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One goal of an email marketing program can be increasing member engagement. Yet, as noted in a recent post, Open Rates Are Dead – Why It’s Time to Move On of this two-part series on measuring member engagement, the Open Rate metric cannot be used alone for several practical and technical reasons. This blog will highlight metrics that more accurately measure digital member engagement at your credit union.
Member Engagement in a Digital-First World
Credit unions have been traditionally known for a high level of membership engagement for several reasons, including:
- Member Ownership—Since credit unions are owned by their members, owner-members are thought to have a greater sense of personal attachment to the organization.
- Local Community Orientation—Credit unions first arose from groups within the local community, which naturally led to greater personal connections between members and the institution.
- Personalized Service—Credit unions have tended to be smaller, which has allowed them to devote more individual attention to members, thereby building better relationships.
Beyond simply generating good feelings, member engagement makes solid business sense for credit unions.
- Engaged members are more likely to feel loyal to the credit union and stay for the long term.
- Greater engagement can correlate with increased “wallet share.”
- Referrals are more likely from engaged members.
Consequently, credit unions seek to leverage their natural advantages to deepen relationships with members and bolster their financial health.
However, the growth of digital business practices has created distance between members and credit unions as face-to-face interactions have declined. To counteract this, credit unions often turn to other technology tools like email marketing.
In pre-digital days (and in many cases today), credit unions used measures such as wallet share, account activity, surveys, and membership election participation to assess engagement. Email marketing campaigns have their own set of metrics, but not all metrics are equal. The first blog focused on open rates and why that metric has too many drawbacks to be used as the sole measuring stick for gauging email marketing engagement impact.
Two of the most effective indicators of online member engagement are Click-Through Rate (CTR) and Average Time on Page.
Click-Through Rate
Once a recipient opens an email, how can the sender know what happens? Measuring clicks on links within the email indicates that the recipient has read the email and is seeking further information or responding to a Call to Action (CTA).
CTR is the percentage of recipients who opened the email and clicked on one or more links in your email. It is calculated as:
(Clicks /Opened Emails) x 100
For example, if 250 emails were opened and 13 recipients clicked one or more links in the email, then the CTR would be approximately 5%.
(13/250) x 100 = 5.2%
While the CTR formula uses the recipient's action of opening an email as a component, it goes to the next level by measuring the recipient's subsequent action (click). This suggests the recipient was engaged enough to read at least some of the email content and take the desired next step. CTR clearly indicates a member’s interest in acting, unlike the open rate, which only suggests curiosity.
The Value of CTR
Click-Through-Rate offers concrete insights into member engagement.
- Content Relevance—A high CTR indicates that the email content and links within it are relevant, motivating recipients to engage further and find more information.
- Member Interest—A high CTR might suggest that the member is likely to engage further with credit union content, such as visiting additional websites, signing up for services, or participating in offers.
Further analysis of clicks can uncover details about the type of content, products, and services that are most appealing to members. This can lead to content refinement or even direct appeals for specific offerings to individual members based on their click behavior.
Segmented CTR analysis can yield even deeper insights. This type of assessment subdivides clicking recipients into groups, such as by demographics or member tenure. By understanding underlying groups' behavior and preferences, marketers can tailor content more effectively and improve overall engagement.
Average Time on Page
What happens once an email recipient clicks through to a web page? Measuring the average time spent on the page could indicate the level of member engagement.
Average Time on Page is calculated by:
Total Time Spent by All Visitors on a Specific Page/The Number of Visits to That Page
For example, if 350 visits to a page were made and a total of 3,100 minutes were spent there, the Average Time on Page was 8.86 minutes.
3,100/350 = 8.86
In comparing pages, it is assumed that the higher the average, the higher the engagement with the content. Time on a page is typically tracked from when a web page loads until the visitor navigates away or closes the tab.
Average Time on Page is commonly used by industry leaders such as Google Analytics to evaluate website effectiveness. It's an important measure since studies have shown that people who linger longer on specific web pages are more likely to buy products and services from that website.
Average Time on Page differs from other website metrics like Session Duration (time spent during a single visit across multiple pages) and Bounce Rate (percentage of visitors who leave after viewing only one page). While these other metrics provide vital information, Average Time on Page is considered the gold standard for accurately measuring engagement with specific content.
The Value of Average Time on Page
Average Time on Page provides a strong indication of the engagement depth of web page viewers.
- Content Engagement—The more stimulating and valuable the content is to visitors, the longer they will spend on the page. A member’s level of interest in the content can be positively correlated to their level of engagement.
- Member Intent—When a member views a page for a long time, it can be a sign that they have a serious interest or intent to act, such as purchasing a product or exploring more educational resources.
- Content Consumption Level—Average Time on Page can help the Credit Union determine whether members are absorbing the content fully (reading articles, watching videos) or skimming and quickly moving on.
Average Time on Page can also be used to tweak content in the quest to improve search engine rankings. Credit unions can use this data to provide direction in website design and content enhancements so that more users can find and benefit from the website.
Credit union decision-makers will be most successful by continuously improving their digital marketing efforts using multiple email and website metrics. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each metric will help them make the best choices in improving the effectiveness of their online efforts.
