Reporting Best Practices

This guide provides recommendations for interpreting reporting data and optimizing campaigns within the Portal.

Email advertising behaves differently from traditional web display advertising due to email client behavior, proxy traffic, and delayed engagement patterns. Understanding these differences can help advertisers interpret reporting data more accurately.

Understand Email Proxy Traffic

A significant portion of email traffic is delivered through proxy servers operated by email providers such as Apple, Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook.

Proxy behavior can affect reporting metrics in several ways:

• Some proxies preload images when an email is opened.
• This can increase reported impression counts.
• Location signals may be less precise for proxy traffic.

Because of this, advertisers should focus more on engagement and outcome metrics such as:

• Clicks
• Conversions
• ROAS

rather than impressions alone.

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Evaluate Performance Using Multiple Metrics

No single metric fully represents campaign performance.

When evaluating campaigns, consider metrics together:

For example:

• A campaign may have a lower CTR but strong ROAS, indicating high-quality clicks.
• A campaign with high CTR but low CVR may require landing page optimization.

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Compare Performance Across Devices and Proxies

Email engagement patterns can vary significantly between devices and proxy environments.

Use the Device / Proxy reporting view to analyze performance across segments such as:

• Apple Proxy
• Gmail Proxy
• Outlook Proxy
• Yahoo Proxy
• Desktop
• Mobile devices
• Tablets

Performance differences may indicate opportunities to:

• Adjust bids
• Refine targeting
• Optimize creative messaging

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Monitor Campaign Pacing

Campaign pacing determines how quickly a campaign spends its daily budget.

When analyzing spend patterns:

• Optimized pacing typically distributes spend across the day.
• ASAP pacing may exhaust budget early.

If a campaign consistently stops delivering early in the day, consider:

• Increasing the daily budget
• Switching pacing strategies
• Adjusting targeting

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Use Hourly Reporting for Delivery Insights

Hourly performance views can provide insight into how campaigns perform throughout the day.

This is particularly useful for:

• Evaluating dayparting strategies
• Identifying peak engagement windows
• Understanding pacing behavior

If engagement is consistently higher during certain hours, advertisers may consider adjusting delivery schedules.

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Evaluate Creative Performance Regularly

Creative performance often has the largest impact on engagement metrics.

When reviewing creative performance:

Look for creatives with:

• Strong CTR
• Strong CVR
• Consistent ROAS

Creatives with high impressions but low CTR may benefit from:

• New imagery
• Adjusted messaging
• Different calls-to-action

Refreshing creatives periodically can help maintain engagement.

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Avoid Overly Restrictive Targeting

Highly restrictive targeting can significantly limit available inventory.

This may result in:

• Lower delivery volume
• Slower spend
• Difficulty reaching daily budget goals

If a campaign is struggling to deliver, consider:

• Expanding geo targeting
• Broadening device targeting
• Reducing inventory exclusions
• Adjusting discovery settings

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Review Performance Trends Over Time

Short-term fluctuations can occur due to:

• Email send schedules
• User engagement patterns
• Seasonal trends

For meaningful analysis, evaluate performance across longer time windows when possible.

For example:

• Weekly trends
• Campaign lifecycle performance
• Creative performance over time

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Export Data for Deeper Analysis

The Portal allows exporting data from most reporting panels as:

• CSV
• Excel

Exported data can be useful for:

• Internal reporting
• Performance benchmarking
• Deeper campaign analysis

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Regular Optimization Workflow

A simple reporting review workflow can help maintain strong campaign performance:

1. Review overall campaign trends.
2. Identify top-performing campaign lines.
3. Evaluate creative engagement.
4. Check device and proxy performance.
5. Adjust targeting, bids, or creatives accordingly.

Regular monitoring and incremental adjustments typically lead to the best results over time.