Benchmarks are a way to measure your messages' performance against those of your industry peers. These benchmarks can give you a sense of where you stand within your industry.

This article describes:

• how to set your Classification for benchmarking,
• which mailing metrics have benchmark data, and
• what you can do with benchmarking data.

Set your Classification for benchmarking

Your benchmark metrics are based on the Classification that is set for your organization within Thrive Marketing Professional (Thrive Marketing Professional).

There are many Classification options to choose from, so be sure to review the list and select the one that best suits your organization and industry. This is critical to ensuring that your benchmarking metrics are correct.

1. Navigate to Settings > System Settings.

2. In the Information section, click the Classification dropdown.

3. Review the options and choose the one that best aligns with your organization and industry.
4. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Update to save your changes.

Now, any benchmarking metrics that are presented in your account (such as in the Message Summary Reports) are the result of your messages' performance as compared to other Thrive Marketing Professional accounts with the same Classification.

Benchmarks in reports

Your benchmarks really become apparent when you review the Overview > Snapshot by navigating to Messages > Reports > Message Summary Reports.

In the main widget:

• hover on the bar to display a popup with your metrics versus the benchmark metrics.
• the industry benchmark (for the Delivered, Opened, Clicked, and Unsubs metrics bars) is indicated by a white dashed line (1). This is a point of reference based on the typical performance for that metric (opened, clicked, unsubscribes) among other Thrive Marketing Professional accounts with the same Classification.
• a note icon (2) indicates that your metrics do not meet the industry standard. Hover on the icon to display a popup with explanatory and corrective information.

1. Click Benchmarking Details to display an overlay dialog that has Classification-specific information on the industry benchmarks for the mailing delivery rate and recipient actions.

Using benchmark metrics

Benchmarking is a great way to determine how your mailings are performing as compared to those of similar organizations.

If your benchmark metrics are on par with those of similar organizations, you're doing something right.

However, if you metrics are way off those of similar organizations, you should review your mailings (e.g., their designs, links, and recipient lists) and your send practices; there might be things you could do differently or areas that could use improvement.