As most of you know, I have always had an affinity for marketing. I also have been a data guy as far back as I can remember. So as I have evolved as a marketer, I have come to embrace the growing availability of metrics that go along with measuring marketing success. For me, it is near impossible to imagine how we did our jobs without being data driven. And the cool thing about the free version of Revue (the solution I am using to publish this newsletter) is that I am able to get a few metrics that help me improve the usability of the newsletter.One thing I can regularly track is open rates. What's been interesting is that over each of the last 9 weeks, the unique open rate has been consistently at 57% of all subscribers (interestingly, you can also infer from the data when someone forwards the newsletter to others) -- about double what is usually expected from email newsletters. I thank you all for that.From my experience, I know that a material factor in open rates (in addition to day/time delivered, size of the email, etc.) can be the subject line. If I was leading a corporate team on this, I might have them do A/B tests on subject lines across the subscriber base to help optimize open rates. But this is my hobby, so I'm not doing that. What you will see over the coming weeks is me possibly playing with the subject lines to see what works. I'll also continue to sprinkle in themed issues when it makes sense.That all said: if you opened the newsletter this week expecting some provocative spread of fit people in beachwear, you will be disappointed (though scroll to the bottom for a payoff). It's 2017, folks, not 1977. I'm banking on an uptick in the unique open rate to above 65% as a result. We'll see -- all in the name of science and metrics, I guess.Thanks again for the support. Once again, some interesting stuff this week, including a continuation of the AI thread. Enjoy!XOXODave
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Friends of Dave: The Swimsuit Issue
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As most of you know, I have always had an affinity for marketing. I also have been a data guy as far back as I can remember. So as I have evolved as a marketer, I have come to embrace the growing availability of metrics that go along with measuring marketing success. For me, it is near impossible to imagine how we did our jobs without being data driven. And the cool thing about the free version of Revue (the solution I am using to publish this newsletter) is that I am able to get a few metrics that help me improve the usability of the newsletter.One thing I can regularly track is open rates. What's been interesting is that over each of the last 9 weeks, the unique open rate has been consistently at 57% of all subscribers (interestingly, you can also infer from the data when someone forwards the newsletter to others) -- about double what is usually expected from email newsletters. I thank you all for that.From my experience, I know that a material factor in open rates (in addition to day/time delivered, size of the email, etc.) can be the subject line. If I was leading a corporate team on this, I might have them do A/B tests on subject lines across the subscriber base to help optimize open rates. But this is my hobby, so I'm not doing that. What you will see over the coming weeks is me possibly playing with the subject lines to see what works. I'll also continue to sprinkle in themed issues when it makes sense.That all said: if you opened the newsletter this week expecting some provocative spread of fit people in beachwear, you will be disappointed (though scroll to the bottom for a payoff). It's 2017, folks, not 1977. I'm banking on an uptick in the unique open rate to above 65% as a result. We'll see -- all in the name of science and metrics, I guess.Thanks again for the support. Once again, some interesting stuff this week, including a continuation of the AI thread. Enjoy!XOXODave