The reports that are available in the Answer Marketing Questions group present insight on the performance of the selected messages based on various characteristics so that you can decide whether it's necessary to make adjustments to your mailings.

• Click Answer Marketing Questions to expand the list; then click a report name to select it.
• The report displays to the right of the Reports panel.

The report data:

• are refined by any filters that were selected on the Select Messages tab;
• are presented in the most useful and readable format (e.g., tables, pie graphs, line charts);
• are hover-responsive and/or clickable; and
• can be exported, printed, and/or downloaded (depending on the format of the report; refer to Print, Download, and Export options, below).

NOTE: References to Message Summary Reports reflect a rebranding initiative. Message Summary Reports and Mailing Summary Reports refer to the same set of reports with the same options and functionality.

Access the Answer Marketing Questions reports

Classic Admin interface

1. Navigate to Mailings > Reports > Mailing Summary Report.
2. Set your preferred filters on the Select Messages tab and click the View Reports tab.
3. Click Answer Marketing Questions to expand the group and select a report.

New Admin Experience

1. Navigate to Messages > Reports > Message Summary Reports.
2. Set your preferred filters on the Select Messages tab and click the View Reports tab.
3. Click Answer Marketing Questions to expand the group and select a report.

Best day to send

This report can help you determine the best day to send messages based on the percentages of opens and link clicks of your sent messages.

• The results are typically limited to weekdays.
• The Day of Week metric is the day on which the message was sent; messages might not necessarily be opened on the send day.

Chart data

• Hover in a vertical region to see the statistics for that day.

Best time to send

This report can help you determine the best time of the day to send messages based on the percentages of opens and link clicks of your sent messages.

• The results are presented in one-hour blocks.
• The Time of Day metric is the time at which the message was sent; messages could be opened hours later.

Chart data

• Hover in a vertical region to see the statistics for that one-hour block.

Consider rescheduling your current send times based on your own report results. Test the accuracy of the results by sending messages and reviewing the fresh results, and be prepared to make additional tweaks when you find your ideal send time.

Best subject line length

This report charts the percentages of opens and link clicks of your sent messages by the number of character in the Subject line.

• The results are presented in 10-character blocks.

Chart data

• Hover in a vertical region to see the statistics for that 10-character block.

The Subject line is often the first part of an email message that a recipient sees, and it might be the deciding factor on whether the message even gets opened. Make sure that your Subject line (its words/text and its length) is crafted such that it is engaging to your recipients, and periodically check this report and consider making changes based on  the results.

Best number of recipients

This report charts the percentages of opens and link clicks of your sent messages by the number of recipients.

• The results are presented in preset quantity blocks (e.g., 1-249).
• The report displays only those quantity blocks that have a reportable recipient count. For example, in the image below, there are no results for 250-499 recipients because none of the mailings had that number of recipients.

Chart data

• Hover in a vertical region to see the statistics for that recipient count.

It's important to focus on the clicks-per-opens percentages for this report while considering which messages were sent to the respective number of recipients. In the above example, which messages were sent to fewer than 250 people and why did those messages have a higher percentage of clicks?

Based on this information, you might want to examine your Target Groups and consider increasing or decreasing your message recipient numbers.

Knowing which audience sizes yield more engagement might be a good reason to change your approach to mailings.

Best number of links

This report charts the percentages of opens and link clicks of your sent messages by the number of links in each mailing.

• The results are the number of links in a mailing.
• The report displays only those mailings that have at least one link.

Chart data

• Hover in a vertical region to see the statistics for that number of links.

Links in mailings are a great way to increase (and measure) the engagement of your recipients. However, when including links, it's important to remember to:

• include only links that are relevant to the message and/or your audience;
• include not too many links; and
• strategically place your links such that they are seen but do not detract from the focus or point of the message.

When you apply these best practices, you're more likely to engage your recipients and get more reliable results.

Best mailing size

This report charts the percentages of opens and link clicks of your sent messages by the size of each mailing.

• The results are the size of a mailing (in thousands of characters, Kb).

Chart data

• Hover in a vertical region to see the statistics for that mailing size.

It's important that your messages strike the right balance between too little information and too much information.

• Too little and you risk your recipients possibly thinking that the message doesn't have anything of value.
• Too much and you risk your recipients possibly thinking, "I don't have time to read all that." They might close the message and never return to it, despite intending to.

So, "just the right amount" of content can be crucial in avoiding both of the above scenarios, and this report provides insight into whether the size of the message has any correlation to its open and click rates.

Test this by sending messages of varying sizes ("text density") in order to determine, roughly, how much content is the "sweet spot" and typically gets better engagement. Be sure to:

• consider the number of links and their placement within the content and
• review this report with fresh results to determine what might be an effective message size for your mailings.

Print, Download, and Export options

The Message Summary Reports are presented in a variety of formats (tables, line charts, pie graphs) in order for the data to be most easily understood. All of these reports can be "saved off" (printed, downloaded, or exported) for future review and to be shared with colleagues.

NOTE: The availability of these options depends on the type of report.

Print and Download

Many reports have a hamburger icon which, when clicked, has the following print and download options.

• Print - opens the browser's Print dialog.
• Download - these options download the report in the selected format; the file is available in your browser's download feature:

Export

Table-based reports have an Export option above the table with which you can generate a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet version (.XLS) of the report.

To export a table-based report:

1. Click the Export button above the list.
2. Click Download Excel File on the popup.
3. Navigate to where you want to store the report file, give it a unique name, and click Save.
4. Navigate to the saved file, open it and review it.

Export file notes

Below is helpful information about exported report files.

File names

All Message Summary Reports export files have similar default file names:

InformzReport_<series of numerals>.xls

Higher Logic recommends giving each export file a unique name (e.g., include the export date) when you save the file.

Report entries

If a report has more than 5,000 entries (i.e., table rows), it cannot be directly exported to Microsoft Excel as a spreadsheet. Instead, for security reasons:

• you will be sent an email message with a link to the password-protected report and
• will have to log in to Thrive Marketing Professional in order to access the report file.

In this case, instead of the Download Excel File prompt (at #2, above):

• Click Email the file on the popup.
• In the second popup, note the password because it is required to open the protected ZIP file.

TIP: When you open the report, you can save it to your device, in which case you will not need the password to open it in future.