Benchmarks are a way to measure how your messages' are performing in relation to those of your industry peers.

This article describes:

• how to set your Classification for benchmarking,
• which message 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.

There are many Classification options, so be sure to review the list and select the one that best suits your industry and your organization. The proper classification is crucial to ensuring that your benchmarking metrics are compared with those of similar organizations.

1. Access the Admin interface and click the Communications tab above the search field.
2. Navigate to Settings > System Settings.

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

4. Review the options and choose the one that best aligns with your industry and your organization.

5. Scroll down and click Update to save your changes.

Now, any benchmarking metrics that are presented in your account are the result of your messages' performance as compared to other Thrive Communications accounts with the same Classification.

Benchmarks in reports

Your benchmarking metrics really become apparent in the Overview > Snapshot report of the Message Summary Reports.

This section focuses on benchmarking in this report. To learn about all of the reports, see Message Summary Reports Overview (Thrive Communications).

Main widget highlights

The main widget has several useful elements.

Benchmarking Details button

• Click the Benchmarking Details button in the title bar to display an overlay dialog that has Classification-specific information on the industry benchmarks for the delivery rate and recipient actions.

Metrics bars

The blue portion of a metrics bar indicates your messages' performance; this is confirmed by the numerical percentage to the right of the metrics bar.

The following actions are for the Delivered, Opened, Clicked, and Unsubs metrics bars.

• Hover on a metrics bar to display a popup with your metrics versus the benchmark metrics.
• Look for a white dashed line. This industry benchmark is a point of reference based on the typical performance for that metric among accounts with the same Classification.
• A note icon indicates that your benchmarking metric does not meet the industry standard. Hover on the icon to display a popup with explanatory information and suggestions to improve performance.

The examples below demonstrate the types of messages that might display when the note icon is hovered on.

Delivered

Unsubs

Using benchmark metrics

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 messages (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.