A Top-Heavy File

Here's the outcome of a recent Email QuickScore project (click here for deets). We're looking at what a customer will do next month, based on historical attributes ... ranked into 2%-tiles.

		Next	Next
	Monthly	Month	Month
Segment	Re-Click	ClicksPer	Avg.
1	77.1%	5.80	4.47
2	57.5%	2.94	1.69
3	45.4%	2.48	1.12
4	36.9%	2.26	0.84
5	30.0%	2.06	0.62
6	24.0%	2.03	0.49
7	19.8%	1.92	0.38
8	19.0%	2.01	0.38
9	17.6%	1.84	0.32
10	13.9%	1.85	0.26
11	11.0%	1.73	0.19
12	8.6%	1.78	0.15
13	9.3%	1.75	0.16
14	6.9%	1.74	0.12
15	7.5%	1.80	0.14
16	7.6%	1.72	0.13
17	6.9%	1.75	0.12
18	6.4%	1.70	0.11
19	5.6%	1.75	0.10
20	5.2%	1.79	0.09
21	4.7%	1.74	0.08
22	4.2%	1.76	0.07
23	3.8%	1.79	0.07
24	3.0%	1.77	0.05
25	2.6%	1.85	0.05
26	2.1%	1.81	0.04
27	1.5%	1.67	0.03
28	2.2%	1.82	0.04
29	1.9%	1.84	0.04
30	1.6%	1.81	0.03
31	1.6%	1.81	0.03
32	1.7%	1.76	0.03
33	1.6%	1.75	0.03
34	1.2%	1.67	0.02
35	1.0%	1.90	0.02
36	1.1%	1.64	0.02
37	1.0%	1.90	0.02
38	1.1%	2.00	0.02
39	1.0%	2.10	0.02
40	0.7%	2.00	0.01
41	0.7%	1.71	0.01
42	0.7%	1.71	0.01
43	0.6%	1.83	0.01
44	0.6%	1.83	0.01
45	0.6%	1.83	0.01
46	0.5%	2.20	0.01
47	0.4%	2.00	0.01
48	0.4%	1.75	0.01
49	0.4%	2.00	0.01
50	0.4%	2.00	0.01

The top 20% of the file (segments 1-10) represent where all of the magic happens. 80% of all activity comes from the top 20% of the file ... with a whopping 49% of all activity coming from just 4% of the file.

Can I state the fact again, so that the information sinks in??

• For this company, 49% of all email clicks in the next month come from the top 4% of subscribers.

A simple segmentation strategy might include:

• Segments 1-2 (49% of clicks, 4% of file).
• Segments 3-10 (34% of clicks, 16% of file).
• Segments 11-25 (13% of clicks, 30% of file).
• Segments 26-50 (4% of clicks, 50% of file).

Feed the segments to your ESP, and then measure your opens/clicks/conversions by high-level segment.

So many companies report overall averages ... in email marketing, that's very misleading. If email "works", it works at the very top of the file. Almost nothing you do matters for the bottom half of the email subscriber base. That's the place where you execute your tests ... you can try ANYTHING there in an effort to wake up the customer.

If you don't believe me and you don't want your own Email QuickScore, then run your own analysis using your own ranking system. After ranking customers, see how they responded in the next month.