care
about?
Can it be measured?
If not, can you find a proxy
measurement

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“Use actionable metrics not vanity metrics”
Entrepreneur Eric Reis, 2008

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Count what counts

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Be idealistic and
pragmatic at the same
time

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Be consistent

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Placeholder - flight deck, or aircraft helmet display

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THANK YOU!
@kierancooper kieran.cooper@sparkpost.com