This Iterable User Engagement Teardown looks at Vox, a news site that is part of the Vox Media group. It analyzes how Vox engages users in the first 3 weeks post-signup. The User Engagement Timeline lets you visualize all engagement, and we also evaluate individual emails and suggest improvements.

1. User
Engagement
Teardown
August/September,
2015
#UEteardown
Download:
iterable.com/teardown

2. 2©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
Make
sure
to
watch
full
screen!
Press
this
button

3. What
is
a
“User
Engagement
Teardown”?
• Analyze
a
company’s
user
engagement
over
3
weeks
post-­‐signup
• Constructive
evaluation
and
feedback
• All
types
of
B2C
companies:
e-­‐commerce,
subscription,
media,
etc.
©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved 3

4. 4©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
• A
“general
interest
news
site”
(http://vox.com)
• Part
of
Vox Media,
a
group
of
8
high-­‐profile
media
sites
including
The
Verge,
Eater
and
SB
Nation
• $307M
raised
to
date
How
are
they
engaging
readers?

5. What
We
Did
©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved 5
• Signed
up
for
Vox’s email
newsletter
(“Vox Sentences”)
• Vox doesn’t
have
accounts
or
an
app,
so
that’s
all
we
could
do
to
start

6. 6©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
On
to
the
“User
Engagement
Timeline”…

7. 7
©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
User
Activity
Messages
Days
from start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
Desktop
browser
Mobile
app
Activity
Type
Blast
Triggered
Transactional
Message
Type
Push
notification
User
Engagement
TimelineThe

8. 8
©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
User
Activity
Messages
Days
from start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
Desktop
browser
Mobile
app
Activity
Type
Blast
Triggered
Transactional
Message
Type
Push
notification
We’ll
show
you
what
we
(the
user)
did
here…
User
Engagement
TimelineThe

9. 9
©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
User
Activity
Messages
Days
from start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
Desktop
browser
Mobile
app
Activity
Type
Blast
Triggered
Transactional
Message
Type
Push
notification
We’ll
show
you
what
we
(the
user)
did
here…
…
and
the
messages
we
received
from
Vox here.
User
Engagement
TimelineThe

10. 10
©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
User
Activity
Messages
Days
from start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
Desktop
browser
Mobile
app
Activity
Type
Blast
Triggered
Transactional
Message
Type
Push
notification
We’ll
show
you
what
we
(the
user)
did
here…
…
and
the
messages
we
received
from
Vox here.
Activities
and
messages
are
color
coded
as
shown
in
this
key
User
Engagement
TimelineThe

11. 11
©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
User
Activity
Messages
Days
from start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
Desktop
browser
Mobile
app
Activity
Type
Blast
Triggered
Transactional
Message
Type
Push
notification
This
is
what
we
did
to
kick
things
off
(day
0)
in
a
desktop
browserSigned
up
User
Engagement
TimelineThe

12. 12
©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
User
Activity
Messages
Days
from start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
Desktop
browser
Mobile
app
Activity
Type
Blast
Triggered
Transactional
Message
Type
Push
notification
And
Vox sent
us
the
first
“Vox Sentences”
blast
email
that
day
Vox
Sentences
Signed
up
This
is
what
we
did
to
kick
things
off
(day
0)
in
a
desktop
browser
User
Engagement
TimelineThe

13. 13©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
Fast
forward
to
day
21…

14. 14
©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
User
Activity
Messages
Days
from start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
Desktop
browser
Mobile
app
Activity
Type
Blast
Triggered
Transactional
Message
Type
Push
notification
Signed
up
Vox
Sentences
Opened
day’s
email
Opened
and
clicked
day’s
email
Vox
Sentences
Vox
Sentences
Vox
Sentences
User
Engagement
TimelineThe

15. 15
©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
User
Activity
Messages
Days
from start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
Desktop
browser
Mobile
app
Activity
Type
Blast
Triggered
Transactional
Message
Type
Push
notification
Signed
up
Opened
day’s
email
Opened
and
clicked
day’s
email
Vox
Sentences
Vox
Sentences
Vox
Sentences
Vox
Sentences
It
looks
a
little
boring,
but
we
can
still
learn
something
User
Engagement
TimelineThe

16. 16©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
Let’s
point
out
a
few
things…

17. 17
©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
User
Activity
Messages
Days
from start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
Desktop
browser
Mobile
app
Activity
Type
Blast
Triggered
Transactional
Message
Type
Push
notification
Signed
up
Opened
day’s
email
Opened
and
clicked
day’s
email
We
got
blast
emails
every
day
except
for
weekends
Vox
Sentences
Vox
Sentences
Vox
Sentences
Vox
Sentences
User
Engagement
TimelineThe

18. 18
©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
User
Activity
Messages
Days
from start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
Desktop
browser
Mobile
app
Activity
Type
Blast
Triggered
Transactional
Message
Type
Push
notification
Signed
up
Opened
day’s
email
Opened
and
clicked
day’s
email
We
got
blast
emails
every
day
except
for
weekends
This
is
Labor
Day
weekend
Vox
Sentences
Vox
Sentences
Vox
Sentences
Vox
Sentences
User
Engagement
TimelineThe

19. 19
©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
User
Activity
Messages
Days
from start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
Desktop
browser
Mobile
app
Activity
Type
Blast
Triggered
Transactional
Message
Type
Push
notification
Signed
up
Opened
day’s
email
Opened
and
clicked
day’s
email
We
engaged
the
first
3
days,
opening
the
emails
and
clicking
on
a
couple
of
stories.
Vox
Sentences
Vox
Sentences
Vox
Sentences
Vox
Sentences
User
Engagement
TimelineThe

20. 20
©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
User
Activity
Messages
Days
from start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
Desktop
browser
Mobile
app
Activity
Type
Blast
Triggered
Transactional
Message
Type
Push
notification
Signed
up
Opened
day’s
email
Opened
and
clicked
day’s
email
Vox
Sentences
Vox
Sentences
Vox
Sentences
Vox
Sentences
But
we
suspected
we
were
only
going
to
get
blast
emails.
So
we
decided
to
stop
opening
the
emails,
to
see
what
happened.
User
Engagement
TimelineThe

21. 21
©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
User
Activity
Messages
Days
from start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
Desktop
browser
Mobile
app
Activity
Type
Blast
Triggered
Transactional
Message
Type
Push
notification
Signed
up
Opened
day’s
email
Opened
and
clicked
day’s
email
Vox
Sentences
Vox
Sentences
Vox
Sentences
Vox
Sentences
User
Engagement
TimelineThe

22. 22
©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
User
Activity
Messages
Days
from start: 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 211 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 90
Desktop
browser
Mobile
app
Activity
Type
Blast
Triggered
Transactional
Message
Type
Push
notification
Signed
up
Opened
day’s
email
Opened
and
clicked
day’s
email
Vox
Sentences
Vox
Sentences
Vox
Sentences
Vox
Sentences
Nothing
happened.
The
blast
emails
kept
on
coming
every
weekday,
whether
we
engaged
or
not.
User
Engagement
TimelineThe

23. Timeline
Takeaways
©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved 23
• Vox Sentences
emails
are
well-­‐done
and
informative
(see
next
section)
• But
there’s
a
huge
opportunity
to
add
triggered
emails
with
little
extra
work
o 1
or
2
welcome
messages
to
let
people
know
what
to
expect
(see
next
section)
o Inactivity
“check-­‐in”
and
pause/change
in
frequency
(or
even
rate-­‐limiting)
• Personalization
is
another
opportunity,
but
would
require
more
work
o “Recommended
for
you”
section
• Finally,
we
don’t
think
there
was
any
A/B
testing
of
subject
lines
(or
content)

24. 24©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
Let’s
look
at
the
emails…

25. 25©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved

26. 26©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved

27. 27©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
The
emails
are
long,
but
well
structured.
Each
day’s
email
has
the
same
layout
and
sections.

28. 28©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
The
intro
mentions
the
3
main
topics
covered
in
the
email.

29. 29©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
1 2
3
The
intro
mentions
the
3
main
topics
covered
in
the
email.

30. 30©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
1 2
3
And
each
of
the
3
topics
is
covered
in
more
detail
in
succinct,
punchy
bullet
points
with
links
out
to
all
sources.

31. 31©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
1

32. 32©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
2
1

33. 33©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
32
1

34. 34©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
Followed
by
3
regular
secondary
sections

35. 35©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
“Miscellaneous”
– a
handful
of
unrelated
news
stories

36. 36©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
“Verbatim”
– a
handful
of
quotes

37. 37©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved
“Watch
This”
– a
link
to
a
video

38. Email
Takeaways
(1/3)
– Welcome
Series
©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved 38
• Emails
look
great
and
are
informative.
However,
it
takes
some
time
to
catch
on
to
the
structure.
• A
“welcome”
email
that
explains
the
structure
would
orient
readers
and
let
them
know
what
to
expect
— increasing
readership
and
engagement
• This
triggered
welcome
would
be
trivial
to
add
with
the
right
tools

39. Email
Takeaways
(2/3)
– Addressing
Inactivity
©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved 39
• Having
daily
emails
pile
up
in
an
inbox
is
not
a
good
user
experience
(and
is
inevitable
for
many
people)
• “Checking-­‐in”
with
a
message
after
some
inactivity
(e.g.,
5
days
of
no
opens/clicks)
could
be
a
great
idea
(automatic
rate-­‐limiting
based
on
inactivity
is
also
an
option)
• Email
would
ask
if
reader
wants
to
pause
emails
or
reduce
frequency
• It’s
very
likely
this
would
reduce
unsubscribes
or
spam
reports

40. Email
Takeaways
(3/3)
– Personalization
©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved 40
• An
additional
section
based
on
reader
preferences
could
drive
even
more
engagement
• Admittedly,
this
is
would
involve
more
work
(e.g.,
preferences
UX
upon
signup,
etc.)
• This
could
be
a
great
medium-­‐term
add-­‐on
to
Vox’s emails

41. Overall
Vox User
Engagement
Takeaways
©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved 41
• Vox has
great,
informative
emails
• We’ve
suggested
easy
improvements
to
get
people
ready
for
them,
increasing
engagement
and
reducing
unsubscribes/spam
reports
• There
are
also
more
ambitious
improvements
around
personalization
that
could
have
great
results
• Push
can
come
into
play
once
they
have
an
app

42. Request
an
Iterable
demo:
That’s
it!
©2015
Iterable,
Inc.
All
rights
reserved 42
• Thank
you
for
reading.
Join
the
discussion,
use:
#UEteardown
• Download
slides
and
see
other
teardowns:
iterable.com/teardown
• Anything
suggested
in
our
teardowns
can
be
done
with
Iterable
iterable.com/demo
! /iterable
" @iterable
# /iterableTV