Case Study: Engagement
Problem
Client ran a membership-based site that easily acquired members, but had trouble keeping them engaged for longer then 3 days. At that point email deliverability drastically dropped off, and users no longer went back to site. Client monetized traffic of members by directing them to purchase products via their website.
Client wanted to increase the longevity of members, and bring revenue up.
Client only had one method of communication to members, email, and was the sole retention channel. To make up for the increasingly shrinking life cycle of members, client began to email members more and more, eventually emailing 5x daily; creating a negative feedback loop that shrank members’ engagement further.
Discovery
Email Analytics showed that due to the bombardment of emails to member, open rates went from an average of 12% down to 3%. There was no list segmentation based upon engagement, and email non-openers were pooled with email openers, dragging down the quality score of email sends. This caused Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail to no longer inbox[1] emails.
Additionally, engagement with content on client’s website was low, with a bounce rate[2] of over 66%.
Solution
A three-prong approach was needed to remedy the situation:
1) Properly Set Expectations for User
2) Make Data-Based Decisions
3) Create New/Better Communication Channels
Properly Set Expectations for User
Even thought client on-boarded thousands of new members a day, they did not send an automated welcome message to welcome new users to the site, tell them what benefits they get from their membership, and how to make the most of the site. We quickly implemented this change, which served a two-fold purpose. First, to warm users to the site, as mentioned above; but also to increase open rate for email send, to get client back in good graces of ISPs[3] to inbox once more.
The implementation of a welcome email increased overall open rates of emails from 3% to 7%, within a week’s time.
Make Data-Based Decisions
Due to blending email traffic of users who could potentially be engaged, with users who have not engaged in 90+ days, client’s email list was unusable in its current state.
We immediately began segmenting the email list – putting new signups from that point forward into their own list, and the rest of the email database (approximately 400,000 email addresses) into another. This allowed us to continue emailing new users, thus generating revenue while we cleaned the existing email list.
To gauge engagement, we developed a simple email drip program, consisting of three emails sent over 10 days, to ask members if they still wished to hear from the client.
Those who opened the first email and responded were segmented accordingly—either into the new list if they indicated they wanted further communication, or opted out for those who said they didn’t. Non-responders and non-openers were sent a message three days later, with the same outcome as the first email. Those who didn’t respond to that email were sent a final message 7 days later. All non-responders to the last email were placed in an inactive folder, and no longer emailed actively.
We further created an automated rule in the ESP[4] platform that all users who fail to open any emails sent over a 7-day period are put into the same engagement drip, in order to maintain email list hygiene and keep open rates up.
The result of our list clean up resulted in further email engagement, bringing open rates up to an average of 20%, 8% higher than the client’s previous benchmark.
Content
While we were able to address email’s engagement problems, we also had to tackle the site’s content as it was the end destination for all revenue streams.
We sought to lower the bounce rate, increase amount of pages the member visited, and increase overall time spent on page. Our theory being that the above three would indicate higher engagement and result in more revenue generated.
We were able to understand the types of content members wanted to engage with by finding pages within the site that had better metrics than most; and researching the keywords and terms that brought users to the site via Google paid search.
From there we created content guidelines and posting standards for the client’s copywriting team, which lead to a decrease in bounce rate by 15%, and an increase of 1 additional page per visit, and add 45 seconds to the average time spent on page within a week of the content being live on the site.
Additionally, the content team was able to apply certain key words and terms members had an affinity to, towards email and acquisition channels, which lead to better brand cohesion overall.
Create New/Better Communication Channels
Email showed itself to be a fickle communication stream for our client, and it was clear that diversification of revenue streams was essential for scalable growth. Since the largest issue our client faced with email was deliverability, we set out to find different communication methods that ensured high deliverability.
We ultimately decided to pursue SMS and Web Push Notifications as new channels, as both delivered messages immediately to a user, and required an opt-in, eliminating the chances for wrong information to be input.
We guided the client through vendor choice and software implementation, paying particular attention to SMS compliance with TCPA[5] regulations.
Additionally, we helped create a style guide for both communication streams that tied them to the content best practices we had previously implemented. This ensured high engagement and brand cohesion immediately upon implementation.
Once instituted, Web Push Notification had an approximate opt-in rate of 42%; and SMS, 80%.
Within three months of implementation, Web Push accounted for 5% of daily gross revenue, while SMS accounted for 30%.
Outcome
We were able to diversify revenue streams; increase engagement; and generate additional, sustainable revenue within a time frame of 3 months due to the solutions created for the client.
[1] Delivering to a users inbox, instead of going straight to spam
[2] Bounce Rate is a percentage of users who come to 1 page on your site, and do not click on any other pages. A high bounce rate on a content-rich site like the clients’ suggests un-engagement with content, either through poor execution or irrelevancy
[3] Internet Service Provider, in this case the big three: Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail
[4] Email Service Provider, the platform from which emails are sent
[5] Telephone Compliance Protection Act, the governing legislation of SMS in the United States