Emarsys Senders Experience Improvement Using Certification
The challenge:
Is Certification the right solution?
As a global Validity partner, many of Emarsys’s email sending customers use Validity’s Certification program to maximise their deliverability, improve program performance, and optimise return on investment.
It is important for Emarsys to independently and critically evaluate all potential solutions—including Certification— to ensure these senders are provided with the best possible guidance in order to achieve incredible results.
“Marketers today have to be experts across a wide range of technology and channels, as well as compete with AI and evolving technology to filter and protect the inbox. While not all programs need a complete overhaul, many will benefit from a helping hand. Certification can give them the edge they need, and the results can be incredible, as this analysis clearly demonstrates.”
Steve Henderson – Head of Deliverability, Emarsys
The solution:
Collaborative efforts to analyse performance data.
To do this, Validity collaborated with Emarsys to analyse performance data generated by a broad cross-section of Emarsys senders, both before and after being Certified, to quantify the resulting uplifts.
Certification is internationally recognised for the improved inbox placement rates (IPRs) senders see following activation. In this example of an Emarsys sender, average pre-Certification IPRs of 37% improved to 97% post-Certification.
However, for the purposes of this exercise, Emarsys wanted to extend the analysis beyond just delivery. This was partly because not all Certified senders use seeding to measure their inbox placement. Emarsys also wanted to evaluate how Certification benefits such as improved throughput, automatic image enablement, and preferential spam filter treatment can drive up subscriber engagement, moving the needle for important email KPIs such as open rate and click rate.
This created an additional layer of complexity, because in sales-focused email marketing, these metrics are influenced by a composite of factors:
- Content, reputation, and other technical factors
- The segment of recipients chosen to receive an email
- Where those recipients are within their personal buying cycle
- The email itself: subject line, styling, wording, and personalisation
- How that email fits into the overall marketing program
“Emarsys’s data is a testament to the power of Certification across the globe, with virtually all senders standing to gain ROI improvement with the program.”
Guy Hanson – VP of Customer Engagement, Validity
The evaluation:
Thorough analysis of 20 Certified email program.
It was important to ensure the analysis was not distorted by the impact of one element. This is why the study was performed over such a long period of time, and evaluated more than just a handful of campaigns. This allowed for noise and variability from random sampling to be reduced, and produced the following methodology, designed to deliver statistically robust results:
- The analysis was based on 20 Certified email programs, with a geographical distribution across three continents.
- Each program’s performance was reviewed over a six-month period, with the Certification activation taking place at the midpoint.
- Emarsys focused on click rates as its preferred measurement of uplift, because of the strong correlation between clicks and conversions.
- As part of the analysis, Emarsys also evaluated recipients, content, and strategy as contributing factors determining the concept of a “best fit” sender profile.
The results:
Certification increases program revenue by £26,250.
Emarsys Senders
Average open rates across all 20 senders increased by 27% during the three-month period following activation of Certification, while average click-through rates increased by 35%.
Emarsys “Best Fit” Senders
For the “best fit” senders (i.e. the ones Emarsys profiled as most likely to benefit from Certification), average open rates increased by 45% during the three-month period following activation of Certification, while average click-through rates increased by 74%.
Certified Senders
The revenue metrics of these senders is confidential, but in the UK average customer lifetime value (CLV) of an email address is ± £35 ($45). Using average time on list and average contact frequency, we can derive revenue per email at ± 7.5p ($00.10).
Based on these calculations, the average increase in program revenue from Certification is £26,250 ($34,125) per 1M emails sent for the overall analysis. This revenue uplift increases to £55,500 ($72,1500) per 1M emails sent for the “best fit” senders.
Emarsys is the largest independent marketing platform in the world. Founded in 2000, Emarsys works with more than 1,500 brands in over 140 countries to connect with their 3.2 billion global customers. It delivers more than 350 million personalised interactions across email, mobile, social, and web every day, leading to millions of daily purchase events.