Overview
Emma provides the ability to view statistics about your contacts and newsletters that you've sent. These analytics usually update within a few minutes after a newsletter is opened or clicked.
You can access the response data associated with a newsletter for up to 18 months after the newsletter is sent: after that, the data is automatically deleted.
What kind of information does Emma track?
You can view analytics in Emma for:
- Individual newsletters
- Individual contacts
- General analytics (overall newsletter performance over time)
These analytics can answer questions such as:
- How many people opened a newsletter
- Which links in a newsletter were frequently clicked, and how often
- What type of device or email client was frequently used to view a newsletter
- Whether new contacts signed up for a newsletter or existing contacts opted out of receiving newsletters
Factors that can skew the open rate
Emma determines whether someone opened your newsletter by using a tracking pixel: this is a standard practice across different marketing platforms. However, depending on the contact's email client or server, the open rate may be skewed.
Contact appears to have opened email when they have not
If the contact uses the Mail app on an Apple device, Apple's Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) pre-fetches (downloads) emails, including the tracking pixel, before they access the email. Consequently, Emma may indicate that the contact opened the newsletter even if they have not.
Contact opened the email but it appears they have not
Some email clients can be set to disallow external images, including the tracking pixel, by default. This is how USC Outlook accounts are configured, and it means that when a USC contact opens your newsletter in Outlook, Emma is unaware that they opened it until they click Download external images for the email, or click the links within the newsletter.
Factors that can skew the click record
Emma can track how many times the links in newsletters were clicked, and by whom. Note that total clicks is often a greater number than unique clicks. For example, one person might click on a link three times: this would be considered three total clicks, but one unique click.
Additionally, clicks can be considered machine activity or machine clicks. For instance, a USC contact may click a link once, but Emma perceives multiple clicks because USC's email system first checks the link for malicious content: that automatic security check is a machine click.
Viewing newsletter analytics
To view analytics for a newsletter, navigate to the Responses tab and then select a newsletter by clicking its name.
The Overview section for the analytics appears. You can click any tab or scroll down the page to review detailed information.
Additional resources
For more information about these analytics, including an explanation of each tab, refer to the official documentation from Emma:
Downloading newsletter analytics
Newsletter response data is automatically deleted 18 months after the newsletter is sent. To retain the data longer, you must download it from Emma before the 18 month period elapses.
Save a PDF of the Overview tab
Quick guide
- Make sure you are in the Overview tab for the newsletter.
- In the upper right, click Save as PDF, and select Save response as PDF.
- A new tab opens with the PDF, which you can now save to your computer.
Detailed guide (with screenshots)
- Make sure you are in the Overview tab for the newsletter.
- In the upper right, click Save as PDF, and select Save response as PDF.
- A new tab opens with the PDF, which you can now save to your computer.
Export feature
There is an Export responses option that generates a separate spreadsheet for the response data in each tab. However, you may need to contact ts@dornsife.usc.edu to request this file: Emma restricts most accounts from downloading files containing contact information.
Viewing analytics by contact
You can view analytics for an individual contact, such as which newsletters they opened or whether they clicked on links within the newsletters. To view this information, navigate to the Audience tab, and then select a contact by clicking their email address.
The contact's record appears. General newsletter engagement (interaction) statistics appear at the top of the page. If you click the Emails tab, you can view the following information:
- Which newsletters the contact received
- When each newsletter was delivered
- Whether the contact reviewed, opened, or clicked links within a newsletter
Viewing overall subaccount analytics
Emma can report on your subaccount's overall mailing performance over time.
Quick guide
- Click the Insights tab.
- The Insights page opens to the Engagement tab. You can adjust the time period at the top, as well as select the Growth or Trends tabs to view more data.
Detailed guide (with screenshots)
- Click the Insights tab.
- The Insights page opens to the Engagement tab. You can adjust the time period at the top, as well as select the Growth or Trends tabs to view more data.
For details about the information available in Insights, refer to the official documentation from Emma:
Emma can also email you a monthly report. To turn on this feature, select the Engagement Overview toggle in Insights:
