New Industry Trends Brief on Public Sector Communications Points to Engagement Rate as Key Metric
Impact in State of Minnesota Highlights Value of Engagement Rate in Demonstrating the Success of Digital Communications
ST. PAUL, Minn., March 20, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GovDelivery announced today the availability of a new industry trends brief, The Death of the Click-Through Rate for the Public Sector, offering government organizations a new and more accurate way to measure the impact of digital communications through an "Engagement Rate." The paper details why widely used private sector measurements, such as click-through rates on email marketing communications, are less useful measurements for the public sector. This is largely because public sector communications have considerably different objectives and distribution frequency than the private sector, which is more focused on driving sales.
When looking at the performance of messaging that comes from government, timely, urgent or frequent communications such as weather or road closure alerts need to be taken into account. The goal of these messages is solely to inform citizens, which means clicking on a link in every message may not be necessary for the messages to be of value.
For government agencies interested in performance metrics, the report suggests that an Engagement Rate, which measures both open and click-through rates over a period of time, provides a more consistent measure of messaging success and a more accurate picture of content engagement. The paper draws on best practices and analyses on digital communications from more than 550 federal, state, local and international government organizations that partner with GovDelivery to communicate more effectively and efficiently.
"GovDelivery adapts best practices from all industries and sectors to help our government clients drive real mission value with digital communications. The Engagement Rate is the best way we've seen to measure success and to drive continuous improvement over time," said Scott Burns, CEO and co-Founder, GovDelivery. "GovDelivery's Minnesota clients serve as a great example of the value of Engagement Rate in assessing communications impact with nearly 70 percent of them having an engagement rate of 50 percent or more. In comparison, searching online for average or good click-through rates can result in several studies noting that anything from a 2 percent click-through percentage to a 20 percent click-through percentage as the benchmark for success."
"Our engagement rate is 72 percent currently, which demonstrates the incredible public demand and interest in the information we are sending," stated Janelle Tummel, Director of Communications, Minnesota Department of Revenue. "Especially now with tax season in full swing and new tax reform policies under consideration, it's more important than ever for us to communicate when there's critical information to relay, and it is imperative that we can measure the public's engagement with our information."
The paper also provides tips that government organizations can implement immediately to help impact their engagement rate. Download the paper at http://bit.ly/Engage-Rate_PR.
About GovDelivery
GovDelivery, the leading provider of government-to-citizen communication solutions, helps government transform their digital communications by maximizing direct connections with the public while reducing communications cost. More than 550 government organizations worldwide, including more than half of major U.S. federal agencies, as well as state, county, and city governments in the U.S., and local authorities and central government agencies in the United Kingdom, use GovDelivery to optimize their effectiveness, efficiency, and engagement in communications with the public. GovDelivery is a partner company of ICG (Nasdaq:ICGE). For more information, visit http://www.govdelivery.com.
The GovDelivery logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=8030
CONTACT: Mary Yang
Sr. Communications Manager
651-726-7317
Mary.Yang@govdelivery.com
