My Message Analytics Seem Off
Yodel provides some basic message analytics that are tracked after you have sent a message. These can give you an idea of how many recipients received your message, how they received it, and any trackable interactions they made with your message.
If you have concerns about the stats and numbers that you see in your message analytics, we want to help clear that up and resolve any reporting problems if they exist.
Where are Message Analytics Shown?
Message analytics become available after your message has been scheduled to send, approved by Yodel, and the final price confirmed by you. You'll find them on your delivered messages details tab.
At first, you'll only be able to see pricing-related stats such as the final count of recipients, the price per recipient, the taxes applied if applicable (applied before or after postage is added, based on local tax requirements), and the final total for sending your message. These are all numbers you would see when you confirm the final price.
After the message has been delivered, then the additional analytics (stats) become available for you to view.
Why are There Free Recipients Listed?
Yodel considers the inclusion of your own primary address to be a free send. Consider it a free quality check. When selecting your audiences for the mailing, there is a quick checkbox to include your primary address.
You don't have to explicitly click that box though. If your primary address happens to be within one of your sending locations (as an address or an area), we'll also recognize that and consider it a free send.
If your message is being sent as a sending group, then there can be even more free senders included. Any of the group members who include their primary address (either by audience selection or by inclusion from the sending locations) will be considered a free recipient.
Pricing & Taxes Concerns
The final price (including the count of recipients, the print style selected, and tax information) must be confirmed by you or a sending group admin before Yodel will charge you for sending out the message. There should be no surprises.
Taxes are applicable with purchases through Yodel services. Yodel will apply taxes either before or after postage is applied, per local tax requirements.
If your pricing and tax information do not look correct, please reach out to our support team who can assist in making sure everything is accurate.
Counts for Postcards, Emails, & Texts
Yodel defaults to sending postcards to the addresses within your selected audiences with respect to your selected recipient filters such as residential or business addresses. In most cases the majority of your messages will be sent through postal mail.
To receive messages as emails, SMS texts, or strictly online, the recipient has to have a free Yodel account and have set up their notification preferences. Within the message analytics, we report on how many emails and texts were sent.
It is possible that adding up the postcards, emails, and texts does not match the number of recipients. This combined number should never be lower than the recipient count, because we do not charge you for recipients who have blocked you as a sender. But you may find that these stats add up to more than the count of recipients. This is because a user can choose to receive messages in more than one way (postcard, email, text).
Interpreting Web Views
Web views is one of the stats that is live and on-going. It displays two numbers:
Total - number of times the message has been viewed online
Unique - number of individual Yodel accounts who have viewed the message online
If an individual views your message by visiting the webpage five different times, then your total count will be five, while your unique count will remain at one.
A little simple math can give you an idea of the number of views per user. If you have 100 total views and 50 unique users, then an average user has viewed your message two times.
Responses (Replies & Reactions)
The responses from your recipients are also live and on-going. There are three numbers displayed:
Replies - number of written replies to your message
Reactions (Likes) - number of recipients who liked the message
Reactions (Dislikes) - number of recipients who disliked the message
These numbers will increase as your audience receives the message and responds. The majority will do so shortly after receiving your message, but they are able to use the response options at any time in the future too. We'll notify you or your sending group per the provided notification settings.
Why Do Web Views Continue to Grow?
The web views stats are the most likely to continue to grow. This is because after your message has been sent and paid for, a receiver can still find your message online. They won't receive a postcard, email, or text, because that has already been sent out in the past. But they can check online for historic messages for their address or receiving locations.
Consider the case where a new user decides to sign up for a free Yodel account. They get in and start setting up their receiving locations. If they then go to their received messages list, Yodel will compare their newly created list of locations against all previously sent messages and will display any that match, even from the past. They can also respond to past messages for which they were not an original known recipient (account with a connection to an address within the audience selection).
Still Have Concerns?
If you are still uncertain about the stats that you are seeing, please reach out to our support team through our online contact form. We can help explain what you're seeing or investigate any reporting issues.