This document discusses strategies for optimizing email marketing, including managing send frequency. It notes that sending too frequently can reduce engagement and increase unsubscribes, while sending too infrequently misses opportunities. The ideal frequency varies per subscriber based on their past behaviors and brand relationships. Return Path analyzes individual subscriber data and behavior data from panels to determine the ideal send frequency for each subscriber to balance engagement and risk of unsubscribes. Frequency optimization solutions can increase engagement rates and reduce costs compared to one-size-fits-all approaches.

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Matt Blumberg
Chairman and CEO, Return Path
Email in 2020:
Getting More from Email Data

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Email Volume is Growing!

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222% ROI 66% of Consumers 20% of Sales
Email Drives Purchases

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Email Marketing Goals Today

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Drowning in Data

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Futureproof Your Marketing

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Your Inbox Knows All About You

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2.5 billion+
Mailboxes in the
provider cooperative
2.5 million+
Consumers
in the end-user panel
50 billion+
Messages
scanned and parsed
The Return Path
Data Platform
We curate exclusive
information and
translate it into
unexpected insights,
empowering clients
and partners to make
great decisions.

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Sender Reputation Matters

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Deliverability Matters

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Client Success: Paperless Post

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List Quality Matters

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Real-Time Email Validation

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My email campaign went to spam. Sad!YUGE Drop in Opens

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Clutter Matters

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Total List Size Total Opens Total Clicks Total Revenue
Client Success: Major Online Gift Retailer

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Affinity Matters

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Total List Size Total Opens Total Clicks
Client Success: Financial Services Company

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Content Matters: The Art of Persuasion

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The Time is NOW

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Thank You

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26. Social Media Awareness
# R P W T
The Value of an Email

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© 2016 BRITEVERIFY LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
• In four years, 42% of sales made at brick-and-mortar locations in U.S.,
will be influenced by Digital.
– Forrester Data
• For every $1 spent, email marketing generates $38 in ROI.
– DMA
• Email is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than
Facebook or Twitter.
– McKinsey
The Value of Email

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© 2016 BRITEVERIFY LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
• Global Email Verification Provider
• 24,000+ Users on over 150 Countries
• 11bn verifications and counting
About BriteVerify

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© 2016 BRITEVERIFY LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
• How does the process work?
• Speed, accuracy, and security
• Built for forms and lists
What is Email
Verification?

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© 2016 BRITEVERIFY LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
• Where are your emails coming from?
• 49% from mobile with a 2x mistake rate
• Average invalid rates by industry:
- All Forms Users: 6.9% Invalid (range of 1.9% to 15%)
- e-Commerce and Retail: 12.86% invalid (range of 3% to 31%)
- Insurance, Finance, Health: 7.3% invalid (range of 1.9% to 8.2%)
Point of Collection
– Trends & Benefits

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© 2016 BRITEVERIFY LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
• List quality and campaign performance
• All emails don’t act alike
• 20.1% Invalid over 195,861 files verified in 2016
Clean Lists are
Happy Lists

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© 2016 BRITEVERIFY LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
• Unlocking the value of email
• Invalid data is super noisy
Return Path
& BriteVerify

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The Value of an Email
evan@briteverify.com
E v a n F r e y
B R I T E V E R I F Y U S A

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Erick Pillay
Technical Account Manager, Return Path
Email Heroes

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Client Use Case:
Domain Certification

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• They don't whitelist, they're on a
shared IP
• Apply for public whitelist, if even
available
• Fill out whitelist requests for every new
IP address
• Hope they remain whitelisted
• They don't whitelist. "We don't need it,
we have a great reputation.”
How Marketers Handle Whitelisting

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Domain Certification
With the addition of Domain Certification, senders
can now receive benefits at the domain level.
Why is this important?
• Domain Certification allows senders on shared
IP addresses to become certified
• Major mailbox providers are now making filtering
decisions based on domain reputation

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Certification Benefits
Increase inbox
placement across
more than 2.5 billion
mailboxes worldwide.

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December 6: Prime
Christmas Shopping Day
Certified Sender: Beauty Retailer

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Significant drop in
deliverability leading
up to Black Friday
And again on
Cyber Monday
Significant drop in
deliverability leading
up to Black Friday
And again on
Cyber Monday
Industry: Deals and Rewards

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Certification Benefits
Get unique data insights
directly from mailbox
providers
Continual monitoring to
ensure you stay in
compliance
Reduced volume filtering
and throttling

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“Return Path Certification makes it possible for us
to know that we are reaching our subscribers. We
are able to see where we have gaps in delivery,
which allows us to be much more certain our
email is ending up in the inbox rather than the
spam folder”.
Kevin Conroy
Chief Product Officer
GlobalGiving

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Client Use Case:
Send Frequency
Optimization

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Common Questions
Am I sending
too much?
Am I sending
enough?
How many
subscribers could
be saved?
What are the
consequences?

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Under-sending causes:
• Missed open, click, and
revenue opportunities
• Low inbox presence vs.
competition
Consequences of Mismanaging Frequency
Over-sending causes:
• Reduced engagement and
subscriber tune out
• High complaints and
unsubscribes
• Poor inbox placement
Under-sending + Over-sending = Sub-optimal lifetime value

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• Ignored completely
• One-size-fits-all suppression policy
based on recency of engagement
• Long testing cycles
• Inconclusive results
How It’s Done Today

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Not all subscribers want to
receive email at the same
frequency.
Preferences depend on:
• Length of brand relationship
• Types of content / mail streams
• Personal habits and preferences
• Seasonality
• And many more factors…
One Size Does NOT Fit All

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Every subscriber has an “ideal”
frequency based on how often they
received emails in the past and on the
following behaviors.
• Opens, Clicks, Conversions
• Complaints, Unsubscribes
• Interaction with other brands
Subscriber-level Analysis

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For all possible frequency options, Return
Path predicts each subscriber’s:
• Likelihood to engage
• Likelihood to unsubscribe
Then we find the frequency that best
balances the two.
Balance Risk and Reward

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Data Inputs
Historical subscriber
behavior data
Overlay behavior of
subscribers from
Consumer Network
Frequency
Recommendations
Reinforcement
Learning Model
New
Subscribers
Seasonal
Changes
Behavior
Changes
Overlay behavior of
subscribers from
Data Co-op
Solution Framework

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Use Case
Retailer’s current high frequency caused:
• Low engagement rates
• High unsubscribes and complaints
• High sending costs
Challenges with reducing frequency:
• Across-the-board reduction in frequency hurt revenue
• Limited time to develop in-house solution
Solution:
• Custom frequency recommendations
• Four-week test

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Actual Customer Projections
20%

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Actual Customer Projections
10%

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Want to tackle the frequency challenge?

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