Asia Pacific Benchmark Study

(1)

Asia Pacific

Email Benchmark Study

January–March 2014

Gain insights to inform your cross-channel marketing strategy. Leverage a personalised analysis and get ahead of the pack..

(2)

www.experian.com.au/marketing-services Experian Marketing Services APAC Email Benchmark Report Q1, 2014 | Page 1

Q1 2014 Executive Summary

The following report details overall email marketing trends for the 1st quarter of 2014 as well as the key performance indicators (KPIs) that shaped the success of Experian Marketing Services clients’ email programs in Asia Pacific.

 Email volume rose by 1.5% in Q1 2014 compared to Q4 2013.

 Unique open rates were 13.6% in Q1 2014, slightly behind the 14.5% seen in Q4 2013.  Unique click rates were 2.1% in Q1 2014, declining from the 2.4% seen in Q4 2013.

 Transaction-to-click rates were 3.8% in Q1 2014 compared to 4.5% in Q4 2013, and were also lower than the 4.0% seen in Q4 2012.

 Bounce rates were 2.1% in Q1 2014, reducing slightly from 2.2% in both Q4 2013 and Q1 2013.  Particularly strong performing areas seen within the report include:

o New Zealand once again tops the overall metrics including the highest open, click and transaction rates of any country in APAC as well as the lowest bounce rates.

o Media, Entertainment & Gaming had the highest total and unique open rates of any industry across APAC and the highest unique click rate across industries.

o Education/Institutions had the highest total click rates and click-to-open % of any industry in APAC.

o Wednesday had the largest volume of emails in Q1 2014 (18.5%, slightly down from 18.8% in Q4 2013). In Q1 2013 the biggest volume day was also Wednesday (20.2% in Q1 2013).

(5)

Bonus Insights: Review of past 18 months

trends

This Q1 2014 report represents the 6th consecutive quarter for which we have created an APAC benchmark. As such we have taken the opportunity to create a longer view of the benchmarking data over the last 18 months. This allows us to see some interesting trends in email performance by region:

- Although ANZ open rates remain higher than other regions, performance from clients in Greater China has been steadily improving and the gap between the two is now only about half what it was a year or so ago. - Click-to-open rates in India used to be significantly higher than other regions, but are now much closer to the

APAC average while open rates have remained broadly stable.

(6)

www.experian.com.au/marketing-services Experian Marketing Services APAC Email Benchmark Report Q1, 2014 | Page 5 We can also see some interesting trends in bounce and unsubscription rates over the last 18

months:

- The level of bounce rates for the 4 regions has converged over the last 18 months with a significant reduction in bounce rates for clients in China.

- Although ANZ has historically had relatively low bounce rates compared to the other regions they have been increasing since the middle of last year and the rate of unsubscriptions is also higher than most other regions.

- India has some of the lowest bounce rates in APAC as well as low levels of unsubscription.

TIP: There was significant variance between the different regions, countries and industries, but the most important perspective is your own metrics against the benchmark in your industry. Keen to find out how your performance compares to the benchmark trends? Contact Us or your Account Manager for your

(7)

1. Best Performing Day in Asia Pacific

Across Asia Pacific, Wednesday again has the highest volume of emails sent (18%) while Sunday has the lowest (8.5%), which is consistent with the Q4 and Q3 2013 reports when Wednesday was also the most popular day.

Wednesday is also the best performing day for opens, while Tuesday is the best day for Total and Unique click rates as well as the best performance for transaction metrics making it the best performing day overall

Mon, 14% Tue, 16% Wed, 18% Thu, 17% Fri, 17% Sat, 9% Sun, 9%

Volume by day - APAC Q1 2014

Mon, 14% Tue, 17% Wed, 19% Thu, 16% Fri, 17% Sat, 10% Sun, 7%

(8)

2. Best Day of Week by Country

2.1 Australia

Wednesday again has the highest percentage of mailings for Aussies, but Tuesday now has the best overall performance across all metrics. Australia open rates are particularly high compared to overall APAC

(9)

2.2 New Zealand

Friday is now the most popular mailing day, but it only performs well for click metrics compared to the other days. New Zealand again has the best overall scores in the APAC region with consistently high numbers across all engagement metrics. Total and Unique Opens, Total and Unique Clicks all scored above the region average on every single day. This proves that New Zealand clients are consistent with their mailing list thus targeting customers well.

(10)

2.3 Hong Kong

Thursday is now the most popular mailing day, whereas the share from Tuesday mailings dropped from 30% in Q4 2013 down to 23% in Q1 2014. Monday now shows the best overall metrics except for Sunday, which has insufficient mailing volume to be considered robust. Total and Unique Opens was again higher than regional averages across all days, but performance for other engagement metrics was not consistently above regional averages for most days of the week.

(11)

2.4 Mainland China

The highest mail volume day is again Tuesday, with Saturday now showing the highest engagement metrics overall and particularly high average order values for tracked purchases. Open and click metrics were generally highest for Sunday mailings although performance for most metrics on most days was above the regional average.

(12)

2.5 Singapore

Friday again has the overall highest mailing volume with 30% and now also has the highest overall

engagement metrics across all measures. Saturday scored well for Transactions metrics compared to other days, but due to low volumes most mailings may have been targeted to specific customers. Total and Unique Open metrics are higher than the regional average across all days, but Transaction metrics are below APAC averages for all individual days of the week.

2.6 Thailand

Saturday now has the largest number of mailings as well as the best engagement metrics overall. Total and Unique Open metrics are higher than the regional average across all days, but Click and Transaction metrics are consistently below APAC averages for most individual days of the week.

(13)

2.7 India

Thursday now has the highest mailing volumes in India with 19% of total mailing volume. Wednesday again had the best overall performance across all metrics. Overall metrics for Opens and Clicks were again generally less than half the overall APAC Benchmarks across all days of the week for all measures except Click-to-Open rates.

(14)

3. Best Day of Week by Region

In Australia/New Zealand (ANZ) Tuesday now has the highest open rates with the strongest transaction performance coming from mailings on Sundays. Click performance is again strongest for Saturday mailings. As a note, all metrics apart from Click-to-Open rates are above the APAC Benchmark and remain as good markets for email marketing for this region.

In South East Asia (SEA), Friday now has the overall best performance for this quarter. SEA now shows engagement metrics which are generally below the APAC benchmark for all days of the week. Total and Unique Open metrics were generally 30-70% below regional averages across the different days.

(15)

www.experian.com.au/marketing-services Experian Marketing Services APAC Email Benchmark Report Q1, 2014 | Page 14 Sunday is again the best overall performing day for Opens and Clicks in Greater China. The

rest of the week’s engagement rates are pretty similar, except for Saturday, which has particularly high Transaction rates.

(16)

4. Mailing Volume Percentage - Asia Pacific

For the first quarter of 2014, India increased significantly as a source of mailings and SEA is still the smallest individual region. India is now the largest region, with significant share reductions from both ANZ and

Greater China. India’s share growth appears to have regained its momentum after growing steadily from 11% in Q3 2012 to 23% in Q3 2013, but falling in Q4. These increases in email volumes in India reflect an increasing focus on the channel from marketers following stronger regulation of SMS marketing, which had previously been a greater priority.

4.1 Volume by Country

India is now the biggest country contributor for mailing volume in APAC followed by China and Australia. In Q1 2013 the share of the 3 biggest countries was 34.6% for Australia, 27.9% for China and 22.9% for India – the order has now been reversed.

Australia, 21.62% New Zealand, 4.77% Hong Kong, 0.79% Taiwan, 0.05% China, 27.85% Singapore, 2.75% Thailand, 0.30% Malaysia, 0.05% India, 30.51% Others, 11.31%

APAC Volume - Q1 2014

ANZ, 26.39% SEA, 14.17% Greater China, 28.69% India, 30.51% Others, 0.24%

APAC Volume - Q1 2014

ANZ, 31.81% SEA, 15.08% Greater China, 36.81% India, 15.96% Others, 0.33%

(17)

5. Month On Month Metrics - Asia Pacific

Although the volume axis labels (left axis) are hidden, the Bar Height represents the amount of mailings sent in each month and is provided to give insight into the fluctuations in volume and how that relates to other metrics.

5.1 Asia Pacific Bounce Rate

Bounce rates were highest in March when volumes were higher.

5.2 Asia Pacific Unsubscribe Rate

1.6% 1.7% 1.7% 1.8% 1.8% 1.9% 1.9% 2.0% 2.0%

January February March

Volume & Bounce Rate

Volume Sent Bounce Rate

0.085% 0.090% 0.095% 0.100% 0.105% 0.110% 0.115%

Volume & Unsubscribe Rate

(18)

5.3 Asia Pacific Total and Unique Open Rates

Total and Unique open rates remained constant over the course of Q1 2014.

5.4 Asia Pacific Total and Unique Click Rates

Total & Unique Click rates have stayed broadly the same over the course of Q1.

0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0%

Volume and Total & Unique Open Rates

Volume Sent Total Opens Unique Opens

0.0% 0.5% 1.0% 1.5% 2.0% 2.5% 3.0% 3.5%

Volume and Total & Unique Click Rates

(19)

5.5 Asia Pacific Volume and Click-to-Open Rate

Click-to-Open rate again shows a broadly stable trend over the period, albeit with a small decrease in March.

5.6 Asia Pacific Volume and Transaction Rate

Transaction rates were again fairly volatile over the course of the period.

TIP: Focus on the funnel to be sure Opens lead to Clicks and then Transactions. Do your own analysis of when customers prefer to shop and see if November is a better performing month and whether your email is contributing to the marketing mix as much as it should.

0.0% 2.0% 4.0% 6.0% 8.0% 10.0% 12.0% 14.0%

Volume & Click-to-Open Rate

Volume Sent Click-to-Open Rate

0.00% 0.05% 0.10% 0.15% 0.20%

Volume & Transaction Rate

(20)

6. Industry Analysis – Asia Pacific

In Asia Pacific Online Retail still has the highest mailing volume percentage beating the rest of the field. The highest Total & Unique Clicks performance again came from Media/Entertainment/Gaming mailings, which is generally the best performing industry across the region.

TIP: There was significant variance between the different industries, but the most important perspective is your own metrics against the benchmark in your industry. Keen to find out if you beat the benchmark? Contact Us or your Account Manager for your personalised benchmark.

(21)

7. Vertical Analysis by Region

7.1 Australia/New Zealand – A/NZ

Online and Multi-Channel Retail once again dominated the emails volume sent with nearly 80% between the two sectors with a particularly strong performance from Online Retail across all engagement metrics. Media/Entertainment/Gaming was one of the best overall performers, but with a relatively low share of emails sent.

7.2 South East Asia - SEA

In SEA, Media/Entertainment/Gaming again obtained some of the highest engagement metrics with the highest Click-to-Open rate and Unique Clicks. Online Retail still needs improvement compared to other regions and has good potential for marketing in this region. Online Retail now has the highest volume email sent with nearly 80% of mailings in the region.

(22)

7.3 Greater China

Charity is still performing very well in Greater China despite the low volume. Online Retail again tops the volume emails sent with 83.9% followed by Multi-Channel Retail with 10.7%.

(23)

8. Vertical Analysis by Country

8.1 Australia

Financial Services again had strong overall metrics despite the low mailing volume. Online Retail industries again showed promising numbers and open metrics are again higher than the industry benchmarks for APAC overall.

8.2 New Zealand

Online Retail once again maintained the highest mailing sent with the metrics exceeding both the APAC benchmark for the industry and all other sectors in New Zealand.

(24)

8.3 China

Online Retail has the highest emails sent followed by Multi-Channel Retail. Online Retail again has the best overall engagement metrics for sectors in China, although Media/Entertainment/Gaming has consistently high Click-to-Open metrics.

8.4 Hong Kong

Travel followed by Media/Entertainment/ Gaming were again driving the highest mailing volumes in Hong Kong. Multi-Channel Retail again leads Open metrics, but Media/Entertainment/Gaming now has the highest Click metrics.

(25)

8.5 Singapore

In Singapore, Media/Entertainment/Gaming had the best Click whereas Financial Services has the highest Open performance. Telecom /Technology lead the volume emailed sent at 39.5% followed by Media/Entertainment/ Gaming with 21.6%.

(26)

8.6 India

Online Retail again recorded the highest volume mails sent and had strong overall performance. Multi-Channel Retail again had some of the highest metrics, but still represents a relatively small proportion of overall mailings.

(27)

9. Performance Metrics

9.1 Performance Metrics Comparing Regions

ANZ has the best metrics overall for this period. Bounce rates are again high in Greater China and demonstrates there is room to improve list quality.

9.2 Performance Metrics Comparing Countries

New Zealand once again tops the overall metrics including a very low bounce rate of 1.1%. Bounce rates in Hong Kong reduced from 7.5% in Q4 2013, but remained high at 5.9%.

(28)

9.2 Performance Metrics Comparing Countries - Continued

9.3 Benchmark Statistics by Month – Region & Country

It is good to see reasonable metrics in most countries, a reminder that email works across a broad range of cultures and economies.

(29)

(30)

(31)

(32)

Revenue Per Email

TIP: Unsure of this important metric for your campaigns? Implement Track-to-Purchase or engage with Experian for an analysis of your transaction data (online and/or offline) and measure what matters.

(33)

Appendix 1: Metric Definitions

Total Opens: All opens recorded for the mailing including multiple opens by the same subscriber. Total open rates are (total opens/received)

Unique Opens: The number of unique subscribers that have opened an HTML-formatted message. Unique open rates are (unique opens/received)

Total Clicks: Every click on a tracked link, including multiple clicks by a given subscriber. Total click rates are (total clicks/received)

Unique Clicks: The number of unique subscribers who have clicked on any link. Unique click rates are (Unique clicks/received)

Click-to-Open Rate: Unique clicks as a percentage of unique opens (unique clicks/unique opens)

Transaction Rate: Overall percentage of transactions as related to delivered messages (transactions / (Sent - bounced)). This metric only includes data for clients who have implemented CheetahMail’s Track to Purchase functionality

Transaction to Clicks: Percentage of transactions compared to the number of unique clicks (transactions / unique clicks). This metric only includes data for clients who have implemented CheetahMail’s Track to Purchase functionality

Average Order Size: Average total amount for each transaction. This metric only includes data for clients who have implemented CheetahMail’s Track to Purchase functionality

Revenue Per Email: Average amount earned for each delivered email (total order / (sent -

Bounced). This metric only includes data for clients who have implemented CheetahMail’s Track to Purchase functionality

Bounce Rates: The percentage of subscribers that did not receive a mailing because their email addresses hard bounced (bounce / sent)

Unsubscribe Rates: This reflects the total number of users unsubscribing from the mailing (unique unsubscribers / (sent - bounced))

Appendix 2: Methodology

Activity data is collected for 7 days from the initial send but is attributed to the day of week the mailing was sent, to provide an assessment of the best day to send, not necessarily the day that generates the most activity.

A different methodology for calculating averages is used in APAC Benchmarks compared to US Benchmarks so they cannot be compared directly.

Country attribution is determined by the destination country for marketing purposes. For example a brand in Australia may be targeting Singaporean customers. In this case, the mailings targeting Singaporeans will count under Singapore in the breakouts and under SEA for the rollups. This also means mailings targeting customers outside of APAC (like the US) were excluded.

Asia Pacific Benchmark Study

Asia Pacific

Email Benchmark Study

January–March 2014

Contents

Q1 2014 Executive Summary

Bonus Insights: Review of past 18 months

trends

1.

Best Performing Day in Asia Pacific

Volume by day - APAC Q1 2014

2. Best Day of Week by Country

2.1 Australia

2.2 New Zealand

2.3 Hong Kong

2.4 Mainland China

2.5 Singapore

2.6 Thailand

2.7 India

3. Best Day of Week by Region

4. Mailing Volume Percentage - Asia Pacific

4.1 Volume by Country

APAC Volume - Q1 2014

APAC Volume - Q1 2014

5. Month On Month Metrics - Asia Pacific

5.1 Asia Pacific Bounce Rate

5.2 Asia Pacific Unsubscribe Rate

Volume & Bounce Rate

Volume & Unsubscribe Rate

5.3 Asia Pacific Total and Unique Open Rates

5.4 Asia Pacific Total and Unique Click Rates

Volume and Total & Unique Open Rates

Volume and Total & Unique Click Rates

5.5 Asia Pacific Volume and Click-to-Open Rate

5.6 Asia Pacific Volume and Transaction Rate

Volume & Click-to-Open Rate

Volume & Transaction Rate

6. Industry Analysis – Asia Pacific

7. Vertical Analysis by Region

7.1 Australia/New Zealand – A/NZ

7.2 South East Asia - SEA

7.3 Greater China

8. Vertical Analysis by Country

8.1 Australia

8.2 New Zealand

8.3 China

8.4 Hong Kong

8.5 Singapore

8.6 India

9. Performance Metrics

9.1 Performance Metrics Comparing Regions

9.2 Performance Metrics Comparing Countries

9.2 Performance Metrics Comparing Countries - Continued

9.3 Benchmark Statistics by Month – Region & Country

Revenue Per Email

Appendix 1: Metric Definitions

Appendix 2: Methodology